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J.C. Penney cutting 2,000 jobs, closing 33 stores

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J.C. Penney used to be an excellent place for business clothes. In the Stafford/Stafford Executive lineup they had fully lined suits, nice oxford shirts in true 1/2" increments, husky, tall, fitted sizing, and their shoes were OEM Johnson and Murphy which at $130 in the 80-90's was still pricey; much less than the Johnson and Murphy branded ones...they were identical otherwise.

I had started buying their suits when I was 15 back in 1986 and up until I left banking in 2000 every year. Since then their suits have become unlined (you could still special order lined suits at the time), their shoes not much better than average and their pants especially thin and cheap.

My last 'hurrah' was getting the Stafford Sharkskin trousers at $15-20 a pop (normally $65 on clearance). Since then there is nothing there I'd consider anything but something a High School kid would were on an interview.

Now their Levi's section is awesome and they have some really cool graphic T-shirts with all the old brands and signs...the material they are made out of is also good and usually Hanes Beefy-T quality or better.

The stores around here are in the same footprint but internally downsized. They had an article on this somewhere online and how bad that is for a store and gaining customers. You see lights out at times and other crap that should be maintained.

I don't see them surviving.
 
Theb said:
From what I read they tried to go upmarket and it didn't work out. If they can't make upmarket work it's hard to imagine what they can do. They're previous target market is shrinking and Walmart has the low end on lockdown.

If they're going to survive it will probably be as a much smaller company with a niche.
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They tried to cater/win the 20 something and teen crowds. Not really the upscale market.
 
I think they abandoned their new pricing model too quickly. I shopped there more 1.5 years ago.... not so much anymore.
 
i still go to pennies. What do you wear that you cant find a somewhat inexpensive version of their? I guess I just don't like spending more than I need to on clothes.
 
alkemyst said:
J.C. Penney used to be an excellent place for business clothes. In the Stafford/Stafford Executive lineup they had fully lined suits, nice oxford shirts in true 1/2" increments, husky, tall, fitted sizing, and their shoes were OEM Johnson and Murphy which at $130 in the 80-90's was still pricey; much less than the Johnson and Murphy branded ones...they were identical otherwise.

I had started buying their suits when I was 15 back in 1986 and up until I left banking in 2000 every year. Since then their suits have become unlined (you could still special order lined suits at the time), their shoes not much better than average and their pants especially thin and cheap.

My last 'hurrah' was getting the Stafford Sharkskin trousers at $15-20 a pop (normally $65 on clearance). Since then there is nothing there I'd consider anything but something a High School kid would were on an interview.

Now their Levi's section is awesome and they have some really cool graphic T-shirts with all the old brands and signs...the material they are made out of is also good and usually Hanes Beefy-T quality or better.

The stores around here are in the same footprint but internally downsized. They had an article on this somewhere online and how bad that is for a store and gaining customers. You see lights out at times and other crap that should be maintained.

I don't see them surviving.
Click to expand...

What do you mean fully lined? They still have fully lined suits. Are you talking about summer linen or cotton jackets with no lining?
Or are referring to fused vs. fully canvased?
 
xanis said:
I've always found J.C. Penney very "meh". Sucks for the people losing their jobs, but I won't miss the stores.
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I grew up getting dragged into JCPenney for school clothes as a kid. Shopped there periodically through my life, never a lot.
My wife also grew up as a JCP customer...and she liked them quite a bit. However, in recent years, their customer service and product quality (JCP brands) got worse and worse to the point where she will no longer shop with them.
 
Megatomic said:
Same here. My local store is not closing thankfully.
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rudeguy said:
their stores are really nice now

Wireless checkout from anywhere in the store, better selection, properly stocked and actually clean.

I was very impressed the last time I went to one.
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Reading through their plan of attack & having a friend who is at the corporate.. I think they'll recover. I actually enjoy shopping there. I much prefer to buy clothes in person, NOT online.
 
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