JC Penney Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

[storewanderer]

Walmart is contemplating closing stores right now. They are being hit hard by looters practically every night this week. This is so ridiculous, that the store gets looted and then restocked the next day. Then the store is looted again, and then restocked the next day.

Target is also fearful. They are closing stores early or not even opening up at all. Pretty soon looters will have no more room in their houses for all the stolen merchandise.

We've been saying for months here people will have no more room for toilet paper. Yet I was in stores today with empty toilet paper aisles again.

Looters can provide items taken to friends, family, etc. If people are just taking the the thrill of taking they may not even be keeping what they take.

I am not sure what it is going to take to stop the looting. Severe criminal penalties or something. But the police don't seem to be around.

The sheer number of people who are out there and think looting and vandalizing retail stores- retail stores that did absolutely nothing wrong- is okay floors me the most. This is just not right.

[BillyGr]

Walmart is contemplating closing stores right now. They are being hit hard by looters practically every night this week. This is so ridiculous, that the store gets looted and then restocked the next day. Then the store is looted again, and then restocked the next day.

Target is also fearful. They are closing stores early or not even opening up at all. Pretty soon looters will have no more room in their houses for all the stolen merchandise.

We've been saying for months here people will have no more room for toilet paper. Yet I was in stores today with empty toilet paper aisles again.

I am not sure what it is going to take to stop the looting. Severe criminal penalties or something. But the police don't seem to be around.

I did note one store today (not a market, but one of the odd lot type chains) that had lots of toilet paper - boxes of individual rolls and some other packs as well.

As to what to do, it is hard - when you have a large group of people breaking into a store and taking stuff, most places probably don't have enough police to catch everyone, even if they wanted to. Also, if they send everyone to that store, that leaves everyone else in the area without help should it be needed.
If they manage to only catch some of the people, someone would no doubt complain that they were targeting some people over others. Pretty much a situation with no great way to proceed.

[arizonaguy]

Walmart is contemplating closing stores right now. They are being hit hard by looters practically every night this week. This is so ridiculous, that the store gets looted and then restocked the next day. Then the store is looted again, and then restocked the next day.

Target is also fearful. They are closing stores early or not even opening up at all. Pretty soon looters will have no more room in their houses for all the stolen merchandise.

We've been saying for months here people will have no more room for toilet paper. Yet I was in stores today with empty toilet paper aisles again.

I am not sure what it is going to take to stop the looting. Severe criminal penalties or something. But the police don't seem to be around.

I did note one store today (not a market, but one of the odd lot type chains) that had lots of toilet paper - boxes of individual rolls and some other packs as well.

As to what to do, it is hard - when you have a large group of people breaking into a store and taking stuff, most places probably don't have enough police to catch everyone, even if they wanted to. Also, if they send everyone to that store, that leaves everyone else in the area without help should it be needed.
If they manage to only catch some of the people, someone would no doubt complain that they were targeting some people over others. Pretty much a situation with no great way to proceed.

I was at Sam's Club yesterday and they had plenty of toilet paper (I saw Charmin, Quilted Northern, and their house Member's Mark brand). They also had what appeared to be an armed security guard at the entrance

[Super S]

A thought about that JCPenney store in Salem. Although Powell's Books has its own set of Covid-19 issues at the moment, I wonder if that could work as a location as they do not have a store in Salem. They did open a mall-based store in Beaverton.
I have to agree though that there aren't really many retailers that could easily take the whole space especially with the present mall access as well as the layout of the store which pre-dates the mall.

[lake]

A thought about that JCPenney store in Salem. Although Powell's Books has its own set of Covid-19 issues at the moment, I wonder if that could work as a location as they do not have a store in Salem. They did open a mall-based store in Beaverton.
I have to agree though that there aren't really many retailers that could easily take the whole space especially with the present mall access as well as the layout of the store which pre-dates the mall.

I don't think Powells is in any position to open a new store, especially one in that large of a space. I agree with the sentiment that the store will likely be converted to ground floor retail with offices on top. Downtown Salem is slowly revitalizing itself and I would hope that a gym or nightlife tenant would take the former Nordstrom's.

[storewanderer]

Went into the Reno JCP today late afternoon. More of the mall is open now and the mall definitely has people inside; Macy's was actually a little bit busy. They have most of the exterior entry doors closed so you can only enter through one door (or the mall door).

The JCP store is basically as it was left a few months ago. Clearance racks overflowing with goods, stuff all over the floors in those clearance areas. Opposite the Sephora area in a high traffic/high visibility area is a big area with hundreds of formal/prom dresses on display. Wow, better just put those away for next year.

The women's clearance area has expanded well beyond what it was before, and at this point seems to take up about 65% of the women's clothing floor space. Items range 50-85% off but even at 85% off their prices are too high with most items in the $8-9 range; Macy's 4.96 clearance private label winter items deal is much better. It was funny also in the women's area they have all this clearance stuff in the middle of the store including a bunch of racks of winter coats then pushed in a far corner of the store hidden behind all that (away from any traffic flow area and not even visible from any distance due to the sloppy massive clearance racks) they have bathing suits, etc. and such summer items that should be front and center even if they may not sell well this year given the situation with the virus (probably should be where those prom/formal dresses are). The men's clearance area only takes up about 15% of the floor space in men's and is not marked down nearly as aggressively, but it is really a joke; Stafford dress shifts on clearance but 50% off, the full price ones are buy 1 get 1 free, so what is the point of the clearance? Tons of men's winter coats, wool coats, etc. all only 50% off so $80+. Good luck- pack those away for next year.

Also walked through the housewares department. I thought they had a new bedding line. Not sure what it was but I didn't see it. The giant luggage department where the appliances used to be is very full.

Also the store was very minimally staffed. On the bottom floor (women's/kids/jewelry) I saw 5 employees and on the top floor I saw only 2 employees with the entire housewares are being unstaffed. There was no music playing in the store and it was just a depressing experience in this store, even moreso than in the past.

[TW-Upstate NY]

Is it just me or after reading multiple accounts of what can only be described as in-store merchandising failures for want of a better term, does anybody else feel like this company just wants to fail and be done with it? Sooner than later, I think you're going to see another K-Mart/Sears situation in regards to the conditions in the stores.

[storewanderer]

Is it just me or after reading multiple accounts of what can only be described as in-store merchandising failures for want of a better term, does anybody else feel like this company just wants to fail and be done with it? Sooner than later, I think you're going to see another K-Mart/Sears situation in regards to the conditions in the stores.

The location in Reno is so mismerchandised, and it goes beyond what the local store management is or isn't doing. The department size allocations got all screwed up when they consolidated the former 100k square foot freestanding "home store" that was across the street back into the main mall store.

I actually think their mall stores are too big. I've been into some smaller JCP Stores (25-45k square feet) and those stores seem to have what I'd call "more relevant merchandise" and a decent focus on basic type products, and less junk vs. what I see sprawling over a 100k-150k square foot two floor box since there simply isn't room for all the junk. Given the smaller store size they seem to also be maintained in a neater and more orderly fashion.

But then the issue with smaller size stores is you end up with something basically equivalent to a Stage Store and Stage is currently liquidating so I am not sure that format is a viable concept either.

JCP still acts as if they know what they are doing and have some sort of strong merchandising and breakthrough products and unicorns and rainbows and all that. Sears/Kmart has acted like and been a zombie now for quite a while. But I question how effective what JCP is doing is. So with that thought, is the result really the same as Sears (nobody buying much of anything from them... despite their efforts and superior than thou attitude)?

[Super S]

The location in Reno is so mismerchandised, and it goes beyond what the local store management is or isn't doing. The department size allocations got all screwed up when they consolidated the former 100k square foot freestanding "home store" that was across the street back into the main mall store.

I actually think their mall stores are too big. I've been into some smaller JCP Stores (25-45k square feet) and those stores seem to have what I'd call "more relevant merchandise" and a decent focus on basic type products, and less junk vs. what I see sprawling over a 100k-150k square foot two floor box since there simply isn't room for all the junk. Given the smaller store size they seem to also be maintained in a neater and more orderly fashion.

But then the issue with smaller size stores is you end up with something basically equivalent to a Stage Store and Stage is currently liquidating so I am not sure that format is a viable concept either.

JCP still acts as if they know what they are doing and have some sort of strong merchandising and breakthrough products and unicorns and rainbows and all that. Sears/Kmart has acted like and been a zombie now for quite a while. But I question how effective what JCP is doing is. So with that thought, is the result really the same as Sears (nobody buying much of anything from them... despite their efforts and superior than thou attitude)?

I will agree that JCPenney has some stores that are way too big, some of which were built in the days when JCPenney was more focused on hardlines. It's hard to merchandise properly with 150K-200K square feet of mostly clothes, and a few of these stores would probably be better off by scaling back or closing levels on multi level stores. A few stores in the Seattle area give off this vibe, such as Southcenter and Tacoma Mall. What I don't get is how, with all that extra space, some areas just feel cramped with racks too close together etc.

With that said, some of the smaller stores, while more organized, are not particularly well stocked. A good example is the approx. 50,000 square foot store in Kelso, WA which has big open spaces in the not very well stocked men's department. A lot of how well the stores are kept has to do with the level of staffing.

The best looking JCPenney stores I have been to are the newer standalone units, which are more relevant to the times and are simply laid out better.

[SamSpade]

Good LORD!
This was too good to not share.

J.C. Penney Co. had accidentally renewed its lease with the mall several months ago and had to tell RockStep it was a mistake, giving the mall ownership fair warning about what was coming.

Source: https://www.wctrib.com/business/retail/ ... all-owners