Sequims JCPenney, a long-time staple for native buyers, will shut within the spring of 2021 following a liquidation sale that’s anticipated to start later this month.
“It is actually very unhappy,” mentioned the shop’s supervisor Beverly Nelson.
After shifting from Port Angeles. In 1995, the clothes retailer at 651 W. Washington St. moved into the previous Safeway retailer within the Sequim Village Procuring Heart.
Workers mentioned they realized of the approaching closure on December tenth.
The JCPenney web site confirms the closure as “closing in spring 2021”.
Shops in Omak, Sunnyside and Vancouver, Wa., In Washington state, have already closed, the web site says, as a part of a “enterprise optimization technique” to shut as much as 200 shops by way of monetary restructuring.
Final Monday, the retailer’s sale to Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Administration Inc. was accomplished, with the corporate rising from Chapter 11 chapter someday subsequent yr.
JCPenney representatives mentioned the deal consists of 160 shops and the entire retailer’s distribution facilities.
Sequim’s enterprise employs 35 part-time and full-time workers, together with its salon, Nelson mentioned.
“It is devastating,” she mentioned of the closure.
Nelson, who has been normal supervisor for 4 years, mentioned no set dates have been set for the liquidation and shutting.
Sequim’s location will go into liquidation someday after Christmas, she mentioned, with the expectation to be prepared someday in March.
In her expertise with different retail liquidations, Nelson mentioned there shall be a progressive sale and often the sale is last when it begins.
Nonetheless, she mentioned the shop will stay enterprise as common with gross sales they usually honor and proceed to promote present playing cards.
The JCPenney web site states, “Objects bought previous to the liquidation sale could also be returned or exchanged in closed shops all through the liquidation sale.”
uncertainty
Nelson mentioned Sequim’s enterprise has a devoted following as it’s the solely JCPenney within the North Olympic Peninsula. It is also one of many smaller JCPenney shops in Washington, at roughly 29,000 gross sq. ft; Silverdale’s JCPenney is 162,000 gross sq. ft and the Tacoma Mall retailer is 228,800 gross sq. ft.
Earlier interviews with workers mentioned catalog and on-line ordering have been fashionable within the retailer.
In 2017, JCPenney closed 138 shops nationwide. Though it was a smaller retailer, Sequim survived this reduce.
The enterprise has received a number of company awards, together with the Chairman’s Award and the Founder’s Award, which JCPenney company officers take into account to be the “highest honor for excellence.”
By means of her communications with firm officers, Nelson mentioned she wasn’t informed a lot apart from that the shop “would not match the profile of the brand new firm.”
She mentioned she wasn’t certain workers might transfer to different shops or different positions within the firm.
The pandemic has affected native enterprise, Nelson mentioned, with the salon seeing cancellations, for instance, as a result of its aged clientele are at larger danger of contracting COVID-19.
“We’ve got an much more susceptible buyer base than we do at Snohomish or every other bigger retailer,” mentioned Nelson. “Our clients are anxious about going out.”
Based on authorities tips, the shop and salon have been 25 p.c full.
Based in 1902, the sale of the corporate, which was based in 1902, was accomplished on December 7, with the approval of the US Chapter Court docket for the southern Texas space, after it authorized the corporate’s reorganization plan on November 24.
Beneath new administration, JCPenney could have entry to roughly $ 1.5 billion in new funding, in accordance with an organization press launch.
Sequim’s JCPenney closure joins different statewide franchise closures in Sequim throughout the pandemic, together with GameStop – which closes in late December after liquidation – and Ulta Magnificence.
For extra data on the Sequim JCPenney Retailer, go to 360-681-2833 or jcpenney.com.
Normal Supervisor Beverly Nelson mentioned no official dates have been introduced or communicated to Sequim JCPenney retailer employees, however a liquidation sale will tentatively start after Christmas and finish someday in March. Sequim Gazette photograph by Matthew Nash
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