Struggling Retail Giant To Close More Stores

UNITED STATES — A legacy retail company, which was once a staple across the United States, has been disappearing from shopping malls in recent months.

Since JCPenney filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020, more than 200 store locations have closed. And this weekend, seven more are expected to shutter permanently, according to multiple reports.

The chain first announced the upcoming closures in February, which will affect mall locations where foot traffic has dwindled.

This week, a company spokesperson told ABC that the chain only has about 650 stores in operation across the U.S. and while it will be shuttering seven more stores, it doesn't anticipate more mass closures anytime soon.

"While we do not have plans to significantly reduce our store count, isolated closures in specific markets do happen from time to time due to expiring lease agreements, market changes or other factors," the company told ABC7 News.

Here are the stores that will be closing permanently, according to multiple reports:

• Tanforan Mall in San Bruno, California
• The Shops At Northfield in Denver, Colorado
• Pine Ridge Mall in Pocatello, Idaho
• West Ridge Mall in Topeka, Kansas
• Fox Run Mall in Newington, New Hampshire
• Asheville Mall in Asheville, North Carolina
• Charleston Town Center in Charleston, West Virginia

The American company, which began as the Golden Rule, was founded by James Cash Penney in Kemmerer, Wyoming, in 1902. Penney later incorporated his stores as the J.C. Penney Stores Company in 1907, which had already opened 34 stores at that point, according to Britannica Money.

The company went on to become one of the most iconic and largest retailers in America, reaching its height in the 1970s. When Penney died in 1971, the chain and more than 1,600 stores and had ascended to the fifth largest U.S. retailer. By 1973, the company would balloon to more than 2,000 stores.

In the 1980s and 1990s, discount giants like Walmart and Target began to spell trouble when they arrived on the scene, but the company ultimately began its slow decline during the Great Recession in 2008, according to Britannica.

The company is currently owned by Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management, the firms that rescued the company from bankruptcy in 2020, CNN reported.