Posted on 03/01/2013 4:44:33 PM PST by PJ-Comix
JCPenney, the storied if unglamorous retailer, is in trouble. Big trouble. Fourth-quarter earnings results came out on Wednesday and they were terrible. The bad news starts with a quarterly loss of $427 million, but it doesnt end there. Comparable store salesmeaning stores that were open this past quarter and also open in the same quarter of the previous yearfell by a mind-boggling 32 percent. Henry Blodget says it may have been the worst quarter posted by any retailer ever.
It wasnt supposed to be this way. JCPenney made a big splash in the retail world by hiring Ron Johnson, mastermind of Apples retail operations, as CEO. He immediately set about to reorganize the stores, and imported Apple concepts, most notably a no discounting policy geared around convincing customers that the everyday price is a great price. The results seemed to speak for themselves, but I was curious. After all, Ive never given the new JCPenney a try. Perhaps Johnson is a visionary genius whos reinvented the department store, and the world just isnt ready for him. Perhaps hes the victim of bad luck. Perhaps shareholders just need to hold on and have faith.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Family of lumberjacks?
I have no problem with the clothing selections at JCP. I spent over $300 a couple of years ago on clothes. But then I found that they wanted the Ellen Degeneres crowd as their primary clientele and did ads showing same-sex “parents.” I no longer identify with them. They now rank with Walgreens in my mind, who proudly support the Chicago gay parades where perverts march naked handling each other in the streets.
I find it amazing (and disgusting) how so many companies try to "remake" themselves by going all-in with the homo adulation. Trying to endear yourself to 1-2% of the population can't be the smart business plan. It looks like Penney's has seen some of the light to late and has dug a hole that it can't get out of.
That said, I think there have to be a lot of morons in high places as they throw their money into Madison Avenue and get some really horrendous commercials for their money - half of them leave you wondering what the product is and most of them find some way to disgust anyone with a shred of morality.
Ron Johnson's a genius.
Words cannot describe the horror of what I'm viewing.
You know what, I'm gonna download these images only to do what you just did, prove what you said with proof. Thank you.
Now I know I won't ever go back to JCP!
Marshall’s and Goodwill.
Those are the only places I shop for clothing theses days, mostly Marshall’s.
when I was a kid I shopped at J.C. Penny’s for ‘ back to school ‘ clothes after working all summer for a dairy farmer.
But these days with money being so tight and J.C. Penny’s deciding what side of the fence they belong on, I don’t think I’d ever go back there.
did you manage to find another job in the same field?
My bad, sorry it was John Browett who was shoved out of running Apple retail.
I still work for Penneys just not in the suit department.
My goodness. I just assumed those were models as sisters or BFFs.
/hit head hard
Well, I had started buying from Target, but they started doing the same crap as Penney’s and Macy’s, and I used to go to Mervyn’s and place called Western Warehouse (I tend to be a tough fit and they best served my size needs) but they closed around here. The last time I bought something clothes-wise was at Wal*Mart.
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