By: 1812Blockhouse Staff
In early May, we shared the news that the JCPenney Company was possibly closing up to one-quarter of its stores across the country in face of ongoing challenges and the impact of COVID-19.
This past week, the first stage in that process began with the announced closure of 154 JCPenney locations. The location at Richland Mall was not among them.
A release shared by the company on Thursday stated that the choice of which stores to close came “Following a comprehensive evaluation of its retail footprint and a careful analysis of store performance and future strategic fit for the company.”
The process for closing this first set of locations is anticipated to take about 10 to 16 weeks to complete.
“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 service our loyal customers for decades to come,” said Jill Soltau, chief executive officer of JCPenney.
Ohio locations included in the 154 stores are:
- Chapel Hill Mall, Akron
- Tri County Plaza, Akron
- Carnation Mall, Alliance
- Ashtabula Mall, Ashtabula
- Governors Plaza, Cincinnati
- Northtowne Mall, Defiance
- Summit Square Shopping Center, East Liverpool
- The Shoppes at Parma, Parma
- Miami Valley Mall, Piqua
