J.C. Penney 'will file for bankruptcy and
plans to permanently close around 200
of its stores' - just days after Neiman Marcus
and J.Crew also filed amid the economic
fallout from the coronavirus pandemic
Reuters,
by
Staff
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
5/9/2020 12:30:13 PM
J.C. Penney Co is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection as soon as next week with plans to permanently close about a quarter of its roughly 850 stores, becoming the latest major U.S. retailer to succumb to fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, according to people familiar with the matter.
A bankruptcy filing would cap a long decline for the iconic 118-year-old department store chain, which struggled with a nearly $4-billion debt load and competition from e-commerce firms even before the pandemic's onset.The Plano, Texas-based company, which employs nearly 85,000 people,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
marbles 5/9/2020 12:39:10 PM (No. 406086)
I don't know about the other stores but Neiman had financial troubles way before the virus hit.
7 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
bassman 5/9/2020 12:42:11 PM (No. 406090)
This company has been on the verge of bankruptcy for years, no surprise.
19 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
franq 5/9/2020 12:49:01 PM (No. 406100)
Culling the herd. For Revelation 13 to come to pass, there needs to be a consolidation of supply sources.
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 5/9/2020 12:51:04 PM (No. 406105)
Yep. Shutting down the country was a real good move. Oh yeah. Worked real great. For public safety! Look at all the people we saved. Never mind the consequences. There must be sacrifices. We must all stick together (except those who are to be sacrificed, non-essential don'tcha know).
We're going to be paying for this for a long time in ways we cannot even imagine.
16 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 5/9/2020 12:55:25 PM (No. 406108)
That's a shame. I made it a point to shop at Penney last Christmas, trying to help them out a bit, bought several larger $50 class gifts there. I guess not enough people do.
Damned Amazon. I despise them.
8 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
JackBurton 5/9/2020 12:56:30 PM (No. 406111)
Like other things related to Covid. They had a co-morbidity. I knew ab out that and like shopping for bargains there. They were the best place to go for a number of apparel items.
11 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
oldmagnolia 5/9/2020 12:58:22 PM (No. 406114)
Don't blame it on the virus. These stores have been on life support for years.
18 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Smart11344 5/9/2020 1:01:13 PM (No. 406118)
Almost all of my high school clothing came from JC Penney. My aunt worked and got a discount. There were no Abercrombie and Fitch, Gap, Aeropostle will their over priced junk. Manyof the boys wore Levi's, Sears and Penney's. I'm speaking of 1958-1962. I'm now 76 and thankful that I have lived 75 years in a Covid free time. WE did have polio and the asian flu in the fifties. But nothing closed down. I am glad I lived my life when things, healthwise were normal.
20 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 5/9/2020 1:08:53 PM (No. 406126)
Same here, #8. I am 77. JCP and Sears were fine stores once. I don’t like Amazon either but they saw the future of online shopping. Those thousands of catalog shoppers could have been turned into digital customers.
7 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
jalo1951 5/9/2020 1:15:01 PM (No. 406138)
I just got an order yesterday from Penney's online store. I haven't been to the mall in years. I'm older and still working full time (I work at a middle school and am on paid furlow) and don't feel like driving, parking and walking around a mall. But I do like their online site. Lots of good choices and actually very good prices. Bought 3 couch pillows for the price of one. I'd hate to see their site go under but they have been having difficulties for years. Closing EVERYTHING down was a mistake. It will take many years to get over this. Dems are not likely to give up their total power if they can help it. Thankful I live in a red state.
7 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Venturer 5/9/2020 1:17:21 PM (No. 406142)
The pandemic certainly did not help, but the troubles started way before it came along.
Internet sales is killing these companies.
6 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Axeman 5/9/2020 1:25:29 PM (No. 406151)
"Due to gov't reaction to the virus" is how I read all these type of headlines. We have pandemics all the time.
2 people like this.
JCP has been drowning for years.
Nothing new.
Sears
Wards
Gottschalks
Strouds
It’s a dog eat dog business world thanks to Bezos’ Amazon et al...
Know your market!
Please your customers!
7 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
lazlototh 5/9/2020 1:40:27 PM (No. 406166)
I've wanted to see Penneys survive but I'm surprised they are even still around. Visit their store and there's no compelling reason to be in it. Same with Sears, especially once they started making Craftsman tools in China. Neiman-Marcus has always seemed vulnerable and a vulnerable company should grow slowly and keep debt at the lowest level possible. As #6 pointed out, all these companies had financial comorbidities. I can only hope the people thrown out of work are able to find something if the ongoing lockdown that has apparently had zero positive impact here in the NYC area judging by the level of infections is ever ended.
5 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
chumley 5/9/2020 1:49:23 PM (No. 406174)
Last time I bought something at a Penneys it was three 45 rpm records, so that kind of dates it. My biggest objection to the place was that, no matter what door you went in, you had to run the gauntlet of the old womens' underwear racks to get to anything else. A lesser kid would have gone gay from that sight which cannot be unseen. Last time I saw a Penneys it was in the 1980's and they were pushing financial services. For a merchandise store that is dying to sell financial services is a bad sign.
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 5/9/2020 1:56:22 PM (No. 406178)
My only concern is there are fewer and fewer options for shopping - especially after the COVID shutdown. A handful of oligarchs like Soros or Bezos could own most of the stores, and thus control what we can buy.
6 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
RCFLyer98 5/9/2020 2:08:31 PM (No. 406189)
Yes, they've been in trouble for a number of years, but it's still sad to see them go. They are going the way of Sears, Montgomery Ward, Speigel, Gottschalk, and some others. This group once was "the" place to go for clothes, appliances, hardware. The one thing you can depend on . . . is change. They have not survived the change.
1 person likes this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 5/9/2020 2:09:31 PM (No. 406192)
Hiring the homosexual for CEO put the company on the road to Chapter 11. He spent all their working cash buying clothes to make J.C. Penney look like another Old Navy/GAP/Abercrombie & Fitch. He also spent what was left to create his "store of tomorrow" concept using RFID chips and big tables onto which patrons would dump their loads of clothes for automated checkout, instead of the clerk manage checkout line. Needless to say, not only did the "big table" not work as intended, it also turned into an 'out in the open' opportunity for shoplifters.
When the Board begged the previous CEO (who was very good, but got dumped for the homo) to come back, it was all but over by then. They've been on borrowed time for the last 5 years.
10 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
stablemoney 5/9/2020 2:25:33 PM (No. 406207)
I am sorry to see the big department stores in so much trouble. J.C. Penney has been with us for over a hundred years. Sadly, the management of J.C.Penney would not change, but the world has. Penney's, I think, have a new CEO that is competent, finally, but hired only a few months prior to the bankruptcy filing, so too late. I think Penney's will emerge in some form, and maybe now will make the changes they should have made many years ago. The management of Sears and its ownership has been a disaster. How can that much stupidity and stubborn refusal to change exist?
3 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
padiva 5/9/2020 3:52:33 PM (No. 406277)
Ugh. I've worked in the retail store for over 10 years. (and qualify for a permanent employee discount) For many months I have been the sole employee in the window treatment dept.
I have the most important job in the company. I do 2 things. I put the money in the cash register and I make it a pleasant experience so people will continuously repeat these 2 things.
As with many other retail places, they can't find and keep competent employees. There is a lot of dead weight middle management.
I will survive.
7 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
TXknitter 5/9/2020 4:27:12 PM (No. 406304)
Me too #8. This news about JC Penney really really makes me sad. It was a big part of my entire childhood. They had American goods and blouses I still have and wear, if you can believe it. The cotton quality cannot even be found in today’s linens, towels and most clothing. I have bought many JC Penney towels at second hand stores, garage sales and ebay.
I do not care for Amazon’s evil intentions but Penney’s has been a mess for quite some time. Small farmers and businesses in my town that do well ALL sell much online. They found, even before the China virus, that often their month’s profits from the online store exceeded their lovely brick and mortar store.
2 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
OhioNick 5/9/2020 5:04:38 PM (No. 406330)
Everyone seems to forget what killed JC Penney and the mainstream media certainly won't tell you. The company was earning a profit until a new CEO decided to play politics. The first year he was in charge of the company, he put two homosexual dads on their Fathers Day newspaper ad and two lesbians on their Mother's Day ad. And then for their Christmas campaign, he put Ellen Degeneres in the company's television commercials because apparently nothing says Christmas like a masculine, militant lesbian.
The CEO also redesigned the stores, made them look like flashy discos and got rid of much of the traditonal clothing that Middle America had purchased for years. Not surprising, as soon as he began running the company, the chain began losing money and continued to do so for many years.
10 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
3XALADY 5/9/2020 5:25:33 PM (No. 406358)
I'm a 76 year old female and have done much shopping at Penneys over the years. Throw rugs, bathroom sets (rugs, stool cover) and towels always came from JCP. Excellent quality. Also bought curtains/drapes from them and probably other things over the years. Now I'm doing on-line shopping at JCP and it's not bad. Just hasn't been a big selection on the home goods. I will be sorry to see them go. Another icon from my past. Along with Macy's (Famous & Barr) and Neiman Marcus.
6 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
voxpopuli 5/9/2020 6:55:27 PM (No. 406409)
finally.. had to get to reply 22 to see the problem..
that is when i quit going to JCP..
when they cared more about their
non-existent homosexual patrons than ME..
who had been patronizing them for 40 years.
good riddance
4 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
lftrn97 5/9/2020 8:08:35 PM (No. 406453)
Remember Montgomery Wards?
3 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
worried 5/9/2020 9:06:21 PM (No. 406499)
Some people complain about Amazon, but Sears and Montgomery Ward, Penny and others all had the chance to do sales on the internet. Those catalog sales were the precursor of the internet. If those places had been on the ball, and a little far-seeing, then they could have done what Amazon has done. But it's easier to complain than buckle down and work.
0 people like this.
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