JCPenney's Single Biggest Mistake - Their Road to Bankruptcy 

I work at JCPenney currently, and let me tell you it’s a huge mess. Though we get a decent amount of business it definitely doesn’t help. The management at my store is AWFUL. I was never told the clear rules on things like no receipt returns and such, so when I do it a way I’ve seen supervisors handle it I get yelled at by my departments supervisor. There is no order and if you go to one person to another and ask how things should be handled everyone has a different idea. The store is terribly understaffed and at times there’s not enough supervising managers in the building at all. The wages they pay always very from hiring years. I started in the summer of 2017 making 8.50 and got a 16 cent raise at the beginning of 2018, my friend got hired in the summer of 2018 and is making 8.75. We have no loss prevention so if you walk in you can take a cart full of merchandise outside and no one will stop you.

As a former employee of JCPenny salon I believe the company could do a lot with the salon and Sephora. They've done small in-house events however nothing nearly as big as they could. This particular salon (in Rhode Island) saw one million dollars in sales from a handful of stylist and still, many people do not know that there is even a salon in JCPenney stores.

Currently working at JCPenney, I would say that my store is one of the busiest. My store is located inside of one of the only malls in my area and is constantly packed. But don’t get me wrong there is still tons of problem. For starters they do not know how to train their management staff. All of my managers at my store are always on different pages and it hard to run a store when all your managers tell you total different things. But what I would say the biggest problem is is the whole constant coupon things. We have coupons so often so when we don’t the customers get mad at the associates because they fee as though they are entitled to a discount so when there isn’t one, they do not wanna shop. I feel as though if they switch to an everyday low price it would take a lot of pressure off the associates and the managers which would allow them to better run the store. They would also get life time customers rather than having customers come in only for the $10 off of $25 coupon

I felt bad for Ron Johnson but he really should have consulted or listened to consultant’s opinions. They likely would have told him Americans love the word ‘Sale,’ especially the grannies shopping at JCPenney.

The JCP that I used to work for was severely understaffed. It had very unprofessional management. People got fired for stupid reasons. They are never really able to compete with other retailers in making their customers feel welcome. The stores are very outdated and just a drab to shop in. Sometimes you can't even find what you are looking for. The styles of clothing also need updating.

Their women's clothing have been horrible the last several years. The buyers should be fired! Gone are the classy casuals, SJ Bay, and the Worthington brand was great for the business woman. Now the women's clothes are garish prints and poor quality fabrics. Get back to what made the store popular.

They lost me when they shrank the men's department and focused on skinny jeans and work out cloths.

As a former employee and research i conducted on JCP a few years ago, many variables exist that plagues the future of the company. Some of the variables are not understanding the direction of consumers, self absorbed leadership, failed supply chain process (evident from my research and recently being sent a $200 plus jacked that i did not order), and failed hiring practices. Lastly, JCP’s stock price has been over valued on purpose so that the executives could increase their paychecks.

I worked at corporate during this time. Ron was trying to change the customer base. He wanted to introduce Middle America to higher-end brands and eliminate sales. His ideas were revolutionary but forgot who our core customers were. Oh and he blew millions of dollars in the process...the BOD should take some of the blame here too. His team blamed veteran staff for the lack of sales when in reality they were causing the chaos.

As someone who works for a department store that seems to be succeeding in the retail apocalypse, companies like JC Penny need to add more service to their customers. Where I work, they've been eliminating registers so that the sales people are actually out on the floor helping customers. I never see that at Penny's or Sears.

As a kid, my sneakers and Levis came from JC Penny's. I suspect the long slow death of the malls has a huge role in Penny's decline.

I have been a customer for 30 years myself but my mom shopped their when we were little. I used to love the quality of their stuff. Everything was made well and you have it for years. When they decided to rebrand themselves and change to lower price point then they brought in inferior products. Example I have 2 comforters I have had at least 15 years and I have washed them over and over again with no issues. I bought a comforter the other day and I went to wash it and it fell apart in the wash. Cheaply made cheaply sewn and the material was thin. I wish they would of stayed there old self as people who buy there want quality not shit

LOL, I work at JCP. The problem at least on the internet side is (1) The web site is not user friendly to customers, (2) Hugh turnover in the call centers including managers. (3) Below market pay for various jobs as related to other call centers. Senior management is not listening to what employees are telling them to turn the company around. The reason may be because there is more turn over in senior management!!!!!!!

I quit at jcpenny and it was hell!!! I can’t even tell you how much discomfort I had to deal with mangers to push customers just open a credit card just to sale sale sale .... I even feel bad for the people who already have the cards because the damn interest is higher as well ugh 😑 I also don’t get benefits.... so I’m not going to be shopping or going there .

Like these videos. “Wall Street” was the reason Ron Johnson was brought in. Bill Ackman and Pershing pushed for the changes that truly were a stretch for the Penny’s shopper. As my wife said at the time, “ If I wanted to use a iPad to order jeans why didn’t I just stay home?” Her confusing experience saved me a lot of investment dollars.

Thirty years ago I sold suits at JCP. Their better suits were really pretty nice and if you were willing to wait a few weeks they had an amazing line of Italian suits that you could order. We also did complete tailoring, not just inseams and sleeves but everything, and it was free. Johnson had the right idea but he was about five years too late.

I liked the historical look back. Thanks for another informative video.

As a child I absolutely loved looking through the JCPENNY catalog! I was sure it was the biggest catalog in the world.

I used to work JCP call center and we would witness and hear of so many things the stores or online associates (or company in general) would do that would lose customers or business. We would pass along these instances and give ideas how to fix it but no one cared. We would constantly be told by the customers that stores near them were closed so they couldn't shop there and they didn't like the hassle of shopping online. I was never a big JCP fan but I would never wish the decline of a company this big because that means the loss of a LOT of jobs. I hope someone in charge starts listening to the workers and the customers, or they really will go out of business...

Oh no! My mom works at jcpenny the store in our town hasn’t closed yet so hopefully it won’t. It was difficult for her to find a job and I hope she keeps it.

As a current employee... I know we just got a new ceo actually and it’s certain stores that are being shut down.. Jcpenney is slipping but I think we have awhile before all the stores shut down. The right Jcpenney stores make they’re goal in sales and credit so I think if Jcpenney keeps pushing they’ll be around for longer than we think. But id be kind of naive if I said they’d be open forever I’m 19 and I’m not confident in saying I’ll shop with my kids at Jcpenney but we’ll see I guess... 🤷🏽‍♀️

I've been a regular shopper at JCP for most of my life. As my girls grew up, JCP was the first place we'd shop for clothing. During the period when Ron Johnson was at the helm, I rarely shopped there at all. In fact, every time I went into the store, there was practically no one there besides the sales associates. I appreciate what he was trying to accomplish yet I felt he had forgotten what made JCP so popular in the first place: the coupons, the sales, and the catalogs. People like my mother-in-law who spent a huge amount of money there over the years were the store's real assets, imo. She purchased everything from clothing, to bedding, to furniture, to items for the home, to appliances. Her entire Christmas lists were shopped for at JCP. Since the change, she hasn't been much of a customer. Moving on, I believe everyone likes to feel they've gotten a good deal and I just didn't during that era. I also felt the products were cheaply made and wanted nothing to do with JCP. Perhaps I wouldn't have minded not having a coupon if the items were of good quality. They weren't. I'd say everything has turned around in the last several years when they added Sephora which has been a huge asset to our local store. It is always busy now (and not just in Sephora either). The only thing I'd change is putting more sales associates on the floor. Where we once had seven or eight areas where we could pay for our purchases, now we're lucky if we have three or four. Waits can be long. (It's not uncommon to buy tennis shoes in the jewelry department!) I've noticed this trend in other stores as well (i.e., Belk) so I guess companies must be trying to save money by hiring less employees. It's frustrating.

I had worked as a Cisual Manager in a JCPenney Store in Helena Mt. for 4 years after working 8 years for another Retailer, 4 of which were spent as a Regional Director of Merchandising. The Helena Store was a Community Store, most of its‘ staff had made Careers there and everyone in Town knew them. Penney had remarkable Corporate guidance from the Recieving Room to the Sales floor. Their Seasonal Set Sell Manual was Brilliant and Informative and the floors were Set with Super Efficiency. I left in 2006 to take a DREAM job in Missoula and often visited the Missoula JCP at SOUTHGATE. The Mid 70‘s Store was nice but VERY TIRED and extremely dated as if nothing had been replaced since it opened. When I heard who was taking over I was off the Charts excited and very quickly began to notice changes. A better dressed enthusiastic staff, a crisp clean and GAP like presentation, groovy background Music...but most of all a new level of Style, a more direct, readable pricing effort, and finally clothes that I liked at prices that were unbeatable. Yes Aunt Tully, they still have your Bras, and Alfred Dunner is still on the floor! When the then popular ELLEN became a Spokesperson for their Dazzling new Snappily formatted Catalogue, I was over the MOON! Good Job I thought, you‘ve cenented your place with an Aim towards a Younger demographic, thereby ensuring another 100 Years! But Aunt Tilky was PISSED, and most of her friebds had Passed! Sad Crash ending for a BRILLIANT DRIVE!

Ron Johnson completely changed the JCP business model into something no one wanted and ignored the warning signs. My wife was in management at her store and had nothing good to say about Johnson - called him "that goober" and left the company for greener pastures when she saw what was happening.

I currently work at JCPenney and I also happen to work at the biggest and most busy JCPenney in my area. The mall that my Penney's is attached to is actually still pretty busy, but mostly because we have three major anchor stores -- one of them being JCPenney, the other two Nordstrom and Macy's. Interestingly, though, Nordstrom is going to be moving to one of the most popular outdoor shopping centers by 2019 or 2020, I believe. My store, while old, is actually kept fairly clean and we have no real issues with lighting like you mentioned with your JCPenney. I feel like it's because, in my area, Penney's is pretty popular, especially since it's one of the largest, if not the largest, stores at the only indoor mall in a 30-mile radius. It's two floors, with the biggest section being the men's section on the second floor and the second largest being the kid's section on the first floor. The salon and optical departments rarely have people inside, though the salon is doing pretty well from what I know. The main focus for cashiers at my location is taking care of the customer and credit cards. Their training "program," if you could even call it that, for new hires is absolute bullshit as I wasn't even trained. I have a background in retail (I've been doing retail for 6 years) so I picked it up pretty easily, but I learned the entire register system by myself. We constantly hire people, but we also have a giant turnover rate. I want to say, since my first day on November 4th of 2018, about 20-30 people have either quit or just stopped showing up to work. Penney's has picked up doing coupons again, though, and actually has some really good pricing on clothing items, especially when used in conjunction with the coupons. I've had people who had $300+ in clothing and shoes walk out only spending about half that much because of coupons (though we're only supposed to use one coupon per transaction). The one issues I've experienced is specifically in regards to people being upset about coupons not being usable on national brands (i.e. Nike, Adidas, Disney, Lego, etc.) and certain types of items such as toys and electronics. This has generated huge complaints by our customers, especially since it's Christmas time and people want to save as much money as they can, especially on toys. Either way, Penney's seems to be doing fairly well in certain areas -- mostly in areas with an older population since they've been brand-loyal for the past 60 years.

I actually liked the more honest pricing model that JCPenney tried for a while under Ron Johnson. Every time I go in now (rarely) I feel like they are outright lying to me with the marked prices, even the 'discounts' and 'buy 2 get #' gimmicks, and they are playing games with coupons and points and 1000 hoops just to get near the same price I can find online. It's a sad decline. By the way, the beard looks great... and your eyes and that sweater! Wow.

JC Penny is my favorite department store. I’m very sad at the poor state the stores are in and that they may not be around for long.

Our JCPenny store is so overcrowded you can hardly see the merchandise. You can hardly find a cashier. I swear anyone can walk out with anything. On Black Friday, they had big discounts, but the line to go in was massive and time-consuming to get into the store. Once insdie after a mere 20 min, two lines went around the entire store to pay and there were only 6 cashiers, so i left. The store used to have great shoes, , basic house staples, dresses and separates and great mens clothing. The quality went down so fast. If they would just get better products, they could win.

My first job was at JCP when I was 16 in 2012 right after they took away coupons, I still live with the memory of old ladies yelling at me to the point where I was tearing up because we didn’t have coupons anymore lmao

I still go to JCP for a lot of things. It's the only anchor store left at our mall. Sears, Macys, and Elder Beerman have closed their doors, and I'm really afraid if JCP closes their store, the mall will definitely die.

JCPenny, Sears, Montgomery Wards: gone or going. CEO's who have no idea about what shoppers need and want. I grew up with these companies. My family before me depended on these companies. Seeing the death throes of these entities is awful: The "forward thinking" CEO's have their money made and won't hurt for their lifetimes compared to the pain they've inflicted. You know they don't shop in their own stores.

I worked for them during the transition. I personally liked it because I actually wanted to shop there for the first time. They had fashionable items and the stores were starting to look great. I wish they had kept him around. He was actually investing in the stores, which is something I think a lot of retailers (*cough*cough Sears) are failing to do. One thing I would have liked to see from him is an investment in the website. The website was and is still awful and definitely not optimized for mobile shopping.

Great vid, engaging and tight and packed with info. I think JC Penney, for a lot of city-based younger professionals with disposable income and an interest in clothing (i.e. many of your viewers), suffered from an intractable branding problem, which would be almost impossible to overcome. It's a shame to see a bit of Americana slowly die off like this but at the same time malls aren't really something to weep over too much. Downtowns much more so of course -- and I should say that for example in my hometown, we had three downtown 'anchor' private department stores, each quite grand and very historic in their own way, which from the 1970s-90s were themselves killed by the malls and strip malls that housed the JC Penneys, Wannamakers, Sears, etc in the newly plowed under cornfields outside of the city limits. So, what went around came around, if you will.

I worked for them during this time. When Ron Johnson was CEO, our foot traffic went down drastically. It didn't recover. He did a few good things, but he cganged the products that appealed to the existing customers, and brought in stuff that no one would buy because they wouldn't think of Penney's for it. You can't alienate the customers you already have. Bring in new stuff, but keep your regulars coming in. People also hated the mobile checkout idea, including associates. The new stuff he brought in? Never sold, most of it went to clearance. It goes right back to staying interesting, but not chasing away your meal ticket by getting too crazy.

I think people just feel that these department stores are no longer relevant. There is nothing they sell that cannot be obtained either faster or cheaper elsewhere. The department stores offering of 'service' just is not valuable in this age of online reviews and easy instruction. In other words, they just don't have anything unique to offer me to make me go to their store.

I work at jcpenny and we don’t even have someone to watch the doors because we don’t have enough in our budget. Security pay for themselves knowing how easily it is to steal from department stores which would actually make them an investment as they save company money while greeting customers

It also matters how they treat customers. They closed an active account my friend had over a misunderstanding of how he made his payments. He was making them every month and on time. But when he made the minimum payment on a couple occasions he was confused by it had switched from 25 to 35. So even though he had a balance and was an active payer, instead of just saying hey you made a mistake in your payment. Instead they closed his account, after lowering his credit line to match his balance, which was only just over 140 dollars. He paid that in full, and once he did they closed his account. So, he went on to better places and they lost a potential long term shopper! I'm the one that convinced him to give Jcp a try. I didn't like what I witnessed, so they not only lost one, but two shoppers! Honestly, Sephora is the glue that is keeping them floating. But in this oversaturated cosmetic market, Sephora needs to lower prices bc shoppers know they can get cheaper products with same quality, sometimes even better quality as the dupes market, and smaller brands, even some drug store brands have lots to offer in both quality and much more affordable pricing. Besides prices many off name companies are doing a better job with safer ingredients which consumers want! Trader Joes has more to find on one store shelf, than Sephora does in their whole store, as far as green ingredients products they offer. Trader Joes is also much more affordable. Sephora also fails to offer the shoppers incentives that Ulta does. So, longevity is all relative, and I wouldn't put stock in them at this time!

i was one of the people who was pulled to work right below Ron Johnson and let me tell you....it was the definition of a double edged knife. The ideas he had was good and products were wonderful. However, the amount of money wasted was ASTRONOMICAL. He got rid of the talented long term managers and pulled in all his cronies from Cali/apple where tantrums and verbal abuse became a norm. (those people promply disappeared after Ron left)

My personal opinion on what has been slowly killing JCPenney is that they lost touch with what people wanted to buy in the early 2000s. When I was in school in the mid- to late-90s they sold the products that teens would ask their parents to buy for them. They had some of the latest Nike athletic shoes in their catalog. They also sold trendy clothing in their stores from name brands that mattered to teens. Once they stopped keeping up with trends their stores seemed less crowded every year.

I worked at JCP in 2012-2013 when they had the everyday low price no coupons strategy and I agree, that 20% was VERY vocal and upset that there weren't any coupons and we, the store associates, felt the heat from them. If it wasn't for the big ticket items like furniture and appliances, the collapse would have happened much sooner.

I recently went to a JC Penny that was a mainstay of my early 90s childhood. It truly was a sad sight. Dingy and dirty, uninviting... I literally felt like I was walking 25 years into the past. Also I just want to say, this was a fantastic video! Some of my favorite videos you do are the analysis of brands.

My rent is so expensive in California, I can't afford J.C. Penny's! I have to buy generic blue jeans at Wal-Mart for $11, and dress shirts for $8 👍

Perception is everything and the switch away from promotional prices w/coupons just did not work. Walmart does use everyday "low" prices but of course now has "Rollback" (sale) prices. Shoppers feel like they are getting a "deal" when they use a coupon regardless as to true value. I believe they will make it. Their website has improved a great deal but should look at how Macy's does it as there is room for improvement.

I worked at JC Penny a few years ago at the holidays and it was really had been a good experience. I had been with my previous employer for decades and suddenly had been downsized so I started working at JC Penny in the holiday season. Truthfully, I was impressed at how dedicated and hard working and long term many of the employees had been. They were nice people and reflected the American work ethic all of us admire. I do recall a sense that Ron Johnson's getting rid of the discounts idea was too easily abandoned and, if my memory serves me, I think overall workers felt Ron Johnson's ideas were too easily dropped. Penny's had really dedicated workforce and loyal customer base that as a new employee I had seen right away. I think this wonderful company really lacks a vision and a willingness to boldly go into the future. They have some excellent products.

I currently am a master stylist in there salons. Our store is in Miami located near the MIA airport. I have been there for ten years now and have seen many changes with the store, including Ron Johnson he had the right idea, however the problem was that the current customer base was not familiar with higher end brands and didn’t get the concept. After Instyle Magazine partner with our salons our business has been good so far. JCPenney owns the land in our mall, and it was one of the first ones right after Sears that opened when mall mall was being built. Of course I see the decline of retailers in the mall and our own as well, but somehow the store still runs anywhere between 70k to 80k during the week and on weekends over 125k that’s a bit lower than years past. Our salon runs anywhere between 350k to 575k a year and some of our better production salons run a 1M or 2M of course we’re in south Florida. Now I can’t comment on associate problems because I really don’t know. I do hope it’s stays open because it is difficult to uproot clients to another location.

Many of the J.C. Penney stores are the anchors for malls. If they start closing those stores the malls will go with them as malls cannot survive without those Anchor Stores. People do not like to shop where there are empty slots along the walls of the mall. People inherently know when something is failing because of its feel. We have multiple malls within a mile or so of each other in Mission Valley, San Diego and there are more store closing now than ever before. IE: The malls are going to have to drop the price of renting space for their storefront slots, otherwise they will go bankrupt and become no more than a hollowed out core of what was once a great place to explore and see where the world going by.

I grew up going to "Penney's" as my Grandma always called it. It was a staple of our shopping. My grandfather used to work in the suit department and retired from there. When I got married and had kids, I would only go when my family would take me. On my own, I had no interest in it until 2011 when they did their rebrand. My husband and I loved it and started going there willingly and got lots of nice pieces. When they went back to the "Granny model", I stopped going and haven't looked back. It's sad. I want Penney's to survive. Imagine if they listened to Ron, they could've become the Target of department stores. Think of the hardcore love people have for Target. I wish Penney's could have that.

The shopping mall definitely had its Highs in the 90s when I was a teenager !

Always great to see some facts on retail industry and how companies must adjust and adapt in order to survive and understand this complex world we are currently living in. Great analysis Jon!

The JC Penney near me is actually pretty nice, comparatively that is, I wish they would actually make some changes I quite like JC Penney

I think one of the reasons for Sears and JCPenny's demise, is not only do to internet commerce but the fact that the generation today doesn't want to shop at the store their mom and grandmom shopped at. They want knew, modern, hip, upscale, stores to go to.

I do 80% of my shopping at JCP. I was one of the people that hated when they stopped the coupons. I shop it online 4-5 times a week, probably more than that, for my family and I always make sure to have at 25.00 in my cart to get the free shipping to the store. I have a years worth of merchandise in my closet for my family and extended family for the up coming holidays. For my husband and myself, when we find a clothing item we really like, I buy several and have a duffle bag full of unopened shirts, etc. Now for the trouble. When I go to the store, there are hardly no attendants to be found. They closed the catalog/online dept years ago, so you have to go to bedding dept to pick up your items, which is a slow, I mean a slow process. Also, a lot of times my order is many items, like 6-12 and Penneys never seems to get it all together, which means the clerk has to go back and forth to the stock room to get the total order, which is such a hassle. It is a homework assignment when you come to the store, because they have no way to tell you what you ordered, until after you paid and the transaction is complete. Once you think you got all your items, you stand there and go through the bags and boxes one by one, as the clerk has left you to go on to the next customer, remember cause you already paid and the sale is closed out. I find that I have to write down my order and take it into the store, meaning I provide my own invoice. I suppose if you have a printer at home, that would work better. Again, Penneys puts the burden of the sale on you. You have to supply your own invoice at pickup, pre-transaction. If you only ordered one or two things, then it is no biggie, but like I said, I order several at a time, when a good sale comes on stuff we like. Other problems are, the people who bag the items, have trouble putting the correct codes on the items and I have had items not mine in the bag, like a man's blazer and was told several times by different clerks, "Well your name is on the box". Bottom Line, Penneys is a pleasure shopping online, but pick up in the store can run 45 mins to an hour. Totally inefficient, you really have to be a retired person with time on your hands to deal with inside store Penneys pickup. Delivery to the house, I do not do unless they have a $49.00 purchase which gives you free shipping. You may be asking yourself, how does she get 6-12 items at 25.00? With that I will tell you again, I shop it 4-5 times a day and to me its like the McDonalds menu, I know it by heart and can spot the deals and best coupons. All in all, I love Penneys, online, not the store, which is pretty much cheaper than in the Penneys store. sshhh don' tell...

JCPenney is a family tradition. Love the brands my mother loved. Please don't die.

Every home owner knows that JC Penney is the absolute go-to place for window treatments, especially because of their awesome selection of various blinds. JC Penney also has an in-store professional consultant for making the right choices for your type of windows and matching them with your style and preference. JC Penney is quick on delivery when making your purchases online.

About a month ago the wife and I decided to buy a Christmas dress for the preschooler. I often walk the mall where there's a JCP and a Von Mar. Now the prices at Von Mar aren't horrible but you walk in the store, with someone playing the piano and a few people working each department along with quite a few pricey items, and you may think that you're a bit out of your price range. On the flip side you walk into JCP and the isle just seem a bit crowded. There are 40% off tags on almost everything. And while this is only seasonal they have a cardboard Christmas tree up which looks as tacky as it sounds. So we look a a few dresses at JCP and then head over to Von Mar. The prices aren't very different with Von Mar actually beating JCP by a small amount. Also the presentation is great at Von Mar. While at JCP we sometimes just saw dresses mixed in with each other and finding the right size took a while. At Von Mar we had someone waiting to see if we had any questions. Well, she would give us some space and head off to do whatever and walk by to see if we had questions. We ended up buying the dress from Von Mar. It was a far better experience. What is seamed to come down to was we were paying a lot more than you would at a Wal-Mart but the service appeared to be on par with Wal-Mart. While at Von Mar it reminded me of when I was a kid shopping at Carson's or Marshall Fields in Chicago. But we experienced the same prices that had at JCP. Also there weren't a bunch of % off tags making it seem like we were getting a great deal.

I have been shopping at JCP for many years now. There's only one here in Yuma, Az, and my major concern is that the store is usually in complete disarray. The Disney section is the absolute worst. It often appears that a tornado just hit it. If I have a cart, I can't even get through the aisles. My favorite part of JCP is the great deals, but I mostly shop online now.

I currently work at JCPenneys and I always have customers asking if we’re really closing the store .

I am a former JC Penney employee. I worked for seven years. Penney’s relies too much on malls, which are dying. Kohl’s is getting away from malls and are doing well as a result. Penney’s needs to change with the times. Otherwise it will disappear .

MY wife and I used to go to Franklin Mills Mall outside of Philadelphia for our Christmas shopping every year mostly because there was a JC Penny outlet store there. Unless you got there early, the lines at the register would stretch from one end of the store to the other. Then they closed the outlet and made it a standard retail store. During the same Christmas season the following year, the store was almost empty.

These corporations are slowly learning the harsh reality that the middle class of America is diminishing. Removing some of the middle-men to lower prices is only a temporary patch to this chronic issue.

I WISH I could go in to a mall and find anything worth my money. When I walk into a store or website and *everything* is on sale it feels cheap, gives me the impression that nobody wants this junk and they're trying to peddle it off on the first sucker they find. Their intention is to drive a feeling of scarcity, limited quantities and that this item may never ever be in stock again but in practice it just makes the place feel low rent. RIP Dillards, JC Penny, Kohls, Sears and all the rest.

You showed the store that I once worked at, but is now closed. Sad. The Pendleton store was the oldest store in its original location. Over 100 years in the same building. Sad day when it closed.

I also worked for Apple when Ron left and thought he was going to do great things at JCP. My aunt and uncle both worked and still work for JCP in Plano and they never agreed with me that he would do great if given the chance. I don’t think the employees at JCP ever bought in on his strategy and turned on him as soon as the market gave them the slightest justification. Oh well, they’ll probably go down just like the other company I worked for.. circuit city. Well made video!

As a child growing up it was always Penny's for clothing, and Sears for everything else. I just finished working at a Sears Optical, and after 23 years my store will soon be closing. Though I can't speak for Penny's I saw how Sears changed, and the customer lost confidence in the store brand. Everybody blames the internet specifically Amazon and Walmart for the current woes in these retail stores. Sears tried to be all things to all people, and for it's time it was in the right place at the right time. Many people don't realize the costs involved when running a brick and mortar store. Property taxes, insurance, labor, electricity, maintenance these costs are staggering. Amazon has their offices and warehouses in low tax and wage states, and they use outside contractors (USPS, UPS, FEDEX) to do their deliveries. This is a business model that is hard to compete against. Outside stores would eat up specialty products, such as Best Buy taking all of Sears electronics as well as Home Depot and Lowes selling comparable tools, appliances and lawn care. The stores tried to make up for the losses by cutting expenses by not upgrading stores, and cutting employee hours, and decreasing on the quality of the merchandise they sold, and the customers noticed this. We used to noticed how most of the customers were of the older generation, and very few young people shopping in the store. The management tried all kinds of gimmicks involving rewards points, but all that did was to cut profits. What it all boils down to is that history is repeating itself with Penny's as it did with Sears, and Montgomery Wards. It's the new reality.....We gotta get used to it.

The end is near.

I used buy my all of my shoes and business attire at JC Penney. I would also buy other items while i was there that I may have been able to find at a lower price somewhere else, but JCP was reliable, so I did not worry over a few dollars. It used to be quality apparel at good price, the staff was always helpful and available. The decline has been precipitous over the last 5-7 years. I now shop online for all the things I used to buy at JCP, and not from the JCP website, they were too late to that game. I loved the days of no discounts or coupons, just a fair reliable price without all of the "bargain hunting." Makes me sad that they will soon be gone....

I still hope for a miracle for this company and its employees...my first job in this country upon migrating in the 80’s was at a JCP in a Mountain View, CA and is was so memorable to me...later i moved to NYC and worked for the now defunct, Gimbels, then Abraham and Straus and finally Saks Fifth Avenue...and despite working at higher end stores I remained a loyal customer to JCP - to-date, and for many years ignoring the employee discounts afforded me by my high end employers...I hope it stays afloat 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🙏🙏🙏

I use to work for JCPenney myself, back in 2002, and believe it or not, I said it even way back then, that they needed to change or they would go out of business here in Birmingham, and guess what? They did. Listen message board, I was a FULL TIME employee working for that company, and I would literally stand around for 8 hours and only wait on maybe 4 to 5 customers, it was a grind to put in those 8 hours. It was only so many clothes you could fold or prices you could change, so doing those long 8 hours was an absolute grind. In fact, the business was so slow, I use to actually go in the dressing room and take cat naps for 10 to 15 minutes and nobody even noticed. I use to take like 4 to 5 of those cat naps per day trying to do my 8 hours. The problem with that company, just as Kavalier said, is that they refused to change. The clothes were not innovative so they flat out refused to change suppliers, and the buildings are grossly boring and outdated, just as K-Mart and Sears were. Arrogance got Penny's, K-Mart, and Sears buried in the graveyard. We would go to meetings, and they were using such outdated models it was ridiculous. It's an old scripture in the bible that says, "people will perish from ignorance". That can be applied to businesses as well.

The owner of jc penny doesn’t believe In dimes 😂😂

Totally agree! Over the years I have furnished more than one condo with everything JCP! Noe weel see old JCP brands in target and like-minded stories. Sad!

IMO there is no market anymore for a middle of the road department store or retailer. People that want that specialized service, the better quality merchandise, more fashionable clothes will spend more money to shop at some place that is a bit more upscale like Dillards, Macy's(the one in my local mall is really nice), or on the high end places like Saks, Nordstorm etc. JCPenny has been mis-managed for years, it shows in the store at my local mall(Cool Springs Mall in Franklin TN). This is one of the richest areas in the whole country but the store feels dated, the clothes aren't as nice, the service isn't as good, it just doesn't stack up to the Macy's or Dillards at that mall, it doesn't meet the expectations of the upscale clientele that shops there. JCP has always been middle of the road, but that customer base has transitioned to TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Target, Wal-Mart, not to mention Amazon is kicking everybody's butt on price and selection. Customers at JCP have been conditioned to expect the coupon, like I said they're the same people who shop at Marshalls and see the MSRP of $50 for pants then the actual price of $20. That isn't a sustainable business model for JCP, especially since they have to pay more rent at a mall than Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less etc

I am currently working for JCP. It’s my first job, and I’ve been here for 6 months. When I started working cash register, I really understood why customers weren’t happy. Coupons exclude a large majority of the brands in the store, several of which are main brands that pull in customers. Signs and adverts are misleading, and prices are extremely expensive without any discounts or coupons. I’ve heard for the past six months the frustrations of customers, and it’s obvious why they are on a decline. However, it does make me sad to see the company doing so poorly. So many people will lose jobs whenever it closes, and it’s been a retail icon for the many, many years. I’ll try and be with Penney’s until the end, it’s such a sad situation to see a once great company start to die off.

I work for sephora at JCP and I can tell you one thing... the management team is really hard on us pushing credit cards on individuals. When everyone knows jcp isn't doing well, of course they won't get a card.. on top of that, we 100% do need a face lift. It is really bland, but in their defense they are catering to older people mostly. There are some decent clothes, but yeah how everything is on sale is sketchy. One time i sold a scarf for 8 cents. Another time i sold $25 sunglasses for $1.. and we got $60 boots that immediately went on sale for $20. Idk it's odd

Interesting recap of the history of JCP. Some big department stores go out of business Often they're stripped before they officially go bust, private equity comes in and sells the real estate and borrows heavily. High rents and interests payments then finish off the job.

Opened the store in my area when it came to town in 08. Worked commission which allowed for me to make a 40 hr work week(but only really working 30) and still be able to attend college. I was trained in the window treatments. Trained by someone whom had been in the jcp window dept for 40 plus years. She knew her stuff. Had a fellow co worker whom transferred from a different store, she too worked in the same department for 30 plus yrs. The catalog was the bible. But as time went on...the catalog got smaller, the brands the little old ladies came in for were harder and harder to get. Customers could live with me having to order something from the online store because we didnt have it in stock. But what they didn't like was the shrinking lack of selection. While the store focused on expanding its panty selection at 5 bucks a piece I could sell a whole window for 300 bucks. For just 1 Window!!! How many windows are in your family room.. more than likely 2 or more. Jcp missed its mark with trying to compete with boogie retail clothing lines from Europe and new York. The blue collar workers whom they tailored themselves to for years hated it. All they had to do was restructure like what Johnson did with pricing to make it transparent but make the online catalog IDENTICAL to their old paper ones. Sure spruce it up but the ease of use should be the same. Including ALL items available not just the ones you wanna sell. Also... management sucked. They had no idea what we did. Windows was like this foreign land with mysterious wonders and language no one understood. We were left to fend for ourselves, and since we were commissioned based, I was gonna make my money. I still enjoy shopping at jcp. They have some of the orginal things that made it great, but they needed to stick to what products worked for their clientele. European fashion lines was a huge misstep, and not focusing on where they could REALLY make their money. Window treatments could have been pushed more and been an even bigger profit since it carried a majority of the store/online orders anyway.

I used to work at Jcpenney. Got let go. They were still trying and still try to sell drapes and blinds that are $1000+ PER WINDOW, with no media buys, despite constant advertisements from discount blinds stores. A dying model indeed.

All of these closings just empower Amazon. I was amazed to hear that Amazon made 5 billion profit last year and paid zero taxes.

i worked for JCPENNEY one christmas season. and after. i liked the store, i was a salesperson, cashier, worked where needed. what i liked about the store policy, at closing when you had to clear your register you did not have to count every nickle, penny, dime etc.. so cool. otherwise you be their all night. with the lights off. employee's rushing to leave. after every season, they had great sales, to bring in new products. sorry to see so many closing 12/17/18

My sister works for JCP and she attests to it being a bit of a zoo. The store in her area, and in all areas(?) has an incredible exchange policy, at least on clothes: pretty much bring it back with your receipt and we will exchange it....even when it looks like you have worn it. That said, I was a faithful JCP shopper, even before my sister worked there, as they had stylish clothes and in my size (I am taller than average). I even had one of their credit cards. Part of what killed JCP is that TARGET did nearly the same thing but slightly cheaper. Tho Ron Johnson's streamlining should have helped, part of the streamlining resulted in Tall-Big Man sized clothes being dumped...so JCP lost me as a regular customer.

personal experience I bought something at Penny's every payday for DECADES in 2011 something changed I had no idea what it was but I haven't spent A dime there since .... The J.C. Penny's I knew and loved and something sterile and dead took it's place .... left in 2011 and never looked back ... but I really miss what it was ... it is gone and not coming back...thanks for posting I really enjoy your videos now I know what happened.

This video is incisive and very good. I am furloughed from my JCP right now, being very successful associate. I will miss JCP if it closes, having grown so much. And great co-workers. But it is true: if people and organizations do not evolve, they may not survive.

Since 2006 I have shopped frequently at JCP's all over the US and have witnessed a progressive implosion seeming to have begun in the days of the "fair-and-square" deal by Ron Johnson. Sadly, many of it's customers had become accustomed to bartering or haggling or couponing or whatever you want to call it, that makes them believe they are going to miss out if they don't buy now, and they couldn't see the value -- at least in the short term. As a result, they've went back to smoke and mirrors pricing and their long slow lines that build resentments and are multiplied by such variables in price. Many customers know that saying the right thing at checkout will get you an inhouse coupon scanned or price adjusted in your favor so it's no surprise that checkout is drastically slowed up by all this, making the rest of us feel as if we are frozen in time while the big haggle goes on at the register. RJ wisely recognized the need to make this process cleaner, and implemented the one price and the handheld checkout (libby as they called it). JCP should have let it ride for longer to allow both its customers and employees to become comfortable with the whole practice. In the end they became their name, Penney wise but pound foolish.

I stopped into JCPenney around 09-2018 after getting a clothing subscription box and really liking the selection of clothes. I'm a big and tall guy and it's hard to find nice quality clothes. I was surprised to find out that Penney's had overhauled their big n tall section. The clothes are great and at a good price too. I'm now an avid Penney's shopper (for clothes) and they seem to be busier than I can remember. I hope that they can pull things around because I'm really liking the clothing options they have, the other options that I've seen for bedding and household ornaments seem to be eye catching too. For my sake I hope they can turn the ship around!

The only reason I go in JC Penney anymore is for Sephora. And it’s never a destination type shopping trip I get excited about, it’s always because I ran out of something and want to pick it up real quick. It’s just not a pleasant place to shop.

As a former employee and “Credit King” a big problem Jc penny has is no room for growth, mismanaged, and such, it sucks to hear about it, but let’s be honest Ron Johnson ran this business to the ground.

That is bad about J.C. Penney company because I purchased so many products from them, and Sears, Roebucks. I am glad that Sears was saved and wish them all the best.

People love coupons and feeling like they're getting a steal, even if they aren't. That's why people love Kohl's, especially the coupon stacking aspect. When you break it down, you know the stuff is just marked up, but you get that 30% discount and $10 off $25 and feel like you won the lottery. Back to JCP, I hope they can turn it around and keep on trucking. Lots of cool memories of shopping there as a kid. They need to try more of a Kohl's model with the stacking. That would go a long way, at least where I live.

You hit the nail right on the head. This company is circling the drain.

I just bought 3 pairs of shorts at JCP. Regardless of all the BS behind the scenes, it is still my favorite store for mens clothing.

Interesting. Penny's has similar problems as Sears, and I blamed Lampert for Sears' demise because he tried to prey on Sears' customers by forcing employees into heavy-handed credit card sales and quotas. but it's clear the department store model that used to be wildly popular is dead. why? because back 30 or 40+ years ago there were far fewer stores available to shoppers, of course no internet, and if there wans't a dept. store in your area, you'd need to travel, perhaps to other towns, to several stores to find the things that were in that one store. At Sears you could buy a tractor- and a brassiere. That was the convenience they offered, and they had the whole market. and people trusted Sears, they were a good company. Pennys was somewhat similar, women liked Penny's better. Then like the land shark cars from the 60s, the massive size of the stores took them down - all that stuff sitting around, and all the employees standing around. Smaller stores started to pick off the most profitable sectors of their business, things like appliances, electronics, lawnmowers, tools. All they were left with was a store full of clothes, and Pennys want exactly known for its great clothes. and Seras certainly was not. But why they died is because people didn't NEED to go there anymore. If either of these companies adequately "planned for the future" they would have closed their doors 10 years ago instead of bleeding out.

I once worked at the JCPenney Logistics distribution warehouse in Spanish Fork, Utah, about 10 miles south of Provo. The management is terrible when it comes to training people on how to use the heavy machinery. Way too bureaucratic.

While JCPenny has debt, they are not in as bad a shape as Sears. In November they hired a new CEO and are working to turn things around. My local mall still has a JCPenny. It is a single level mall and the JCPenny was previously an outlet store. JCPenny closed it in 2011 and open a remodeled store a year later.

I still shop at JcPenny when I need some basic clothes. That used to be the place we shopped as a family when I was a kid. My mom would get us new clothes and put them on lay away. They used to have real good fashionable clothes but went kind of blah in late 2000’s. I’m 32 now and I went to Jcpenny to buy some shorts and a tank top there in the summer, it definitely is a bit old fashioned there at the store but it was quite busy when I went. Now I’m going to keep going there when I can just in case Jcpenny does go away.

I still shop JC Penney. One reason that I'm a tall male that require tall clothing. I have to order from the online catalog for my tall items. You cannot find these at Walmart or Target. They are no longer any Big and Tall Men's sections in the stores here. After reading the comments here from present and former employees, there's a major problem with the communications with the floor managers to the middle and upper management and to each other. This is a sign that your company may fail. I've seen too many companies I grew up with die. The older managers quit or jump ship and the others don't care any longer.

I worked for JCPenney when Ron Johnson took over. People he brought on board were not impressive. He made things worse! Many people were let go that we're really loyal and had much more insight to getting sales.

I always went there for mens underwear, T shirts, brand shorts, kitchen eqpt. and things along those lines. Then, they went to "designer" clothing that was made for stick thin models, so none of the underwear, T shirts, sweat shirts etc. fit anymore....grossly uncomfortable & the prices went up 50-100%.....and the quality wasn't there either. JCP had the best T shirts and underwear around.....they lasted a long time.....that's what killed them for me..

I used to love to shop at JC Penney. It was really the only place I went to buy clothes. Now even their web site is crap.

I’ve always loved JC Penney, but currently don’t live near a mall, so I don’t get to shop there often. I must admit, though, I shop Dilliard’s more often for their Roundtree and York Gold Label work shirts! They are top quality and hold up to my retail management demands.

The retail clothing space is especially tricky to navigate as a company right now. Many companies are struggling with identity crisis

J.C. Penney should learn from Macy's and have their coupon system be similar to theirs, totally electronic for the customers and loaded to their J.C. Penney credit card. That would certainly give me more incentive to shop there more often.