JCPenney Closes Six Stores, Catalog Operation

[The Straight Story]

JCPenney Closes Six Stores, Catalog Operation

JCPenney announced Jan. 24 that it will close six underperforming stores in 2011.

The company is closing stores in Morrow, Ga.; West Dundee, Ill.; Des Moines, Iowa; High Point, N.C.; and Culpeper, Va.; as well as one JCPenney Home Store in Duluth, Ga.

JCPenney also plans to the scale down its catalog and outlet operations, and streamline its call center operations and custom decorating business.

...

The company also named two new directors: William A. Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management; and Steven Roth, chairman of the board of Vornado Realty Trust.

Ackman is a so-called “activist investor,” whose company recently purchased more than 16.5 percent of Penney’s stock. He made the acquisition in conjunction with Vornado, which bought 9.9 percent of the retailer’s shares.

http://www.jckonline.com/2011/01/24/jcpenney-closes-six-stores-catalog-operation

[SoCalDem]

1. Internet has truly killed catalog departments (JC Penney was the last one, I think)

I loved Sears catalog desk when my kids were small..and Wards too.. I did not have to drag them through the store shopping with me. I could order stuff , pick it up and be in and out of the store in minutes:) (3 boys in 5 years) :scared:

And we had a fantastic Sears Catalog Outlet store a few minutes from out house:) We still have Tourister Luggage we bought there in 1978.. It's ugly, but also indestructible:)

[47of74]

2. I used to love it when we got the catalogs

Many a boring afternoon was spent looking through the toys and later the electronics sections of the catalogs. Looking at all the stuff I wanted and dreaming about acquiring said items.

[SoCalDem]

3. Same here.. Each one of my boys had to have their OWN Xmas catalog

and a magic marker :evilgrin:

[Beacool]

7. I know!!!

When I was a kid my mother and I would pour over the Sears catalog. At one time you could even purchase a prefabricated home through the catalog (way before my time, but it must have been cool to build your own home).

"If you think houses built from kits are shoddy, cheap and obvious, think again. Between 1908 and 1940, Sears sold about 70,000 homes in all 48 states through their mail-order Modern Homes program, with 370 designs that you might not readily recognize as a kit home. Sears kit homes were shipped via boxcar and came with a 75-page instruction book. Each kit contained 10,000 - 30,000 pieces and the framing members were marked to facilitate construction. Many decades later, those same markings can help identify a home as a Sears kit home. So if you're wondering if that adorable little bungalow with the big eaves (or even your own house) is a kit home, read on for signs that will help you identify if it is indeed a historically significant Sears kit home."







:-)

[47of74]

9. We have a reproduction of the 1901 Sears catalog here

I think even back then they were selling these kit houses. I'd have to find the catalog and see if they had those kit houses back then. That catalog had just about everything for sale.

[Beacool]

10. Yeah, the catalog started when the country had most of its population living in rural areas.

People could peruse the catalog and make their wish lists. In my post, the first advertisements is for the house that is pictured. The house still stands and looks pretty sturdy.

:-)

[pnwmom]

4. You can still order stuff online and pick-up/return at the store.

Or at least, I could last time I tried.

[HereSince1628]

6. I thought THAT was their catalog dept.

is that considered something else?

[The Straight Story]

8. Catalog store, one of them, is here in Central Ohio

They have awesome deals there (outlet store & catalog store together).

[pnwmom]

11. I think they've overlapped over the last several years.

Now that we're talking about it, I wonder what they'll do about online pick-ups and returns.

[Renew Deal]

5. No stores in NY touched.

I think they do well in NY.