The national belt-tightening is affecting everything from fast food chains to retail stores in the US. Now, JCPenney is rolling back operations in the country, shutting up shops in multiple locations around the country.
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There will be a total of eight closures in the coming months. They will be in Westfield Annapolis Mall in Annapolis, Md.; the Pine Ridge Mall in Pocatello, Idaho; the West Ridge Mall in Topeka, Kan.; the Fox Run Mall in Newington, N.H, and the Asheville Mall in Asheville, N.C.
There will also be a number of closures of JCPenney locations in town centers. These will be in Charleston Town Center in Charleston, W. Va.; the Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno, Calif, and the Shops at Northfield in Denver, Colo.
If your town is on this list, you may want to head out and make the most of their closing-down sale.
These closures are just another example of the potential of a possible recession sweeping across the US in recent years. It appears that almost every industry in the US is struggling to stay afloat.
JCPenney Under Pressure Since Pandemic
Many companies have been under financial strain since the COVID-19 pandemic. To stay open, a lot of businesses took out loans to weather the storm. They presumed that when the pandemic was over, they would be able to pay off their loans.
However, the huge influx of money never came, and many businesses were left high and dry. Since the pandemic, thousands of companies, including JCPenney, have struggled. The huge loan repayments along with a population that's poorer than ever, mean little chance of pre-pandemic profits.
JCPenney originally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, linked to the post-pandemic strain. Since then, they haven't quite managed to pull themselves back from the brink. This has forced them to make the difficult decision to shut a number of locations.
The stores that are being closed are the underperforming ones. Sadly, the various employees in these stores will be out of a job and need to look for another. The job market is becoming pretty dry in the US with the amount of stores, restaurants, and others filing for bankruptcy and closing stores.
