J.C. Penney store to close

The economic downturn has proved harsh for retailers, forcing Montgomery Ward into bankruptcy after 128 years.\nIt's also taken a toll on J.C. Penney. The chain will close four stores in Indiana, including its College Mall location.\n"The decision to close the Bloomington store was made after a careful review of store performance," said Mike Taxter, senior vice-president of the Plano, Texas-based company. "It is never an easy decision to close a J.C. Penney store, especially because of the impact on valued associates and customers."\nTaxter said other underperforming stores in Martinsville, Anderson and Indianapolis will be closed. Customers, he said, can still be served by the catalog and Web site, www.jcpenney.com.\nThe Bloomington closing reflects more on J.C. Penney than on the city's retail market, said Linda Williamson, president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation. Williamson noted that retail sales are up overall, and Old Navy plans to open a second Bloomington location on the west side of town in April.\n"There's always a turnover in retailing," she said. "Shopping habits change."\nJ.C. Penney has faced fierce competition from retailers such as the Gap and Eddie Bauer. The company reported that its stock dipped to less than $13 from about $70 three years ago. It reported that its third-quarter sales had dropped 3.7 percent, while catalog sales had dropped 5.4 percent.\nThe company hired turnaround specialist Allen Questrom as CEO last year, and he has shut down underperforming stores. Questrom told the Wall Street Journal the company is in deeper trouble than he originally thought, and his project of "strategic repositioning of store assets" should take two years to complete.\nBusiness experts blame the company's troubles on its lack of brand identity. It doesn't target a sharply defined market niche, they say.\n"The successful retailers are those who really know their target market and customers," said Rockney Walters, an associate professor of marketing at the Kelley School of Business. "You walk into Old Navy for example, and you know immediately who they're marketing to."\n With 102,000 square feet on two floors, the J.C. Penney store is one of the largest in College Mall.\nSimon Property Group, which owns and operates the mall, is looking to fill the space quickly.\n"College Mall is a very strong center," said Bill Scott, the company's director of public relations. "We have a lot of contracts in the industry and I'm sure we'll find a suitable replacement."\nThe store will shut its doors April 28, as will its Anderson counterpart, Taxter said. The Indianapolis outlet at Washington Square Mall will close June 2. \nKen Rue, manager of the Martinsville location since 1993, said the store won't know when it will be closing until early March.\nJ.C. Penney, Taxter said, will help employees find other job opportunities, transferring some to other locations. Some will be eligible for severance packages, he said.\nJames Cash Penney founded the company in 1902, when he opened the Golden Rule Store in a small mining town in Wyoming. It soon became a fixture in downtown locations throughout the county until the 1970s, when shopping malls became popular.\nJ.C. Penney has more than 1,100 stores across the country, employing more than 290,000 people.