First New JCPenney In 8 Years Opens

[Alpha8472]

65,000 square feet of selling space in a 120,000 square foot 2 level anchor space formerly Lord and Taylor.

https://chainstoreage.com/first-look-jc ... ight-years

[babs]

65,000 square feet of selling space in a 120,000 square foot 2 level anchor space formerly Lord and Taylor.

https://chainstoreage.com/first-look-jc ... ight-years

If all JCPenney stores looked like this, they might be doing better. They're buildings are so rundown.

[Alpha8472]

I actually liked the old store within a store decor when they remodeled in the last decade. That looked nice for a while.

I have seen some new ones opened in the previous decade that looked decent without the store within a store decor.

The issue is the central checkout where the single line is so long, it makes customers just dump their merchandise and leave the store.

[pseudo3d]

This video suggests the flooring from Lord & Taylor was reused but JCPenney seems to have spiffed up the lighting.

[veteran+]

65,000 square feet of selling space in a 120,000 square foot 2 level anchor space formerly Lord and Taylor.

https://chainstoreage.com/first-look-jc ... ight-years

It has a Kohls "flavor" to it.....................................

[ClownLoach]

This does not look like they did much of anything besides hang JCPenney signage, make checkout corrals, and paint the walls. Maybe the light bulbs were replaced with LED and a handful of new recessed spotlights added but the rest looks like L+T to me. Not even sure if the carpet was replaced.

The building is 120,000 Sq ft and the sales floor is only 65,000? So half the space is wasted on offices, stock rooms and other nonsense? This is the same problem Macy's has, incredibly unproductive space that is unnecessary in a world where you can meter out individual items to the stores from a distribution center. There is no reason to have so much back stock in modern department stores.

What happened to the "new look" store in Texas with the retro Penney's logo? That at least looked new. This could be a random pop up store for all I know if it wasn't for the checkout area.

The only exciting thing about this is that it's a department store opening instead of closing.

[ClownLoach]

The issue is the central checkout where the single line is so long, it makes customers just dump their merchandise and leave the store.

Totally agree, there is something fundamentally wrong with the JCPenney systems and processes because a queue line should not cause this issue. If anything it should prevent the old problem of getting in line behind the "wrong customer" who has some sort of complications. I have observed the same issue where for some inexplicable reason many of their transactions take forever, causing lines to build. Couple that with understaffed stores with too many visible employees that apparently do not ring on the register. Macy's does not have this problem nor does Kohl's and both slow down their process by trying to push credit cards and loyalty programs. I am not sure what transactions are the ones causing the issue, but I have noticed that they accept credit card payments at every register and those seem to be problematic. I always see at least one employee stuck on the phone trying to do something for a customer at JCPenney, unsure if it's credit lookup or what. They all seem to be able to perform markdowns without a manager present, unlike Macy's where most cashiers are very limited in their security clearance. They need to identify what exact type of transaction slows these lines and move it elsewhere, not sure if that's returns, online pickups or credit applications. Sorry but checkout needs to be fast and if you have to find where the return desk is hidden behind the pole on the 3rd floor back corner it is what it is. It's been a while since my last purchase at JCPenney but I recall the register transaction taking much longer than I would have expected, and it appeared that the cashier had to enter their username and password at the start of every single transaction.

[Alpha8472]

I was stuck in line at JCPenney, and many people were having problems using their JCPenney rewards program. The cashier would push signing up for Rewards and then people would have problems redeeming.

Then there were multiple issues with the cashier asking if you wanted to apply for a credit card. Then the door alarm would go off and the cashier would have to go to the door and check the person's merchandise for alarm tags.

It was worse than waiting in line at Ross or Burlington. At least at Burlington you don't have to deal with rewards and credit card offers.

[pseudo3d]

This does not look like they did much of anything besides hang JCPenney signage, make checkout corrals, and paint the walls. Maybe the light bulbs were replaced with LED and a handful of new recessed spotlights added but the rest looks like L+T to me. Not even sure if the carpet was replaced.

The building is 120,000 Sq ft and the sales floor is only 65,000? So half the space is wasted on offices, stock rooms and other nonsense? This is the same problem Macy's has, incredibly unproductive space that is unnecessary in a world where you can meter out individual items to the stores from a distribution center. There is no reason to have so much back stock in modern department stores.

What happened to the "new look" store in Texas with the retro Penney's logo? That at least looked new. This could be a random pop up store for all I know if it wasn't for the checkout area.

The only exciting thing about this is that it's a department store opening instead of closing.

I assumed that the downsized space was because they didn't have enough merchandise to make it work, like how some of the "reopened" Sears Hometowns had conspicuously blocked-off areas. The issue is that JCPenney seems to operate stores that are smaller than most of their stores, so a lot of stores tend to be poorly merchandised, including whole little wall corners that are empty. (In better stores, this is "a little balding").

The North East Mall store was a test store for various concepts and merchandising, and even that reduced inventory by almost 15%.

[ClownLoach]

I was stuck in line at JCPenney, and many people were having problems using their JCPenney rewards program. The cashier would push signing up for Rewards and then people would have problems redeeming.

Then there were multiple issues with the cashier asking if you wanted to apply for a credit card. Then the door alarm would go off and the cashier would have to go to the door and check the person's merchandise for alarm tags.

It was worse than waiting in line at Ross or Burlington. At least at Burlington you don't have to deal with rewards and credit card offers.

Yep, they have a serious problem with faulty technology, bad processes from management, and poorly trained workers. They should be able to talk and work, offer a credit card or whatever other nonsense while they're scanning items. Management has provided some sort of long script, I've seen other mismanaged retailers that have made a simple checkout a "ten step process" which is both obnoxious to the customer and condescending to the worker. If the worker needs to be reminded that you say hello, ask if they found everything they needed, and say thank you at the end then they should not be in a retail store job, so none of that should be on a script. Hire people with that common sense to greet and thank, then emphasize quick and accurate transactions that respect the customer's (and company's) time. While scanning the items simply ask "would you like to apply for a JCPenney card and save X today?" and leave it at that so the customer can decide without feeling like their time isn't respected. JCPenney obviously doesn't understand this, and then you couple it with obviously faulty technology... What a mess. It doesn't matter what the store looks like, what merchandise they have, or what the prices are. This kind of experience pushes customers right into the hands of Amazon, TJX, and everyone in between. They probably drove past dozens of competitors selling similar apparel on the way to the mall. This poor experience now hurts JCPenney and everyone else at the mall as traffic deteriorates when customers choose less inconvenient stores. They need to fix these simple operational issues before they swallow the company whole.

Unfortunately, they are likely following the cheapo consultants directions to make rankings, scorecards and so forth to beat people over the head with for meaningless metrics like number of credit card applications daily. I call this "Upper Management for Dummies" which is sold by these consultants to brainless new executives who all cheated through school to get their MBA and have no clue how to actually run a business. The consultant bozo says that if they shove credit cards down every customer's throat they can make a few million a year in extra profit. Never mind the fact that the rest of the business is neglected leading to losses of hundreds of millions in sales and profit from the actual business. Then everyone is put under pressure for these areas like credit that are meaningless to the customer, while what actually matters to the customer is neglected (a clean, organized and fully stocked store with quick checkout). The demented upper management creates situations where the Store Manager is more worried about losing their job over stupid credit cards and rewards sign-ups than achieving sales and profit targets. They leap over dollars to pick up, well, pennies. How appropriate. This same tactic put Kohl's on life support, management was more worried about the trivial income from credit applications than anything else (the banks pay for these for many reasons, none of which are good for the customer!). Unfortunately I can think of several other retailers where the Store Manager is more worried about their credit card application counts than their sales, profit, payroll, or even if the store is clean and stocked. They will be fired over credit cards that pay the store tens of dollars each, but if the truck isn't stocked or you can smell the back corner restrooms from the front door that is okay. These consultants selling these tactics should be chained to a cash register and beaten daily over their credit sign-ups for a week, then see if they ever recommend this trivial nonsense again.