Home » VIDEO: JCPenney To Close 130-140 Stores, Two Distribution Facilities, As Market Shares Sink

VIDEO: JCPenney To Close 130-140 Stores, Two Distribution Facilities, As Market Shares Sink

By  //  February 25, 2017

6,000 eligible workers expected to take early retirement

ABOVE VIDEO: J.C. Penney will be closing 130-140 stores in the coming months, including the Lakeland Distribution Center, the company reported Friday.

(FOX BUSINESS) – JCPenney (JCP) on Friday said it will shutter 130 to 140 stores and close two distribution facilities in an effort to reinvent itself online, cut dead weight at underperforming physical locations, and better optimize its remaining bricks-and-mortar locations.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a key metric for retailers, slid 0.7 percent during the fourth quarter (including the key holiday season), which compared to a 4.1 percent bump during the same period the year prior the company announced during its earnings release on Friday.

Penney said it expects comparable-store sales to be between -1 percent and 1 percent in 2017.

With the need to eliminate staff through the store closures, the company also announced a voluntary early retirement program for about 6,000 eligible workers.

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Shares of the struggling department-store chain, which have been beaten down more than 17% so far this year, sunk as much as 9.6% — to a new 52-week low — Friday on the heels of the announcement, even as Penney said it turned an annual profit for the first time in six years.