Following on the heels of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 15, 2020, JCPenney announced that 154 stores across the country will be closing their doors for good.
“While closing stores is always an extremely difficult decision, our store optimization strategy is vital to ensuring we emerge from both Chapter 11 and the COVID-19 pandemic as a stronger retailer with greater financial flexibility to allow us to continue serving our loyal customers for decades to come,” said Jill Soltau, chief executive officer of JCPenney, in a statement.
Like many businesses, the 118-year-old retailer had been forced to temporarily close its stores from the COVID-19 pandemic, and has reopened nearly 500 stores in the past month as states began to ease restrictions.
“JCPenney will continue to operate the majority of our stores and our flagship store, jcp.com, to ensure our valued customers continue to have access to the products and brands they need and want,” the company stated on their blog. Additional closures will be announced in the coming weeks with store closing sales kicking off on June 12.
For more information and a list of the closing store locations, visit the JCPenney blog.
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