Who could have ever predicted this outcome?
Roughly one week after the first reports were published about the Plano Texas-based department store exploring a Chapter 11 filing surfaced, JC Penney is officially filing for bankruptcy, sending its battered shares sliding even lower.
Reuters revealed late last night that a filing is imminent now that the department store chain has had to close all 850 of its stores and furlough its ~95k employees across the US, disrupting a turnaround plan that was – let’s be real – probably doomed to fail, anyway.
As the “retail apocalypse” moves into warp speed thanks to the pressures of the novel coronavirus outbreak, a representative for the chain told Reuters that the company probably has enough cash to survive the months ahead, even as revenue dries up because of the store closures. However, the company is considering bankruptcy protection to restructure its finances and get out from under crushing debt payments.
A decision on Chapter 11 reportedly isn’t final, and JCP is reportedly weighing other alternatives, like asking creditors to enter into talks to restructure its debt so it can save money on payments.
Meanwhile, March retail sales data released Wednesday showed a massive nearly 20% drop in sales at Department Stores across the country.
And a 50%-plus plunge in clothing store sales year-over-year…
If the chain does file, that will put even more pressure on malls across the country, as JC Penney stores often serve as major tenants.
No filing has been made, but the report has sent JCP stock spiraling lower, while the cost of insuring the department store’s debt has soared.
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J.C. Penney was a nice place to shop. I liked the Stafford brand of men’s clothing. Pity.
I knew things were bad in retail when, a not too long time ago, Montgomery Ward stores in the U.S. went out of business and returned to being a catalogue-only operation (owned by Wisconsin based The Swiss Colony Co. since 2008) plus the venerable Canadian department store Eaton’s shuffled off to eternal winter around the end of last century.
So considering everything that has happened economically, politically, and socially, regarding retail shopping malls anchors, it’s going to be Neiman Marcus and Tiffany’s for the remaining top 5% with really big Goodwill and Salvation Army stores everywhere available for everyone else.
*And the new “blue light special” is not a resurrection of a K Mart shopping classic but instead the local constabulary coming to take you to “proper isolation,” peasant.
Many years ago, I saw a presentation showing the top 10 retailers of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. By the 90’s, there was only 1 company left from the 50’s list.
A real shame. They already had a booming catalog business that could easily have been converted to an online retail powerhouse….but they fucked up royally. Square Deal pricing was a joke, and everyone knew it. One has to wonder if the goal of that useless CEO was to destroy the company. He certainly did a great job if it was.
In my timeline this has already happened, years ago.
Indeed, the last couple of years have simply been a distraction to keep THEM from facing the truth.
I thought they went tits up decades ago. Shows how much I miss them.
JC Penney was a local guy and started his first store in little Amboy, Illinois in the 1800’s. So was Carson Pirie. Both went on to be huge for over 100 years. Another local guy, Charles Walgreen started a pharmacy still in business as most know. John Deere was another local startup still in business today.
It is truly a shame to see familiar places crap out, but if you were standing on the street in a dusty little Illinois town in 1870 let’s say, would you believe in your wildest dreams that this Penney guy or Pirie guy would become household names and their businesses would last 150 years?
JC Penney moved to Colorado in the late 1890s for the dry air because of health conditions; his first business was a meat market that soon failed-his somewhat humorous quote much later was that he was glad he never made it as a butcher. He then got involved with dry goods and opened a store in Wyoming. Like so many of his time, his success was simple: a good idea, hard work, and always doing the right thing for his customer, his employees, and his community.
The other day I was cleaning out some old boxes of papers and found a Penney’s receipt from the mid-’70s for a JCP deep freeze-23 cubic feet, chest style-large enough to hold a whole beef-and the sucker never broke down. Even the light bulb in the lid worked all those years. It was made by Emerson Electric and we paid $235 for it.
Watching our local JCP go downhill for so many years was painful. They were one of the anchors of our biggest mall and hit the sweet spot for so many of a growing family’s needs. You could almost always bet on getting decent quality at a fair price-something that Bezos and Company have yet to master (and probably never will).
Dead man walking for years now Macy’s will be next
Yes, Macy’s too, has underlying problems that the government’s over-reaction to the beer flu will turn terminal.
On line and Amazon with all its faults is generally your best bet !
Needed a washing machine part for a kenmore (crossover research whirlpool ) sears parts out of stock 14 days or more back order , whirlpool dealer 10 days back order , Amazon parts on my front porch 48 hours after key stroke confirm pay pal send !
Washing machine down 3 days instead of 10 or 15 days and the parts were delivered free and were about $15 bucks cheaper and we wonder why big retail is taking a dump . Oh they were OEM Whirlpool parts of course from China …duh
Who could have predicted this outcome? James Quinn did a long time ago. 50 years ago Penney’s was a good place to get decent quality at a reasonable price. We did a lot of shopping there when my kids were little. Stopped going there over 20 years ago. Over priced crap.
Will Jacques Penney be counted as a death due to the beer flu? It certainly had underlying health problems going into this event and the actions of an overbearing government put the final nails in the coffin, just like will happen to millions of other businesses.
Mrs. GCP (global sourcing director) furloughed… ?
I don’t believe the store will survive. It’s a hard rain gonna fall.
On the bright side, now there’s two good minds focusing on the ice cream shop which has fortunately remained open (deemed an essential foodstuff) during this covid-insanity. Most people are just plain terrified.
To the customers with whom I think I can speak freely I joke; driving should be made illegal, one might get in a wreck. One day that may not be funny at all…