Local JCPenney stores not on closing list

Staff report

BOARDMAN

JCPenney is closing more stores after a weak holiday sales season but no Valley stores are on the list, a spokesman told The Vindicator.

Locally, the company has stores in Austintown, in Boardman at Southern Park Mall, in Niles at Eastwood Mall and in Hermitage, Pa.

The company announced Thursday it would close 18 full-line stores and nine home and furniture stores.

In Ohio, the company is closing a store at the Midway Mall in Elyria as well as the JCPenney Furniture store in North Olmstead.

“This decision is the result of an ongoing review of our store portfolio, which includes assessing locations that may not meet our required financial targets or represent an opportunity to capitalize on a beneficial real-estate asset,” said Carter English, a corporate communications and public-relations official with JCPenney.

“It’s never easy taking actions that directly impact our valued associates and customers, however, we feel this is a necessary business decision,” he added in an email to The Vindicator.

This comes in the wake of Thursday’s fourth-quarter 2018 report which showed that net income tumbled nearly 70 percent and revenue slid 8 percent, the most crucial period of the year for retailers who bank on a surge in holiday sales.

The company did beat Wall Street expectations, and shares jumped 22 percent before the opening bell Thursday.