Flickr/Mike Mozart
- JCPenney is one of the largest department stores in the country, with more than 800 brick-and-mortar locations.
- After nearly 120 years in business, JCPenney may not recover from years of consistently slumping sales and poor performance, analysts say.
- The retailer recently reported a 5.5% decrease in first-quarter sales and plans to close 27 stores this year.
- Here’s the story of the department store’s fall from grace.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
JCPenney has one foot in the retail grave, and it appears to be sinking deeper.
Shortly after celebrating its 117th birthday, the department store reported a 5.5% same-store sales decrease for the first quarter of 2019 while also announcing plans to imminently shutter 27 stores in 13 states. Though competitors like Nordstrom and Kohl’s reported similar first-quarter sales slumps, JCPenney has been hit particularly hard by nearly a decade of declining foot traffic and a failure to compete with e-commerce juggernauts like Amazon and Walmart.
"JCPenney hasn’t created an experience that solidifies a place in consumers’ shopping habits," Kathy Gersch, executive vice president of the consultancy firm Kotter, told Business Insider’s Mary Hanbury in May 2018.
Gersch said to Business Insider in July 2018: "They are creating an experience that isn’t right for anyone. They are trying to serve too many people at the moment."
The struggles of the beleaguered brand can be traced to a series of missteps made by an ever-changing executive team with conflicting strategies. While the appointment of CEO Jill Soltau in October signaled an opportunity for a turnaround, JCPenney’s reported quarterly loss of $154 million is giving analysts pause.
However, JCPenney wasn’t always so downtrodden. Below, we take a look at JCPenney’s rise as a mainstay of the American mall — and eventual fall — in photos.
JCPenney was founded by James Cash Penney in Kemmerer, Wyoming, in 1902. Penney decided to try his hand at retail after a failed attempt at starting a butcher shop in his home state of Missouri.
PhotoQuest/Getty Images
Source: JCPenney,WyoHistory.org
He named the first store "The Golden Rule," on ode to the popular idiom that means to "treat others as you would like to be treated."
Bettman/Getty Images
Source: JCPenney
By 1914, The Golden Rule had become a fully incorporated company. It officially changed its name to JCPenney and set up its headquarters in New York City.
The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Eyeing expansion, JCPenney began introducing its own private-label brands, beginning with Marathon Hats and expanding to Gaymode hosiery, Silver Moon lingerie, Big Mac workwear, and Towncraft menswear.
Source: JCPenney
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- These retailers could be worst hit by the trade war with China
- Department stores are shutting down across the country — here’s the list of Macy’s, Nordstrom, and Kohl’s stores that have closed or are closing this year
- Walmart is quietly closing stores — here’s the full list
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Bethany Biron)