Why are JCPenney stores closing in the US? Complete list of locations for closures explored

American department store chain JCPenney is about to shut down several of its stores all across the United States by mid-year, as per reports by TODAY.com dated February 13. In a statement given to the outlet, the retailer cited "expiring lease agreements, market conditions and other business considerations" to be the reason behind such a decision.

The outlet further reported that the retailer has faced financial difficulties over the last few years. This would also include a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2020. Shedding light on the decision to shut down a few stores, a spokesperson for the company said in a statement:

"While we do not have plans to significantly reduce our store count, we expect a handful of JCPenney stores to close by mid-year. The decision to close a store is never an easy one, but isolated closures do happen from time to time due to expiring lease agreements, market changes or other factors. These closures are unrelated to the recent Catalyst Brands merger."

The list of stores that are getting shut down has been mentioned on the official website. The list includes the stores at the following places:

• The Shops at Tanforan in San Bruno, California, 1122 El Camino Real.
• The Shops at Northfield in Denver, Colorado, 8568 E 49th Ave.
• The Pine Ridge Mall in Pocatello, Idaho.
• West Ridge Mall in Topeka, Kansas.
• Annapolis Mall in Annapolis, Maryland.
• Asheville Mall in Asheville, North Carolina.
• Mall at Fox Run in Newington, New Hampshire.
• Charleston Town Center in Charleston, West Virginia.

According to Axios, these eight stores constitute less than 2% of the company's more than 650 locations.

A decline in individuals shopping in person has also been considered to be another reason for such a decision by JCPenney, as stated by The Economic Times' February 13 report. The outlet added that when the company restructured in 2020, it already let go of about 200 stores.

While it was cleared of bankruptcy after Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. acquired it, financial issues reportedly continued following the company.

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In January, JCPenney merged with SPARC Group to create Catalyst Brands

While JCPenney has recently confirmed that they would be shutting down eight of their stores from all across the United States, last month they just completed a merger with the SPARC Group. According to The Independent, SPARC Group owns Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand, and Nautica. Marc Rosen, the CEO of Catalyst Brands said at the time:

"Together, we bring scale, expertise and broad appeal to customers across America. For us, customers are at the heart of what we do. We have a shared belief that customers deserve fashion and style of great quality for any and every moment in life. We will leverage our resources and best-in-class industry talent to grow our brands further."

According to the outlet, JCPenney has not been the only retailer to shut down its stores. Last year, it was announced by Big Lots that they were shutting down more than 300 stores across the country. Shortly before this announcement, the company revealed that it had experienced a prominent 10% sales drop.

Coresight Researchchas further published a report in January that claims that store closures could go up to 15,000 this year. Last year, the number was 7,325, which was the highest in the past few years since 2020.