JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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Alpha8472
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JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Post by Alpha8472 »

They are opening their own beauty shops while Kohl's is using Sephora. Both of them will probably not do well.

https://chainstoreage.com/jcpenney-roll ... -chainwide
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Re: JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Post by babs »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 19th, 2022, 4:46 pm They are opening their own beauty shops while Kohl's is using Sephora. Both of them will probably not do well.

https://chainstoreage.com/jcpenney-roll ... -chainwide
Sephora did drive traffic to JCPenney but most of those customers did not purchase anything in the store. I think it makes sense for JCPenney to add a cosmetics department instead of adding.more clothing. It all comes down to execution. This isn't going to save JCPenney but I'd probably do the same thing as they already have most of the infrastructure in place.
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Re: JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Post by SamSpade »

Penney James is back, this time with some backup for "Black Friday Deals" (whatever that means, not clear like Walmart's "deals on Monday all through Nov-Dec" ads).

I hope she's making some decent money from these ads, as she was released from SNL before the current (pretty terrible) season.
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Re: JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Post by storewanderer »

The fact that the chain is still open and hasn't closed hundreds of more stores is impressive. They are doing something right. I have no clue what it is they are doing right though because I sure don't see it looking at the stores.
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Re: JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Post by SamSpade »

Now that "Black Friday" has passed, the chain appears to be recycling last year's Joy Comfort and Peace ("JCP") campaign.

Today the website basically looks like an electronic version of a newspaper full page ad and/or flyer from the pre/post Johnson era. Guess they really have a lot of confidence in that "core customer," whomever she is.

Personally after using another mass retailer's eCommerce platform I would probably never order from jcpenney.com again unless they've made larger moves in shipping times out west (unlikely).
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Re: JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Post by storewanderer »

So the JC Penney in Reno lost its Sephora a while ago and has had the replacement under construction for a while.

Meanwhile the JC Penney in Carson City still has its Sephora inside as if nothing has changed. I assume that will be closing soon?

None of the Kohls in the area have Sephora inside yet.

After spending a while in both the Reno and Carson City units this week, JC Penney seems to be lumbering along like a zombie. It is just doing its thing. Lots of deep discounts. Reno store is a mess and in disrepair, Carson City is outdated looking but neat and well kept. JC Penney at this point looks better to me than Kohls on merchandise mix. This is not to say JC Penney looks good. Just that it looks better than Kohls. I don't know what has happened to Kohls.
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Re: JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Post by ClownLoach »

JCP at this point is the new Sears when it comes to department stores that don't pay rent. They used to own quite a bit of real estate; I know they did some lease backs but they still own quite a few stores and have really good deals elsewhere. I found one store near me has a 99 year lease with the city who owns the mall for $1 a year. It'll never close. And the mall companies who bought it don't care - all their leases in the malls those owners operate are subject to massive discounts if a required anchor is closed. They are better off running JCP and not charging it rent than having a hundred other stores suddenly be able to get a 50% or more rent reduction.

Somehow, I can't explain it, but the last time I needed to shop a department store I needed a dress shirt and tie for a funeral. Macy's didn't have my size in two different stores. Kohl's looked like they just plain stopped carrying shirts period. JCP had multiple options in my size (which is an odd size, I have really long arms) and at a good price after coupon.
Last edited by ClownLoach on December 24th, 2022, 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Post by storewanderer »

It was strange in the Reno mall this week. This is a Simon Mall. The Reno JCP closes at 9 PM. The Reno mall closes at 11 PM, Macys also closes at 11 PM. The mall the past few nights had pretty good traffic past 9 PM.

Forever 21 and Aeropostale were both open until at least 10 PM.

I find it odd the JCP is being closed so early. They seem to be running the JCP on skeleton staffing. The vibe in JCP feels off. The Reno Store has numerous maintenance issues like cracked floor tiles, cracked mirrors, bad lighting, etc. I was surprised by some of the items offered and the price points they had. They do seem to be focusing on very basic but functional merchandise types and selling them at very low sale prices (the retails are absurd). Decent sweaters for both men and women, etc. Also they at least still have an area with men's dress shirts, slacks, etc., a product line Kohls may as well just say they've discontinued given how much they've cut it back. The JCP also had a good coat selection especially women's coats. Kohls hardly has any coats. It feels like Kohls has forgotten men do use slacks and button down shirts, and that women need coats in the winter. But Kohls has plenty of jeans and t-shirts. I'm not sure which store has a more useless clothing department at this point, Kohls or Target. But I think the award goes to Kohls.

My suspicion is JCP is going to post profits for this ownership group. They are clearly keeping expenses low. They appear to be driving sales as well, not exactly because they somehow are on trend but simply because the competition is so bad.
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Re: JCPenney To Open 900 Beauty Shops

Post by cjd »

JCPenney always seemed to have a great selection of dress shirts and sizes under its Stafford brand. I found the feel and quality superior to many brands in discount stores and when on sale were usually better prices
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