J.C. Penney stores closing at Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer, Monroeville, near Butler and in the Beaver Valley
Four J.C. Penney stores in Western Pennsylvania will close as part of the retailer’s plans to shutter 154 stores, in what it said Thursday was the first round of store closings.
Stores at the Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer; Monroevile Mall in Monroeville; the Clearview Mall near Butler; and the Beaver Valley Mall in Center Township, are in the first round of closings, J.C. Penney Co. said. The closing of the 154 stores must be approved in a Texas bankruptcy court order that the company anticipates will be approved next Thursday .
The Penney store at Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield was not on the list of store closings.
The apparel and home retailer said it expects more phases of store closing sales to begin in the coming weeks. Store closing sales for the first round of store closures are expected to take 10 to 16 weeks to complete.
The company, which filed for bankruptcy last month, said it selected the stores to be closed based on an evaluation of its retail footprint and an analysis of store performance and future strategic fit for the retailer. The company has been hit hard by the government-ordered closures of economic activity during the covid-19 pandemic.
J.C. Penney said in a statement that closing the stores is vital to ensuring the company emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows it to restructure its finances.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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