JCP - Store Closings Haven't Helped J.C. Penney Not Even a Little Bit
The idea sounded reasonable enough. If a struggling J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) store is beyond salvaging, then cut it loose -- don't let dead weight drag the entire organization down. That's why the iconic retailer has been culling stores since 2012, and accelerated those closings in 2017. The company is hoping to scale back on quantity in an effort to beef up quality.
As it stands right now, though, eight years of store closures and about as many years of various turnaround efforts haven't helped. Indeed, the approximately 850 J.C. Penney stores still up and running appear to be doing worse, on average, than the stores that have been closed.
In short, whatever J.C. Penney is doing to drive customer traffic into its stores and then induce more purchases isn't working ... at all.