JC Penney Might Be Going Belly Up (Along With Sears)

[PrettySquareGal]

http://www.businessinsider.com/jcpenney-list-of-stores-closing-2017-3

 

[AmateisGal]

Oh great. Really doesn't surprise me too much. I've noticed that our JCPenney store has started to look a little worse for wear. Always busy, though.

 

[green papaya]

JC PENNY & SEARS are my favorite stores

 

[scotrace]

I'd be really sorry to see Penney's go. They have good quality men's shirts for the money. There's really nothing much in a negative way to say about them, they just feel very old and tired as a brand. The local store isn't on the list in the article, but the mall they're in is not doing well, though they just opened a Dick's sporting goods store and an Ulta makeup place is in progress.

It's ironic: shopping malls killed downtowns, and now big outdoor shopping villages that feel like old downtowns are thriving, and malls seem like an 80s relic.
You get to go to this little village, almost like a contrived theme park, and play at J Crew, Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma, Banana Republic, L.L. Bean, Build-a-Bear, The Apple Store, etc, and eat at Cheesecake Factory or Melting Pot, then see a blockbuster in a reclining lounge chair. Rather brilliantly timed with a middle class unable to afford a proper vacation. It's kind of hard to fit a JC Penney or Sears into that uber hip mix.

 

[Nobert]

It's ironic: shopping malls killed downtowns, and now big outdoor shopping villages that feel like old downtowns are thriving, and malls seem like an 80s relic.
You get to go to this little village, almost like a contrived theme park, and play at J Crew, Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma, Banana Republic, L.L. Bean, Build-a-Bear, The Apple Store, etc, and eat at Cheesecake Factory or Melting Pot, then see a blockbuster in a reclining lounge chair. Rather brilliantly timed with a middle class unable to afford a proper vacation. It's kind of hard to fit a JC Penney or Sears into that uber hip mix.

Now I'm wondering how old those shopping villages actually are:

 

[sheeplady]

There's a few things I can only find at Pennies (notably slips) so it looks like I need to make a run before the local one closes. Boo.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ours survived this latest round of cuts, but I imagine this just means it's on borrowed time. It's been there since it took over the location from a Grant's, when that chain when bankrupt in 1976, and it still looks pretty much as it did forty years ago. Not that we have much here in the way of hip young shoppers, but the JCP demographic does seem to be dying off.

 

[Zombie_61]

The two JCPenney stores closest to us always seem to be busy and are well maintained, but the third closest (West Covina, California) is on that closure list. The closest Sears stores, on the other hand, definitely aren't the draw they once were and often have entire sections that have been cleared of merchandise but still have the empty shelves and racks in place, which only reinforces the notion that they're not doing well. I'm surprised they're still open for business.

 

[green papaya]

SEARS has a really nice men's boot / shoe dept , Im glad they are still here

 

[scotrace]

The new Dick's Sporting Goods here is in the building previously occupied by Sears. That store had the empty rack syndrome for a year or so before leaving.

 

[BlueTrain]

It is odd that the so-called town center-type shopping centers have become the new place to be for a store. The one that I've been to a few times is actually pretty nice. Not only is it nice, but there are a lot of residental properties nearby and within walking distance, only they're all apartments. In some ways, however, it duplicates the problems that the older downtowns had, starting sometime in the 1950s. The traffic is bad and the parking can be bad, too. But the parking is really no worse than it is at a good mall (one you'd actually want to visit). But you might have to walk a couple of blocks to get to where you're going. They tend to be rather upscale, however.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The trend now in city planning is "walkability," which is a counterreaction to sixty years of suburban sprawl. Young middle-class families are rebelling against the idea of having to use a car to get everywhere they want to go, and are pushing more and more for development to return to the areas it abandoned in the days of "white flight" and "suburbanization" after WWII. This is all well and good, but it also has the effect of forcing working class families out of their neighborhoods in the sacred name of Development, and where such displaced people will go is still a question to be resolved. But I suspect that the day is not far off when the "suburbs" will become the new American Ghetto.

 

[BlueTrain]

It's a false idea. Even that wonderful small town I keep mentioning, mainly because that's what I know the most about, had streetcars 90 years ago. That's because even in a small town, you can't really walk everywhere. But if you go to either a mall, a big box store or a town center, plan on doing a lot of walking.

I don't know about any new ghetto but you have a good point about working class (that is, lower income) people being forced out because of rising rents and property values. There doesn't even have to be any development at all. All that need happen is for a neighborhood to become trendy. It usually doesn't involve families with children but people with more money than the people who were living there. Around here, it's happened in "old town" Alexandria, VA, Georgetown in D.C., and a few other neighborhoods in D.C., including along the waterfront (Yes, Wasington has a waterfront).

When there is no new development or only some, it's called gentrification. The development that does happen tends to replace old, run-down neighborhoods with sleek and expensive high-rises in sterile neighborhoods that are not pedestrian friendly. That's ironic, given that it's in the city.

Overall, however, I'll take the gentrification and development anyday, even if I'm one of those who are forced to move further out to a place I can afford. It means the area is in good shape economically. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats (provided you have a good boat!).

 

[Stormy]

JC Penny's and Sears are relatively okay around here for now (the latter did close a few stores some years ago). However, my two favorite Macy's locations are having going out of business sales right now. I do stop by Penny's every now-and-then but haven't been to Sears in ages!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've lived on the coast all my life, and one thing I know for certain is that a rising tide *doesn't* in fact lift all boats. Those that are mired in the mud end up swamped. Gentrification has been a real mixed bag here, as the increasing number of our people who are mired in the mud will reveal.

To the direct point of downtowns, it's very seldom that the "revived" gentrification-type downtown areas actually serve the people who live in those areas. Most of the "new development" we get here is tourism related, and if we locals need a new pair of socks or a garbage can or a roll of duct tape, we have to get in the car and drive four miles out of town to get to WalMart. There was a huge stink in Boston a couple years back when Whole Foods colonized a working-class Hispanic neighborhood, eliminating the only locally-owned grocery store in that area, and leaving the residents with no local place where they could buy affordable food.

 

[BlueTrain]

That's basically what I was trying to say, although that wasn't my point. In a roundabout way, the local solution to low income residents and all the problems associated with them (or believed to be) is usually just getting them to go somewhere else. It's hard to prove that is anyone's intent, though I suspect it is, but either way, that's the net effect.

Results vary a great deal and it is likewise difficult to say why things happen the way they do. I seriously doubt there is any government office anywhere that makes things like that happen, though undoubtedly it makes someone in government happy. Law enforcement feels some relief (justifiably or not), property values go up, way up and tax revenue increases. What's not to like? The new residents are probably happy as clams and probably feel lucky to have such a nice, close-in place to live. The only downside is increased difficulty for employers in the city to find low-level wage earners to do the dirty work. It's even difficult for skilled workers but somehow, everyone manages. But cities aren't what they used to be, although it isn't really fair to expect that they would be.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, we could all become 21st Century Okies, I guess. With a little modification, my '99 Subaru would make a fine Okiemobile.

That said, it's been my observation here that it's not "undesirables" who get forced to leave by gentrification. It's working class people, the kind of people who work fifty hours or sixty hours a week at multiple jobs selling shiny junk and serving overpriced food to tourists, who end up displaced. Between outright gentrification and the stinking racket that is AirBnB, it's become next to impossible to rent any kind of an apartment in town here that you could live in without fighting rats and bugs all the time for less than $900 a month. That's peanuts by NYC standards, but it's obscene by the standards of what people have to live on here.

The result is that working people get shoved out into the woods -- literally so. And even those types of places are rapidly pricing out of the market, with no end in sight. There's a reason why Lenin wanted to hang the landlords.

 

[BlueTrain]

When one place grows, it is at the expense of some other place. The last places to stay in business are the taverns.

 

[Zombie_61]

The trend now in city planning is "walkability," which is a counterreaction to sixty years of suburban sprawl. Young middle-class families are rebelling against the idea of having to use a car to get everywhere they want to go, and are pushing more and more for development to return to the areas it abandoned in the days of "white flight" and "suburbanization" after WWII. This is all well and good, but it also has the effect of forcing working class families out of their neighborhoods in the sacred name of Development, and where such displaced people will go is still a question to be resolved. But I suspect that the day is not far off when the "suburbs" will become the new American Ghetto.

Over the weekend one of the local news stations reported that the percentage of real estate sales and rentals are higher within the city limits of Los Angeles than they are in the surrounding suburbs for the first time in decades. Apparently the "Millennials" are opposed to the idea of driving from the suburbs into the city, and prefer to have everything within walking distance (or short public transportation trips) so they're buying and renting properties that are close to the companies they work for. Because of this, the "experts" are recommending shopping in the suburbs if you're looking for a home in the Los Angeles area because you're likely to get a "better" deal while this trend lasts.

 

[ChazfromCali]

If you have not read The Geography of Nowhere and Home From Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler, I highly recommend them. His blog is pretty good too. The eyesore of the month photos are hilarious.... and sad. http://kunstler.com/