JC Penney may close nearly 30 percent of its remaining stores over the next 18 months after filing for bankruptcy last week.
The retailer currently has almost 850 stores and has already announced the closure of six stores this year before coronavirus forced a more drastic step. Overall store closings may be just shy of 200 this year as well as 50 next year.
JC Penney, which has a store at Emporia’s Flinthills Mall, has not yet officially targeted the stores it plans to close. The company has not said how many of its 85,000 employees face layoffs as a result.
Financial experts, however, say there is a chance JC Penney liquidates instead of emerging from bankruptcy.
JC Penney has struggled for years to meet the changing demands of retail shoppers, but it has also had a range of poor business decisions and a revolving door of leadership — all leading to close to $5 billion in losses since 2010, its last profitable year. Projected store sales this fiscal year are expected to be 60 to 70 percent lower than last fiscal year.
