Poll of the Day > J.C. Penney Files For Bankruptcy As Lockdowns Take Their Toll

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/15/854108759/j-c-penney-files-for-bankruptcy-as-lockdowns-take-their-toll

In its 118-year history, J.C. Penney has gone from a Wyoming-based dry-goods store to being a key pillar of the American mall.

But like many malls across the country, J.C. Penney has been struggling for some time. The coronavirus lockdowns finally took the department store over the brink. The company said Friday that it's filing for bankruptcy and plans to close some of its stores "in phases," the timing and scale of which will be disclosed "in coming weeks."

It's the latest and likely not the last retailer whose preexisting conditions led them into bankruptcy during the pandemic, as clothes shopping has fallen off a cliff and the U.S. economy careens into a recession. In April, clothing purchases dove 79% amid a record 16.4% drop in overall retail sales.

Preppy retailer J.Crew and luxury department store Neiman Marcus were the first to turn to Chapter 11 proceedings to renegotiate their debt loads amid the coronavirus. Sears, J.C. Penney's historic rival, went into bankruptcy in 2018.

Promising fashion and housewares on a budget, J.C. Penney was once described by a New York Times critic as the "perennially square department store." It has been caught in a years-long cycle of financial losses, ever searching for an identity and a popularity boost.

The retailer currently has some 850 store locations and 90,000 employees. In a statement, CEO Jill Soltau said the company hopes to emerge from bankruptcy a leaner, smaller operation.

"Implementing this financial restructuring plan through a court-supervised process is the best path to ensure that JCPenney will build on its over 100-year history to serve our customers for decades to come," she said.

Indeed,J.C. Penney began 2020 with hopes of yet another turnaround.

Under Soltau, the company appeared on track with the latest revival plan. The retailer pinned some of its hopes on new negotiations with suppliers and landlords and the latest store redesign, with space for workouts, haircuts and coffee breaks. The company also ditched appliances yet again and even dipped its toes into selling used clothes.

But the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted J.C. Penney's plans as it forced malls and nonessential stores to shut for weeks. Already facing declining sales, the company in April missed a $12 million interest payment on its amassed debt.

Founded in 1902 by a man with an unlikely name of James Cash Penney, J.C. Penney has lived through many cycles of headlines about its looming demise and promises of a revival.

In the 1980s, J.C. Penney cut an ill-fated but revolutionary deal for high-end superstar Halston to design affordable fashions for the masses. In the 1990s, J.C. Penney dominated with a massive catalog operation and became one of the early stores to begin selling on the Internet. In the mid-2000s, it struck a formative partnership with cosmetics company Sephora.

In the 2010s, J.C. Penney taught one of retail's biggest cautionary tales with the high-fanfare hire of Apple's retail chief Ron Johnson as CEO. Johnson promised J.C. Penney a radical transformation with an appeal to younger shoppers. But his aggressively fast changes which included abolishing discounts and sales alienated loyal shoppers, costing J.C. Penney nearly $1 billion.

Its more recent history of store closures, job cuts and more recalibrations has helped turn venerable J.C. Penney into a penny stock. Since January, the company's shares have been valued at less than $1.

Guess I'm shopping for clothes elsewhere?

Great where the fuck else am I supposed to get pleated Dockers?

---

Pretty sure I just read they gave some top execs a million dollars recently even though they're in financial crisis. Fuck 'em.

---

dragon504 posted...

Pretty sure I just read they gave some top execs a million dollars recently even though they're in financial crisis. Fuck 'em.

Yup. Take the cash and sink the ship.
---

Far-Queue posted...

Great where the fuck else am I supposed to get pleated Dockers?

Kohls

Wonder if this is truly the end for them or whether they'll manage to somehow restructure their debt, get bought out, or another scenario that keeps at least some stores running.

At any rate, just one more victim of the shutdown.

dragon504 posted...

Pretty sure I just read they gave some top execs a million dollars recently even though they're in financial crisis. Fuck 'em.

It's a 10b business. A few million isn't going to make or break it, and otherwise the executives jump ship which makes the situation even worse.

---

gamestop is next.

---

How is JC Penney even a thing still

---

Mead posted...

How is JC Penney even a thing still

Appliances, furniture, clothing. One of the best places to get inexpensive dress and casual attire, in addition to jeans and socks.

Mead posted...

How is JC Penney even a thing still

My grandma love JC Penney...
---

Mead posted...

How is JC Penney even a thing still

Because its customers were still a thing?

---

Mead posted...

How is JC Penney even a thing still

Because people shopped there.

Department stores in general have been dying for a while now, though. Stores like Target and Wal-Mart stole most of their customers. Sears died first, but Penney's and Macy's have been teetering for a while now even before the Covid outbreak.
---

Zeus posted...

Wonder if this is truly the end for them or whether they'll manage to somehow restructure their debt, get bought out, or another scenario that keeps at least some stores running.

At any rate, just one more victim of the shutdown.

It's a 10b business. A few million isn't going to make or break it, and otherwise the executives jump ship which makes the situation even worse.

Yea sucking out all the liquid assets isnt bad.

Lol trumpster logic.

Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the franchise wars.


---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Because people shopped there.

Department stores in general have been dying for a while now, though. Stores like Target and Wal-Mart stole most of their customers. Sears died first, but Penney's and Macy's have been teetering for a while now even before the Covid outbreak.

I haven't been to either in years but Macy's had some really good clothes.
---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Sears died first,

Technically, it's not completely dead just yet. They got rid of a lot of locations leading up to the bankruptcy and some more after coming out of bankruptcy, but it still has stores at this point.

BlackScythe0 posted...

Yea sucking out all the liquid assets isnt bad.

Lol trumpster logic.

Thinking those are all the liquid assets is hilarious. Again, it's a $10b+ business. And if a company is either restructuring, being bought out, or winding down, good luck doing it if the people running the place all bail.

Lol Bernie supporters trying to talk business or economics

---

blu posted...

Kohls

Oh good lookin out fam

---

Sux they usually had pretty good sales and Sephora.

Zeus posted...

Technically, it's not completely dead just yet. They got rid of a lot of locations leading up to the bankruptcy and some more after coming out of bankruptcy, but it still has stores at this point.

Thinking those are all the liquid assets is hilarious. Again, it's a $10b+ business. And if a company is either restructuring, being bought out, or winding down, good luck doing it if the people running the place all bail.

Lol Bernie supporters trying to talk business or economics

I don't know what your basis is for claiming they are doing anything other than trying to loot the business they can't save.

Looks like what they did to toys r us.

im surprised radioshack didn't go first

---

BlackScythe0 posted...

I don't know what your basis is for claiming they are doing anything other than trying to loot the business they can't save.

Looks like what they did to toys r us.

The fact that you don't understand is something you already made clear multiple times already. However, you seem hellbent on further demonstrating that ignorance. Toys R Us was purchased by vulture capitalist groups in heavily-leveraged buyouts where the vulture capitalists were taking money out but the bigger issue was the fucking leveraged buyout which ballooned its debt and ensured that it constantly bled money (iirc, the interest payments alone were about $500m per year). You're comparing that to JCP's ACTUAL MANAGEMENT TEAM who, if they stick around (which is why they're getting the money), have a vested interest in things working out. What "happened to TRU" wasn't small executive payouts at the end, it was the heavily-leveraged buyout at the beginning which cost the company more per year than everything than the vulture capitalist groups managed to suck out of the company in fees during the years they owned it. As for a "basis," keep in mind that Sears underwent similar developments and they managed to keep at least part of the business going afterward.

JOExHIGASHI posted...

im surprised radioshack didn't go first

RadioShack is a weird case, in that they've bankrupted multiple times in recent years. One of the more notable ones saw RadioShacks basically become Sprint stores, after which even the name RadioShack vanished at those locations.

---

They were circling the drain before covid started, this just accelerated things.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Because people shopped there.

so weird

---

Zeus posted...

Technically, it's not completely dead just yet. They got rid of a lot of locations leading up to the bankruptcy and some more after coming out of bankruptcy, but it still has stores at this point.

I didn't even realize they still existed, because every single store I was aware of locally definitely closed. Including their Sears Auto Center locations and their K-Mart stores.

Is it a thing where it turns out that they have like three stores still open in the middle of nowhere somewhere that are just too stubborn to die (like has happened with other franchises in the past), or are they still actively running a significant number of stores across a somewhat widespread area?
---

Bulbasaur posted...

gamestop is next.

I don't think I have ever spent a single dime at a J.C. Penny's. However I used to go thorough it all the time as a kid because it was the store at the center of my local mall, and it always had parking available in front of it. So we would just park there, go through the store, and into the mall proper.

---

I used to steal from Penneys all the time. I did my part to help this along.

---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Is it a thing where it turns out that they have like three stores still open in the middle of nowhere somewhere that are just too stubborn to die (like has happened with other franchises in the past), or are they still actively running a significant number of stores across a somewhat widespread area?

Supposedly 182 stores remain, but who knows what will happen after this. Connecticut is still listed as having 3 locations and I think all three are in malls.

Dikitain posted... I don't think I have ever spent a single dime at a J.C. Penny's. However I used to go thorough it all the time as a kid because it was the store at the center of my local mall, and it always had parking available in front of it. So we would just park there, go through the store, and into the mall proper.

Yeah, I more walked through it as a matter of convenience than I did ever shop there. I think I probably picked up some t-shirts on occasion, a few times I got shoes or sandals (my favorite sandals were a pair I got from Sears), and then maybe I bought some other small stuff.

The selection and prices never seemed all that appealing.

---