COVID-19 just pushed up what was pretty much inevitable.
Penney’s is (effectively) out of cash. They just missed an interest payment. They have hired a consulting firm. And they have far less marketable assets to spin off than Sears did. They have $4 Billion in debt and I don’t see any plausible way out for them.
A bankruptcy filing is likely imminent.
Not a surprise.
Word if mouth back in the ‘90’s they were audited at one location, and the auditor was pretty straight forward.
“The store is disgusting (customers would actually urinate in the fitting rooms 
), and you really aren’t selling anything the electronic and discount chains like Best Buy & Walmart aren’t, and they offer more reasonable prices.”
With many avoiding malls in favor of stores like Target, and electronic shopping, COVID 19 was just the final blow.
Bye Bye
I expect that that was a store in a run down part of some big city and that other businesses in that same area faced the same problem.
I doubt if all Penneys had that problem.
I find it sad when a storied business goes out of business. I actually visited the original Penneys store in Kemmerer, Wyoming last year. A lot of history in the store, and in the Penney house across the street.
This was inevitable, they should have closed up shop many years ago when the malls started dying.
AlixPartners is the “you’re ■■■■■■ “ of consulting firms.
Amazon will have a government-enforced monopoly.
I am sure the Bezos’s Washington Post will celebrate.
They made the same mistake of getting in the debt business sears did. Good riddance.
If that monopoly happens (and WalMart, BestBuy, HomeDepot and other such big box stores still have a lot to say about that), I think it will have more to do with the way Sears, Burlington, Macys, JCP and other mall-aligned department store chains chose their business models (leaving Amazon standing strong in that corporate battlefield).
Sears was the original pre-internet Amazon in a lot of ways. They just didn’t morph with the technology.
If that happens, I’ll find a way to buy the products I want directly from the manufacturer, get books from the library when it reopens.
Just bought at discounted rate two paint by number projects from Dimensions
Seems lately, I guess with many furloughed or unemployed and needing something to do at home, either supplies are out at sites like www.joann.com, or prices are up at Amazon and ebay.
Plus it seems like Amazon employing drivers is generating more problems, from a few of us in this little development walking each others’ deliveries after they’ve been left at the wrong address to one almost backing into our balcony 
Let’s just say I’ve a few issues with Amazon at this time and hopefully they NEVER become a monopoly.
I bet my parents still keep their JCPenny and Sears cards in their wallets.
I have a Sears Card, the store card, not the Sears branded MasterCard. I got that when a Sears Card was one of the most coveted and hard to get cards. Haven’t used it in several years, but still have it.
Neiman Marcus is preparing to file bankruptcy this week.
J Crew and Neiman Marcus are in bankruptcy.
Looks like JCPenney’s filing will occur by this Thursday. They are currently in grace periods for two missed bondholder payments. One grace period expires Thursday, the other on Friday. As soon as they miss the Thursday deadline they will be in formal default, so the bankruptcy filing will probably occur before midnight Thursday.
Additionally, they have announced the permanent closure of 200 as yet to be disclosed stores.
All three companies are filing under Chapter 11, but likely will end up in Chapter 7 liquidation. Unlike Sears, these companies don’t have assets like Craftsman, etc. to spin off for cash.
This was coming for awhile I am more worried about Macy’s they employ over 100,000 people and were trying to restructure before the coronavirus. There stock is down 75% since the shutdown.
Macy’s still has a plausible chance of long term survival. Their credit rating is technically “junk” (BB) but stable.
A total shutdown of competing retailers such as JCPenney would help Macy’s.
JCP is trading at $0.20.
They are supposedly close to securing a $450 million debtor-in-possession loan, $225 million to be paid up front, the remainder upon the achievement of certain milestones. Enough to keep them open a while during bankruptcy, but not really close to enough to bring them out of bankruptcy.
One term of the loan is the requirement to immediately close 180 to 200 stores permanently.
JCPenney’s officially filed for bankruptcy in the last couple of hours. It paid a $17 Million bond payment that was due Thursday, but defaulted on another bond payment due today. JCP did manage to secure the $450 million debtor-in-possession loan, but that really only delays their inevitable demise.
Use up any JCP gift cards you may still have…
UPDATE:
An interesting twist.
Amazon is seriously considering buying out JCPenney’s lock, stock and barrel, including any debt.
They would obviously immediately shutdown JCPenney’s as a retailer, which would cease to exist, including the name. However, JCPenney’s has a lot of valuable real estate, a decent distribution system and locations.
Amazon rules the web, but has almost no physical presence. Essentially, they may be appropriating the dead husk of JCPenney’s to gain a physical presence.
Should be interesting to see how this plays out.
I would note, however, that however the Amazon thing turns out, JCPenney’s is dead as an independent company.
154 stores closing permanently. Liquidation sales will commences after a June 11th bankruptcy hearing.
And the terms of the debtor-in-possession loan permit an involuntary conversion to overall liquidation in either mid July or mid August, if certain benchmarks are not met.
