Bay Area store among JCPenney closures

Bankrupt retailer shuttering 13 more locations on way to target of 250

One-time department store giant JCPenney will be closing its location within the Sunvalley Shopping Center in Concord.

The chain announced Tuesday that it would be closing another 13 stores. JCPenney filed for bankruptcy last month and is inching toward its target of closing 250 stores — about 30% of its network of 846 locations.

It remains unclear how long the store within the Sunvalley Shopping Center will stay open, but company spokeswoman Kristen Bennett said store-closing sales were expected to begin around July 3. The decision is pending court approval.

Mall spokeswoman Maria Mainville said Tuesday that no decision has been made about the space that will need to be filled.

JCPenney previously said it expected 200 of its closures to happen by the end of this summer, with the remaining 50 closing by next summer.

Seven of the latest 13 stores to be picked for closure are in Michigan. Two others are in Washington, two are in New York and one is in Maryland.

Before Tuesday’s announcement, 136 stores had already begun liquidation sales. That included a JCPenney within the West Valley Mall in Tracy.

Store-closing sales are vital for bankrupt retailers to raise cash during a court-supervised reorganization. With the pandemic keeping many stores shuttered in late March and throughout

April, some bankruptcy filings were delayed because of the inability to hold these sales.

But it’s not clear just how successful the sales will be, as many shoppers are still reluctant to venture out to stores and others are cutting back purchases as job losses have reached a record highs in recent months.

JCPenney is the largest national retailer to file for

bankruptcy in the wake of the pandemic, along with J.Crew and Neiman Marcus.

All three companies said they intend to stay in business, however. The bankruptcy process allows companies to shed debt and other liabilities it can no longer afford.

The process can give a company a second lease on life. Some companies that filed for bankruptcy in recent decades, including General Motors and many of the nation’s airlines, actually posted record profits after emerging from bankruptcy.

But not every company that files for Chapter 11 planning to stay in business is ultimately able to do so. Pier 1, which filed for bankruptcy on February 17 — ahead of the stayat-home orders that shut many stores nationwide — has since said it will permanently close all of its stores and go out of business.

JCPenney may have been forced into bankruptcy by the Covid-19 crisis, but it has been ailing for a while. Many shoppers have turned away from traditional department stores and malls, instead buying more goods from online retailers like Amazon or bigbox chains like Walmart, Costco and Target. These companies offer lower prices and a wider range of goods, including groceries.

This news isn’t just bad for JCPenney. Now Macy’s, Sears and Kohl’s must compete with rock-bottom prices at many JCPenney stores. And the closings are a downbeat sign for malls struggling to once again attract shoppers, as JCPenney is typically a mall anchor.