The J.C. Penney store at the Batavia City Centre in Batavia will close, according to bankruptcy documents the retailer filed as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring. It’s one of 154 stores on the list, with the rest yet to be announced.
J.C. Penney stores remain at Walden Galleria as well at the Boulevard, McKinley and Eastern Hills malls. Those stores have not yet reopened since closing for the coronavirus shutdown.
A bankruptcy hearing on the proposal to close the 154 locations is planned for Thursday. If approved, going-out-of-business sales could begin at those locations on June 12. The store closing sales are expected to last anywhere between 10 weeks and 16 weeks, the retailer said.
J.C. Penney previously said it would permanently close 242 stores, but this is the first time it has said which ones were on the chopping block. The locations were filed in bankruptcy court Thursday.
Once the closures are complete, about 600 J.C. Penney stores will be left. The chain said that, as of Thursday, it has reopened about 500 stores that were closed during the pandemic.
The chain is expected to announce the locations of other stores it is closing in the coming weeks.
“While closing stores is always an extremely difficult decision, our store optimization strategy is vital to ensuring we emerge from both Chapter 11 and the COVID-19 pandemic as a stronger retailer with greater financial flexibility to allow us to continue serving our loyal customers for decades to come,” Jill Soltau, J.C. Penney’s CEO, said in a statement.
Posted by The Buffalo News
