Posted on 05/03/2012 7:37:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Ron Johnson's plan to transform JCPenney continues to roll along, and many of its workers on the frontlines aren't happy about the changes.
JCPenney cut a bunch of middle managers across the country on Monday, according to multiple former managers we spoke with. We've withheld their names for their protection.
This appears to be part of the layoffs announced back in January, but it's unclear how exactly how many have been let go. One source says that the number may now be in the thousands.
JCPenney didn't immediately answer requests for comment, but a spokesperson did mention yesterday that the retailer will be “operating with fewer layers of management."
Here's how it went down, according to one assistant manager who was laid off Monday:
"One hundred store managers across the country were quietly laid off two days before they announced the home office reductions and the call center closing. The rest, phase two, happened Monday. They said it was done purely on year-end appraisal ratings, but someone in my store got a higher rating than I did (and was laid off anyway), and also they changed what the ratings stood for this year, and eliminated performance improvement documentation, so that they did not have to wait longer to do this. If my name or even state comes out I will lose my severance."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Time to move on to greener pastures, if you can fine any in this economy.
My wife used to shop at JCP as well as numerous other stores. She liked the coupons. Now, no more coupons, no more sales, plus the most obnoxious TV ads. The result is she no longer shops at JCP. I wonder how many other women are doing the same.
This new CEO has no retail experience. My prediction is that he will drive JCP even farther into the ground. It may continue to exist for a number of years but it will become a zombie store just like Sears. We went into a Sears in San Diego a couple of months ago on a weekday night in a large shopping center with lots of folks walking about. First time in several years. It was a total ghost town. Looking around, there might have been 4 other shoppers on the main floor. It was kind of scary.
I just went in one of their stores yesterday to pick up something. My youngest daughter would find stuff in there and last year my eldest found a nice dress for work; but, it is empty in there. I agree with those on the thread that say that Pennys is probably done. Too bad.
Pronounced "Bells" . Started in E.Texas by brothers. Has morphed into bigger things. They were highly underrated as a good clothing store when i shopped there back in the 80s. The brothers were from my moms small E TX town and they very conservative.
——Pennys is probably done. Too bad.——
We’ve been buying solely on price since ‘08, so it’s Walmart, Target or BJs. Don’t have time or desire to look through flyers.
I have a little more faith in the Management Team JCP has brought in to turn things around that those that circuit city had.
They may still wind up going belly up, but the team Circuit City had was a joke... This team could pull at turn around off.
Companies come, Companies go, Adapt or Die.
Idiots..having Ellen Degenerate as a spokesman.
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That’s when they lost me, a regular customer for more than 20 years, and I contacted them and told them so. I got no response.
Hope you’re right.
I think you have something there.
That MIGHT have worked.
The brand is not stigmatized beyond repair.
That said, good luck catering to a demographic that is EASILY less than 2% of the population.
I’m not normally for government interference and regulations, but what the amoral raider Icahn did to TWA, and by association, the St. Louis airport hub at Lambert, should be illegal.
Great story about your MIL.
I’m old enough to remember poring over the JCP (and Sears) catalog. The arrival of the thick CHRISTmas catalog, was nothing less than a watershed event in our household.
I am certainly not saying they will pull it off, but definitely think they have a stronger group at the helm.
I’m not a big JCP shopper, do shop occassionally there, and personally I can tell you, just ending all the countless rediculous promotional pricing nonsense where the same product could be 3 or 4 difference prices in the same week or month I like.
Don’t know if the mini store within a store concept will work, but its definitely something that might.
Time will tell.
That just another gimmick, judging by the layoffs it's not working.
I used to shop at Penney's a lot. I've not been back since this new campaign, for a variety of reasons.
However, the last time I went, I replaced all of the bed pillows in the house. After Sales, and coupons, and more markdowns, it wound up being 3 or 4 bucks a pillow (for the good ones, not the cheap ones).
Mrs WBill used to clean up on clothes there, too, with much the same results.
Sez me, if you wind up selling merch for less than you originally paid, it's not a good business model.
They've certainly been around a long time.
I let him know I was none to pleased with driving all the way to the store to place an order that I could have done online at home.
The didn't get the sale.
“Also I can’t stand their checkouts. They ask you tons of questions and spend so much time punching buttons on the stupid cash register that by the time I’m done I never want to go back there.”
Yep. Sears has THE worst point-of-sales system in the entire universe. I actually feel sorry for the clerks who have to try to use it. And the REALLY sad thing? It’s vastly improved from what it was 10 years ago!
“Now, no more coupons, no more sales, plus the most obnoxious TV ads”
Interesting. The only thing that ever drew me to a JCP was the coupons and sales. Never realized they were missing now. Guess that’s why I haven’t shopped at JCP in a long while now.
Reminds me of what my local K-Mart was like. In my neighborhood there's a Walmart, Target and K-Mart all within about three miles. The Walmart was always packed, Target less so but still bustling and the K-mart rarely had more than a few cars in the parking lot.
I hadn't been to a K-Mart in years but I was curious as to why they were doing so bad so I popped in and had a look. I felt like I had taken a time machine back to 1979. The facade looked like it hadn't been remodeled in 30 years. The storefront sign had sun-bleached to an ugly pink color. The ceiling tiles were brown and faded, the floor tiles chipped and stained and an incredibly harsh, bright fluorescent lighting lit the place up from low ceilings. There was nobody there except for the employees who were basically hanging out with each other, shooting the breeze. Their prices were higher than everywhere else in town.
I don't even know if a major makeover can save K-Mart. Probably best to retire that brand and try and save Sears.
I think Mongomery W’s still has catalog ordering.
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