They were one third of the way there last time I went to Penney. They still had the registers and counters, but I had a hard time finding one that was staffed so I could check out. If that last one hadn't had a cashier, I would have just left my intended purchase on the counter and walked out there nearby door.
The last couple times I was in JCP, which has been many months now, I was exceptionally annoyed with the fact that the cashiers were obligated to go through some long drawn-out speech asking me to get their credit card and to go online and complete some survey form to tell how helpful they had been. I just wanted to pay for my stuff and leave, and it was holding up the line waiting for their orations to be done.