No surprise, giving the current situation.

https://www.usatoday.com/story...onavirus/5214439002/

J C Penney, Sears Roebuck, and Montgomery Ward. The places of a time gone by.

This was going to happen, Covid or no Covid. Terrible management is the root cause.

Yeah when they decided a few years ago they wouldnt have sales any more, and started some new werid color code pricing, we called them dead.

Stupid management and an unforgiving business climate killed them, not COVID

The Yooper JC Penny tanked several years ago.

I’m pretty surprised that 249 stores isn’t even a third of their locations.

Didn't know they had 240 stores left...

quote:

Originally posted by MattW:
Didn't know they had 240 stores left...

Not to mention more implied by the the +...

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
J C Penney, Sears Roebuck, and Montgomery Ward. The places of a time gone by.

Indeed. And just slightly before was Woolworths. That pretty much sums up the retail of my town in the late 70's early 80s's.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Vaalic:
Yeah when they decided a few years ago they wouldnt have sales any more, and started some new werid color code pricing, we called them dead.

Stupid management and an unforgiving business climate killed them, not COVID

This. Outside managers overthinking and applying new ideas without testing in target stores. Outide management overtime cripples many business that can't weather repeated stategic errors. Particularly true in service based business.

Remember back when they stopped the sale promotions strategy and how it really tripped them up.

The writing has been on the wall for Penny's - we went there last Christmas Eve. When I was a kid, Christmas Eve at Penny's was a jam packed mad house. Christmas Eve 2019, there was about 10 people total counting all three floors...

B&M's will tumble everywhere. Thank you internet.(sarcasm alert)

For myself, who grew up with the JCP Christmas catalogue, this is like losing An old pet.

Nieman Marcus is in dire straits also.

They recently filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. COVID certainly didn't help, but neither did their approximately $5 billion in debt. In 2018 just the interest on the debt exceeded net profit.

If you look at B&M retail's costs be sales dollar, they're vastly higher than on-line. Of course it's augering in, especially retailers that specialize in goods that aren't necessary immediately (think grocery.)

One of my last jobs before the Great Lockdown was in a JC Penney, I had to double check with my boss and ask if they were still in business then, this doesn't surprise me one bit. That job was in an already dying mall, I'm guessing I won't be completing that job.

Victoria's Secret is closing 250 stores, however their stock went up.

Victorias Secret Closing

On top of these store closings, we're going to see the closing of many on the edge malls across the country since rents will be gone...

Over my 40+ years of banking, I wore a suit and tie for the first 15 years, a sport coat and tie the next 15 years and dress slacks and oxford shirts the final years. Nearly all of my early suits, and 90% of my shirts were Stafford. I could buy short sleeve shirts in the fall/winter dirt cheap and long sleeve shirts in the spring/summer dirt cheap. When I retired, I had over 200 shirts in every color and pattern and sleeve length. They were quality clothes and I still have many of them that will last the rest of my life.

Today I buy only my white dress shirts from them. For the money, I can't beat their Stafford Super-Shirts for Sundays, weddings and funerals. It's sad to see them go.

We've got a near empty mall now, a large vacant K-Mart, a large vacant Shop-Ko, a large vacant Herbergers and now a vacant Pier 1. JCP is still holding on here- for now.

It's true. Online transactions have put many local businesses (you know, the ones who pay taxes locally) out of business. The wuhan is going to speed that process up.

Pay close attention to what your local governments start doing as a result of the lack of those tax dollars.

Most of their clothes have turned to absolute crap. Used to wear their Arizona jeans because they were the only ones that fit right. Stopped buying them because they fall apart in a couple months.