J.C. Penney in Halfway escapes closing list
J.C. Penney in Halfway escapes closing list
- By Nathan Bomey USA Today
- Jun 6, 2020
The J.C. Penney store at Valley Mall is shown in this March 2019 photo. J.C. Penney has released a list of more than 150 stores that will close as the company restructures. The Valley Mall store is not on that list.
- File photo
The J.C. Penney store at Valley Mall is seen in this photo. J.C. Penney has released a list of more than 150 stores that will close as the company restructures. The Valley Mall store is not on that list.
- Submitted photo
J.C. Penney has announced plans to close 154 stores, but the Valley Mall location in Halfway is not on that list.
The roster includes three Maryland locations, in Abingdon, Lanham and La Vale.
J.C. Penney remains as one of the anchor stores at Valley Mall. In the past few years, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), which owns the mall, has transformed anchor spaces once occupied by other retailers. For example, the Tilt arcade and Onelife Fitness Center occupy a space once held by Macy's
"While PREIT has extensive experience reimagining anchor spaces as you have seen at Valley Mall, we are thrilled that J.C. Penney will continue to operate its iconic and longstanding store here in Hagerstown," Julie Rohm, the mall's general manager, wrote Friday in an email.
Last week, J.C. Penney revealed its initial list of proposed stores to be closed permanently. The company is trying to stabilize its finances under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The department store chain, the largest company to file for bankruptcy protection so far during the coronavirus pandemic, already had said it would close 242 locations for good, leaving about 600 open. But it had not yet revealed which locations were poised for liquidation.
The company listed the first 154 locations that will close in a bankruptcy court filing Thursday.
Bankruptcy Judge David Jones is expected to hold a hearing Thursday to consider the proposal. Assuming he signs off, going-out-of-business sales could begin immediately. They are expected to last 10 to 16 weeks.
"While closing stores is always an extremely difficult decision, our store optimization strategy is vital to ensuring we emerge from both Chapter 11 and the COVID-19 pandemic as a stronger retailer with greater financial flexibility to allow us to continue serving our loyal customers for decades to come," J.C. Penney CEO Jill Soltau said in a statement.
The closures include nine stores each in California and Ohio; eight apiece in Indiana and Florida; seven each in Georgia, New York and Texas; and six apiece in Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The announcement comes as J.C. Penney gradually is reopening stores that temporarily were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company said nearly 500 had reopened as of Thursday.
Herald-Mail Media Staff Writer Mike Lewis contributed to this story.
