JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by Super S »

Alpha8472 wrote: December 19th, 2020, 8:10 pm
JCPenney needs to do something to attract more customers and improve itself. I have not seen any ads online for JCPenney nor have I heard any radio ads. Even if they did a little bit of advertising, it might improve their sales.
I have been seeing JCPenney ads on TV over the last couple weeks. So they are doing SOME advertising. I am not sure if they ever really advertised heavily on radio though...it seems that the national chains in general tend to avoid small market radio stations, except in cases where their programming is via satellite. Honestly, the only large chain I ever hear advertising for is Safeway. But several chains are present locally which advertise heavily on the bigger stations in Portland, yet they don't advertise on the small stations.
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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by SamSpade »

buckguy wrote: December 18th, 2020, 12:38 pm Nearly all are in small towns, which seemed to be the main strategy with the last batch of closings.
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is a growing market, but adjacent to Spokane and Spokane Valley, which have larger stores. So, perhaps the lease was up here. I believe that mall has lost a lot of traditional retail over the years. Sales tax is a bit higher in Washington state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Lake_Mall
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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by storewanderer »

SamSpade wrote: December 20th, 2020, 6:11 pm
buckguy wrote: December 18th, 2020, 12:38 pm Nearly all are in small towns, which seemed to be the main strategy with the last batch of closings.
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is a growing market, but adjacent to Spokane and Spokane Valley, which have larger stores. So, perhaps the lease was up here. I believe that mall has lost a lot of traditional retail over the years. Sales tax is a bit higher in Washington state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Lake_Mall
The CDA Mall is a Brookfield property, so that closure is all the more curious. I am guessing someone else wants the space, so JCP is a goner. However the mall does not come off as overly healthy (as of 2 years ago), and I would guess is not any better off today than it was then...

Lots of vacant retail closer to the WA State Line in Post Falls- those old sprawling 90's "factory outlet" centers. Someone was really optimistic there...
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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by storewanderer »

JC Penney in the Reno Mall has now changed so the only way you can get into the store is via the mall entrance. All of the exterior entrances are closed. They have paper taped over the doors and the doors are deadbolted shut (no emergency exit release). I think they have not heard of the fire code.

Other department stores- Dillards, Macy's all have all of their multiple doors open to get in and out of their store freely. I don't know why JCP needs to restrict entry this way.

The JCP Store has also made some changes, clearance of women's is finally in a back corner and coats in the center space where clearance was previously. The men's area is very lightly stocked (looks about 65% of the way through a liquidation sale in there) as is the home area. There is also a new men's clearance area in a back corner which was previously the "big and tall" area. Moving all of the clearance there may be why much of the rest of the department is so empty.
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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: December 22nd, 2020, 11:32 pm JC Penney in the Reno Mall has now changed so the only way you can get into the store is via the mall entrance. All of the exterior entrances are closed. They have paper taped over the doors and the doors are deadbolted shut (no emergency exit release). I think they have not heard of the fire code.
One has to wonder how many of those access points are really required. Only when you compare the size of a mall store like this to a large box store where basically everyone enters and exits at one or two points at the front (there may be other "emergency" doors around the other types of stores, but how many people would even know they were there if it was an emergency, rather than automatically heading for the front door(s)?).
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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by storewanderer »

BillyGr wrote: December 23rd, 2020, 10:12 am

One has to wonder how many of those access points are really required. Only when you compare the size of a mall store like this to a large box store where basically everyone enters and exits at one or two points at the front (there may be other "emergency" doors around the other types of stores, but how many people would even know they were there if it was an emergency, rather than automatically heading for the front door(s)?).
The big rectangle or square boxes do usually have signs posted right above the doors on the perimeter of the store to show where the fire exit is. And those doors have special release type locks so you push them and they open (they are not deadbolted shut by a key-only lock). I don't think the average customer pays much attention, but the employees are trained on this as part of initial training as to where to guide/route customers (in the case of an emergency) to exit the store via the emergency exits. By the book, the store would be evacuated in sections with the last employee to leave a given section ensuring all of the customers had been cleared. In the real world, everyone probably just bolts to the nearest exit they know.
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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by veteran+ »

storewanderer wrote: December 22nd, 2020, 11:32 pm JC Penney in the Reno Mall has now changed so the only way you can get into the store is via the mall entrance. All of the exterior entrances are closed. They have paper taped over the doors and the doors are deadbolted shut (no emergency exit release). I think they have not heard of the fire code.

Other department stores- Dillards, Macy's all have all of their multiple doors open to get in and out of their store freely. I don't know why JCP needs to restrict entry this way.

The JCP Store has also made some changes, clearance of women's is finally in a back corner and coats in the center space where clearance was previously. The men's area is very lightly stocked (looks about 65% of the way through a liquidation sale in there) as is the home area. There is also a new men's clearance area in a back corner which was previously the "big and tall" area. Moving all of the clearance there may be why much of the rest of the department is so empty.
These stores are asking for big trouble.

I am sure fire code monitors (if there are enough of them around) will get around to noticing this.

Locked doors, papered over doors, exit signs not removed, number of exits per square foot violations................what could go wrong?

I understand why they are doing this and perhaps are counting on a shortage of county compliance officers but.............this is risky strategy.
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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: December 24th, 2020, 5:03 am
These stores are asking for big trouble.

I am sure fire code monitors (if there are enough of them around) will get around to noticing this.

Locked doors, papered over doors, exit signs not removed, number of exits per square foot violations................what could go wrong?

I understand why they are doing this and perhaps are counting on a shortage of county compliance officers but.............this is risky strategy.
Their excuse is they are required to capacity count customers who enter and leave the store due to current State of Nevada requirements. In the case of JCP, their capacity is over 1,000 customers. The store is unlikely to get that many customers at once in any case.

I don't know how Dillard's has 3 different entrances open and Macy's has 4 different entrances open and is somehow able to comply with these requirements. Dillard's and Macy's are quite well run stores so I expect they are somehow complying and keeping all of their entrances open.

The local Target has also closed 1 of its 2 entrances for a different reason: they need the space by the one entrance to allow the long customer service/order pick up lines to "social distance." In addition, their closed door, a couple of the ones in the center (the non automatic ones) have a turn lock so you can quickly get out of it even though it is locked, if needed.
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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by veteran+ »

Like I said, I know why they are doing this (lots of reasons legitimate and not).

What I believe is that this COVID thing is providing them with perhaps a waiver from code enforcements (egress - ingress). I predict that many operators will push the limits of that leniency and get themselves in trouble.

Perhaps an "incident" at a store and people get hurt.

It is also the perfect excuse to save lots of money in payroll dollars by closing as many exits as possible under the guise of COVID mitigation.

Companies and orgs are using COVID all over the place as that perfect excuse to deliver LESS (huge payroll savings).
How many times have you all heard "due to COVID..................".

I am not diminishing the danger and destruction of COVID. I am just speaking to the nature of humans and opportunism.
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Re: JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: December 25th, 2020, 5:25 am Like I said, I know why they are doing this (lots of reasons legitimate and not).

What I believe is that this COVID thing is providing them with perhaps a waiver from code enforcements (egress - ingress). I predict that many operators will push the limits of that leniency and get themselves in trouble.

Perhaps an "incident" at a store and people get hurt.

It is also the perfect excuse to save lots of money in payroll dollars by closing as many exits as possible under the guise of COVID mitigation.

Companies and orgs are using COVID all over the place as that perfect excuse to deliver LESS (huge payroll savings).
How many times have you all heard "due to COVID..................".

I am not diminishing the danger and destruction of COVID. I am just speaking to the nature of humans and opportunism.
Hopefully for all involved there will be no incidents that require store evacuation where everyone needs to get outside (not evacuate into the mall interior...) while they are engaging in this questionable move of having all of the exterior facing doors locked and deadbolted with a key needed to open the doors from the inside.

What is funny is there is another JCP down in Carson City which is a freestanding store and this store has a front door and a little known back door which opens into the old catalog department. Both doors are being left open there.
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