JCPenney To Reopen Some Stores. Will Kalamazoo Be One Of Them?

Two weeks ago we told you that JCPenney filed for bankruptcy and would almost certainly go out of business.  Even before the Pandemic they were on the watch list of struggling retailers and many in the business world were saying it was only a matter of time.

Well, not so fast.  In some cases bankruptcy is not a death sentence but merely an opportunity to reorganize and protect from creditors.  But the fact remains that they were having a hard time keeping up with others in the same sector when it comes to the transitioning to or allowing for online consumption and delivery.

Nevertheless, it seems JCPenney is rising like Lazarus reopening 150 stores in 27 states and plans to reopen a total of 500.  But wait a minute.  They can't be in any better shape than they were before the shutdown.  So while they are joining the country in reopening, there are plans to close many of the stores in order to survive.

The question is will the location in Crossroads Mall be one of them?  Our family has always shopped at Penney's and of all the struggling retailers like them, we'd like them to survive.  Despite the fact that the "market" has always been driven by survival of the fittest, there's a worry that we will be left with a much meager choice.

Will our post-pandemic world leave us with the major box stores and online shopping?  Perhaps that's always been an inevitability but I'm not sure it's one that we're going to like.  Again, only time will tell.