JCPenney Down For The Count!

JcPenney is close to the graveyard.

It's confirmed that J.C. Penney has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to starve off liquidation of the 115 year old company. The company has announced its going to close 200 stores.

It is also facing heat for the fact that company CEOs managed to take a big payout before they made the difficult decision to file for bankruptcy.

JCPenney CEO, Jill Soltau said that, "The American industry has experienced a profoundly different new reality, requiring JCPenney to make difficult decisions in running our business."

The department store has struggled for years but this Friday, JCPenney joins J. Crew and Neiman Marcus in the retail apocalypse

The retail has made the plans to close stores in the United States and Puerto Rico.

I know the Dayton Mall, Eastgate Mall, Fields-Ertel Road, Hamilton Bridgewater Falls, Miami Valley Mall and the Stone Creek Plaza will face closure.

"Until this pandemic struck, we had made significant progress rebuilding our company under our Plan for Renewal strategy — and our efforts had already begun to pay off," Soltau said.

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

It operates 850 stores and it has nearly 90,000 workers. It said that it received $900 million in financing to help it operate during the restructuring.

"This is a long, sad story," said Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, a retail research firm.

"Penney offers no reason to shop there compared to its competitors, whether it's Macy’s or T.J. Maxx or Walmart. How are they going to survive?"

Like many department stores, Penney is struggling to remain relevant in an era when Americans are buying more online or from discounters. Sears has now been reduced to a couple hundred stores after being bought by hedge fund billionaire and its former chairman Eddie Lampert in bankruptcy in early 2019. Barneys New York closed its doors earlier this year and Bon-Ton Stores went out of business in 2018.

The pandemic has just put department stores further in peril as they see their sales evaporate with extended closures. Even as retailers like Penney start to reopen in states like Texas and Florida that have relaxed their lock downs, they’re also facing Herculean challenges in making shoppers feel comfortable to be in public spaces.