Mall owners close to buying JC Penney out of bankruptcy
Source: AP
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
NEW YORK (AP) Mall owners Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners are close to a deal to buy department store chain J.C. Penney out of bankruptcy and keep the chain running.
Penneys lawyer Josh Sussberg announced the tentative pact, which will save roughly 70,000 jobs and avoid liquidation, during a brief hearing in bankruptcy court Wednesday.
Sussberg said that the Penney would have an enterprise value of $1.75 billion, including $300 million in cash from the two landlords and $500 million in new debt.
He noted that a letter of intent including more details of the pact will be filed with the bankruptcy court in the next day. Penney will be left with $1 billion in cash after the deal is completed, he said.
FILE - In this Nov. 24, 2017, file photo, a shopper heads into a J.C. Penney store in Seattle. Mall owners Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners are close to a deal to buy department store chain J.C. Penney out of bankruptcy and keep the chain running, an attorney for Penney's announced Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
Read more: https://apnews.com/414ea26531a8e52bace148660de58472
LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)Love their white goods.
SoCalNative
(4,613 posts)but online only. That's the only way that they would be able to sustain that business model now.
JI7
(89,178 posts)Crowman2009
(2,478 posts)Crowman2009
(2,478 posts)It helps to have an offline digital copy sometimes.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)I dont think a static catalog makes sense in a modern online enterprise. Just taking the existing business model and plopping it online was a massive failure for everyone who ever tried it.
msongs
(67,194 posts)Happy Hoosier
(7,080 posts)Mall owners are trying to save anchor stores.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Good quality and low price.
MissMillie
(38,454 posts)It's always been a place where I could find clothes that didn't need a lot of alterations. I'm short and things need to be shortened, but if a pair of pants fit in the waist, they fit in the hips and fit in the thighs.
Of course, I haven't been able to afford any new clothes in quite a while. But if I were looking, that's where I'd be headed.
bucolic_frolic
(42,676 posts)Aeropostale for one, I read last year. My closest biggest mall is 1/2 empty, 2 of 4 anchor stores empty for years. JCP is one of the remaining, the other MACY's. Mall owners are acting to save themselves, and who can blame them.
What happened to the deal with Belk? That sounded like more of a rebranded downsizing to fit local conditions.
Imagine the shopping when the Pandemic is over!
Smart move.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)saleable assets in lieu of Rents Due.
Owl
(3,629 posts)Raine
(30,540 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,312 posts)(originally largest in the country before the Mall of America opened)
I, like many others, grew up with Penney's and I even had a JCP card too when I got out of college and first started working years ago. I have some of their bedspreads up in my linen closet (it was hard to find actual "bedspreads" for a decent price that weren't comforters), so as they have closed stores, I have bought from them online and they were quick to ship.
I expect that they want to keep it and/or add it back as an anchor store for many of the malls they own.
iluvtennis
(19,757 posts)Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)I hope this strategy works out for all concerned, keeping stores open, people employed and anchors at the malls.
SamIam715
(44 posts)Mall JCP stays open because of the optical shop and salon. Good news if it's able to survive. Hobby Lobby went in where they closed the Sears store😠
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Or as I call them Looty Booty they still provide jobs, rent and tax revenue for the community. I really hope this deal works for all involved.
Xolodno
(6,334 posts)During the late 80's and 90's, numerous anchor chains merged. Wasn't such a big deal since a lot of them were an anchor in one mall but not the other.
Then shit hit the fan and bankruptcies followed. One mall I used to frequent when I lived near by had an empty Broadway chain store practically forever. They used it for everything, from a temporary trampoline park to a Halloween maze. Once Sears left the mall, they tore down the old Broadway section. I remember when they converted it from a single level mall to double, now they are shrinking it.
They are buying JCPenny not save it...but to save themselves. Less Stores => Less Shoppers => Less Rent =>Less Stores => Less Shoppers => Less Rents => No Stores => No Shoppers => No Rent