[Drew68]

Irregardless of what they do or do not promote, they stopped carrying the few things, their own brand, that I went there to purchase.

I think you're on to something. I know a lot of people choose to believe that the gay marketing is what destroyed Penney's. This may or may not be the case. I don't know. Fact is, there's a lot of other companies out there marketing to gays that are doing just fine.

One thing I do know is that Penney's today barely resembles the Penney's I used to shop at a few years ago. At one time I really liked their St. John's Bluff brand of casual wear. They were durable, fit well and their t-shirts, polos and oxfords came in about 100 different colors. They always had good prices on jeans and dockers as well. My closet was full of Penney's clothing. And then all of the sudden they just stopped carrying this stuff. And that's pretty much when I stopped shopping at Penney's.

[Robert A Cook PE]

To answer your answer with the "bigger picture" questin: What should "I" leave my house, drive through traffic for an hour to a distant mall, walk all the way to shop at JC Penny "just" for clothes when "nothing" they have is different from any other Chinese-Indonesian-Thailand-Mexico-Guatemala-Korean clothes shop or multipurpose store (like Walmart, Sears, or Target)? My time is too valuable to go to one place "just for clothes" if those clothes have no value to me. Kitchen? Appliances? What is different on their shelves that Amazon is not cheaper and more convenient? If they have "nothing" different on their shelves for clothes - and they don't - then why should I go there if I ALSO don't like the politics and their continual in-your-face-gay-support