Community Chat

[minimalistWF]

I am a millenial and honestly would NEVER shop at JC Penny, online or in store.  The clothing is really dated and cheap looking.  i'm surprised they lasted this long.  There are soooo many other places to shop for better options.

[bewise]

It's very sad for another store to go down.In my town wis.there is nothing left.I use to like walking for exercises in many of them,it's so sad what are world is coming to.With this virus now makes it so much worse.

[Snoopp]

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@minimalistWF wrote:

I am a millenial and honestly would NEVER shop at JC Penny, online or in store.  The clothing is really dated and cheap looking.  i'm surprised they lasted this long.  There are soooo many other places to shop for better options.

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JCP is great for bedding, linens, and basic things like cotton tee shirts and lingerie.  

[gardenman]

This line from Spurt's post struck me. "Some stores will have to be closed. There are too many in Texas and while the Yellow Front stores – tiny mid-western stores – are marginally profitable, they are not promising growth and incremental profitability."

Closing stores that are making a profit, even if it's "marginally profitable," and "they are not promising growth and incremental profitability" is a recipe for disaster. Keep any profitable store open. If they're making you money, keep them open. More stores let you buy items in larger quantities at a lower cost per item which increases your profits. When you start closing "marginally profitable" stores you lose customers, you lose volume and you kill a company.

I'm quite sure there are lots of Penney's stores that are losing a lot of money. Close them. Keep the profitable ones open. This is a pet peeve of mine. In the last twenty years, we've lost a department store and grocery store that were both making a profit for the parent company but had "limited growth potential" so they closed them and kept money-losing stores open that had more growth potential. Guess what happened? Both parent companies ended up going bankrupt. Any profit is a good profit. It's not rocket science. If you close stores making you money and keep open stores that are costing you money, you're not going to come out ahead.

"Oh, but the potential of the market where we're losing money is so great!" Yeah, well potential doesn't pay the bills. The "too many stores in Texas" line is another eye-opener. Are they making a profit? If yes, then you don't have too many stores in Texas. Heck, open more in Texas as long as you're making a profit. That's why you're in business, to make a profit. 

Those running retail chains get a bit lost sometimes. As long as a store is making you money and not costing you money, keep it open. It doesn't matter if you "have too many of them" in an area. Are they making you money? If yes, then you don't have too many of them. If stores are losing money, close the losers despite their "market potential." Potential doesn't pay the bills. "But we need to be in that marketplace!" Why? To lose money? 

Metrics, statistics, market forecasts are great but they don't pay the bills. Profitable stores pay the bills. Keep profitable stores open, close those losing money, and stay alive. It's not rocket science. Way too many people running retail chains lose sight of reality. 

[Spurt]

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@homedecor1 wrote:

So sad I hope they recover.  I buy all my home furnishings over the past 40+ years.  They lately have had limited stock which I attributed to pandemic.

Our closest store closed 5 years ago.  I don't mind driving a hour to store because at one time I could find what I wanted.

I stopped going last year when returns had to be done in another part of store.  Stupid thing, they have only 2 cashier areas for entire store & return area is small with 1 cashier & long lines☹️

Then store hardly had any selections in home section

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@homedecor1 

Its funny how they shrunk a Department like their Home Section in many of their stores that contributed to 24% of their business....It seems their Management has no common sense....

[Spurt]

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@minimalistWF wrote:

I am a millenial and honestly would NEVER shop at JC Penny, online or in store.  The clothing is really dated and cheap looking.  i'm surprised they lasted this long.  There are soooo many other places to shop for better options.

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@minimalistWF 

I'm curious, name some places you shop for clothes....(and I bet QVC isnt one of them either...)

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

This line from Spurt's post struck me. "Some stores will have to be closed. There are too many in Texas and while the Yellow Front stores – tiny mid-western stores – are marginally profitable, they are not promising growth and incremental profitability."

Closing stores that are making a profit, even if it's "marginally profitable," and "they are not promising growth and incremental profitability" is a recipe for disaster. Keep any profitable store open. If they're making you money, keep them open. More stores let you buy items in larger quantities at a lower cost per item which increases your profits. When you start closing "marginally profitable" stores you lose customers, you lose volume and you kill a company.

I'm quite sure there are lots of Penney's stores that are losing a lot of money. Close them. Keep the profitable ones open. This is a pet peeve of mine. In the last twenty years, we've lost a department store and grocery store that were both making a profit for the parent company but had "limited growth potential" so they closed them and kept money-losing stores open that had more growth potential. Guess what happened? Both parent companies ended up going bankrupt. Any profit is a good profit. It's not rocket science. If you close stores making you money and keep open stores that are costing you money, you're not going to come out ahead.

"Oh, but the potential of the market where we're losing money is so great!" Yeah, well potential doesn't pay the bills. The "too many stores in Texas" line is another eye-opener. Are they making a profit? If yes, then you don't have too many stores in Texas. Heck, open more in Texas as long as you're making a profit. That's why you're in business, to make a profit. 

Those running retail chains get a bit lost sometimes. As long as a store is making you money and not costing you money, keep it open. It doesn't matter if you "have too many of them" in an area. Are they making you money? If yes, then you don't have too many of them. If stores are losing money, close the losers despite their "market potential." Potential doesn't pay the bills. "But we need to be in that marketplace!" Why? To lose money? 

Metrics, statistics, market forecasts are great but they don't pay the bills. Profitable stores pay the bills. Keep profitable stores open, close those losing money, and stay alive. It's not rocket science. Way too many people running retail chains lose sight of reality. 

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@gardenman 

Your comments call to mind another bad decision, but this time it was the Woolworth Co......I dont know if anyone remembers Woolworth's discount stores called WOOLCO.... (a forerunner of Walmart/Target)....the Woolco stores in our city did a BOOMING business always crowded parking lots full in the shopping center they were located in.....  Meanwhile down the street was Woolworth's in a mall---you could shoot a canon in the store there was never any customers there....people used to use it as a pathway for easy access to the mall parking lot....

So what did the Execs decided to do....why close the WOOLCO stores that were making money, and leave the original Woolworth that no one shopped in open.....the only thing that DID NOT make sense....and guess what ----Woolworth ended up going bankrupt and closing up for good!!!.....NO COMMON SENSE!!! 

[FlowerBear]

this is sad and i wonder if the one i shop in will close? they put a sephora in it but i never go to that area.  the town i have to go to for shopping, closed sears and elder beerman and kmart. only place left is kohls  and jcp!

[ALRATIBA]

I got an email this morning - JC Penney Settlement.  There was a class action suit re text messaging ... I'm getting a $10 purchase credit!

[Pantsonfire2]

@MarthaStewardess  ...  I purchased from JCP because of their tall pants and jeans.  It is impossible to find tall sizes in many stores but JCP always had them ...  in fact they even had ultra tall in some styles.  If you're short you can always HEM to fix a length problem, but you can't ADD FABRIC to make longer ...  they were my go to place with their tall line and their quality was in most instances very good.  They offered long dresses in tall ...  PJ's and other things ...  I will miss them too !!

On the other hand, they ruined their local store a few years ago when they remodeled and went for the industrial look and added a Sephora and took out most of the curtain department which I loved.  I could always find fairly well made drapery until that point ...  and other housewares ...  for me that did it for in-store shopping.