More JC Penney Stores Close Amid Pandemic Retail Pinch

Department store retailer JC Penney is closing more stores, adding to a laundry list of closures that it has made as a result of the pandemic.

JC Penney, which was one of the first retailers to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection during the coronavirus pandemic, will close stores in Greenwood, Mississippi, and Baytown, Texas, USA Today reported.

Both stores are holding liquidation sales, the news outlet said.

The Greenwood store, which is located in the Greenwood Mall, is slated to close on Oct. 24, while the Baytown location, situated in the San Jacinto Mall, is scheduled to close its doors on Dec. 5, USA Today said.

At the time that JCP filed for bankruptcy in May 2020, it said that it planned to close 242 of its 846 stores as it looked to shed debt. Since that time, the retailer has closed over 150 stores.

Prior to filing for bankruptcy, JC Penney underwent a transformation plan to overhaul its business as it looked to attract new customers. But slow retail sales compounded by the pandemic, which forced the retailer to close for months due to the shutdown of nonessential businesses, pushed JCP into bankruptcy.

However, JC Penney emerged from bankruptcy in December 2020 after being picked up by mall owners Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management Group. The company closed 18 stores following the acquisition in May 2021 and laid off 650 employees that same month.

JC Penney told USA Today that the Mississippi and Texas store closures are unrelated to its “store optimization” plan that it announced at the time of its bankruptcy.

It continued by saying, “The current go-forward store count is 670 stores after these two liquidations. We have no other store closures to announce at this time.”