Thursday, June 4, 2020

[UPDATE] JCPenney Confirms Initial Store Closure List, Seven in Georgia

JCPenney, which in May filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced plans to close 242 locations, earlier today confirmed the first 154 stores it will shutter.  The list includes seven stores in Georgia, only one of which is in metro Atlanta.  The release did not confirm exactly when the stores will close, but indicated that liquidation sales are expected to begin June 12.  The June closures, which are expected to take 10-16 weeks, are the first part of what the Plano, Texas-based company referred to as its "store optimization strategy."  
In metro Atlanta, where the company has in recent years already trimmed its store count, the store at Northlake Mall in Tucker will close.  The closure of JCPenney, an original anchor tenant, will leave the circa 1971 mall with only Macy's anchoring the center... for now.  Emory Healthcare is moving forward with their previously announced plans to open in the former Sears at Northlake with other junior anchors still in talks to occupy portions of the former Kohl's [Parisian] space.  

ToNeTo Atlanta had heard that the Northlake JCPenney was likely on the chopping block as long ago as last year, but had not been able to confirm with 100 percent certainty its fate.  We spoke earlier this week with Tony Ruggeri, partner at ATR Corinth Partners who purchased Northlake in 2016, and he indicated that while his firm's plans for the project remain in place, delivery and opening of new tenants will be far more "staged" than he had originally hoped.  Entire real estate teams have been furloughed or disbanded, so his firm's ability to get deals done with would-be tenants has been hindered significantly.  Although he was tight lipped about who had committed [there are a few], he did indicate that things like curbside pick-up and other COVID-19 related updates are likely to be implemented in the mall's renovation/redevelopment.  

JCPenney currently owns their "box" at Northlake, and while Ruggeri and his firm would ultimately like to control it (as they now do the Sears "box,") that has yet to happen.  

The other six stores JCPenney plans to close in Georgia are:

Georgia Square - Athens 
Arbor Place Mall - Douglasville 
Lakeshore Mall - Gainesville 
Mount Berry Mall - Rome
Statesboro Mall -  Statesboro 
Hatcher Point Mall - Waycross 

In 2017, JCPenney closed 138 stores, none in metro Atlanta, but five of which were in Georgia at Dublin Mall in Dublin, Macon Mall in Macon, Milledgeville Mall in Milledgeville, Gateway Plaza in Thomasville, and Tifton Mall in Tifton.

JCPenney has in years past closed several stores in metro Atlanta including those at Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody, Cumberland Mall near Smyrna, and Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth.  
The former auto center at the JCPenney at Northlake Mall

The Perimeter Mall store closed in 2002.  It was demolished and replaced with a new Dillard's which opened in 2005. The Cumberland Mall store closed in 2005, before it was demolished and replaced with a Costco the following year.  The JCPenney at Gwinnett Place closed in 2015 with Beauty Master now occupying its former space. JCPenney did briefly make a cameo appearance at Gwinnett Place when it "reopened" for the filming of the third season of Stranger Things in 2018.  

Following the closures, JCPenney will continue to operate several stores in metro Atlanta including those at North Point Mall in Alpharetta, Mall of Georgia in Buford Mall, The Mall at Stonecrest in Lithonia, and  Town Center at Cobb in Kennesaw.  JCPenney also operates a store at South Point shopping center in McDonough, which is one of the chain's newest, having opened in 2008.  Local sources indicate the South Point store is one JCPenney's most productive chain-wide.

Are you surprised to see JCPenney close so many stores?  If you still shop at department stores, where do you do the majority of your shopping?  What would you like to see replace the soon-to-close JCPenney at Northlake Mall?

Please share your thoughts below.  

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

So sorry that Northlake will not survive the bankruptcy . The mdse is not the best but I always check it and am very happy when I find something of quality.
Also too bad they could not hold on until Emory moved in.

Cody Cargle said...

Honestly I used to live in Metro Atlanta Arbor Place Mall was an unfortunate long time coming, especially when I used to live in Paulding County Georgia I went to the grand opening of the one in Douglasville in 2003, the mall was a lot nicer then, now it’s changed a lot, but on the bright note Arbor Place will be fine as long as Belk or smaller shops don’t pull out, Northlake Mall no comment since I never went there but based on stories it’s not shocking to see that one go, Georgia Square is obviously a Belk town for sure, Lakeshore Mall ehhh a small town mall in general people rather pay less in general, Mount Berry not shocking when Belk and soon home to Kohl’s in Rome is a bigger blow, only reason I know about the Kohl’s coming there is because Bay City Point in Panama City Florida is owned by the same developers building the shopping center containing Kohl’s up there, Statesboro and Waycross all small towns in general. 🤔

Anonymous said...

I will miss it. They had a weird period of time with the last CEO and I didn't shop JCP much at that time, but I think their clothing now is at least as good as Kohl's. They seemed to change their mind regularly whether to keep other merchandise like furniture and appliances. Their housewares and bedding/bath departments are a little thin. Fashion jewelry used to be decent but is a picked over mess now. While I order things online, especially with COVID-19 around, I've been going there for years, still enjoy going to the store to shop when we're not in a pandemic, and will miss it.

SB said...

I'd refer to more than just Northlake as 'being in the Atlanta area.'

Anonymous said...

Sad to see the Northlake Penneys close.
I live close to Northlake so still shop there. Can't wait to see what Emory does to that mall.

I shopped at Penneys there back in March and was very impressed with the women's clothes after being disappointed for a lot of years. But this location definitely needs to close. For at least a year if not longer there have been buckets all over the top level for all the water leaks. It's time for that store to go but will miss it.

Skrybe said...

Tony Ruggeri bought the place in 2016, and we've still seen no progress on it at all whatsoever. Now his excuse is that COVID has affected all of the deals getting done. Okay, Tony. Real estate teams have disbanded in the last two months. So what were you doing for 38 months before that happened?

I think this one might be a lost cause. I would have liked to see the mall torn down and replaced with some type of open air concept. They've got the space to do it. But instead they want to force new ideas into an old bag. Well. Lemme know how that works out for you. We see how it's worked so far.

scgirl said...

I just can't understand why people prefer to shop these days in the hot sun/rain instead of a nice dry air conditioned mall.

Anonymous said...

So where exactly are people in Decatur supposed to go shop? Are we just supposed to go up to Buckhead or Alpharetta every time we need something? It's insane we don't have a major shopping mall area on the east side that serves the people of Decatur and Tucker and Stone Mountain

Cody Cargle said...

Scgirl said on June 5, 2020 at 10:11 Am Unfortunately that’s a concept people rather do, the problem with a nice dry air conditioned mall is some of the elderly are physically unable to do a lot of walking and same with young people who have severe health problems like being crippled to a wheelchair for an example, I mean for a healthy person it sounds lazy or flat out stupid, but actually the hot sun is good for the human body it boosts Vitamin D levels in general, in other words if you have low Vitamin D levels, your body starts failing, and for far as rain, well you still have to get out of the car in order to be inside the mall while it’s raining, so either way JCPenney’s leaving Arbor Place and Northlake Mall is not really surprising when there are other choices in the area still, I live in Panama City Beach Florida now where Pier Park is more successful than most malls across the country, I’m not saying JCPenney’s will remain safe in my area but if that one, Panama City Florida, Hiram, Georgia, Town Center at Cobb, North Point Mall, Mall of Georgia, Newnan, Georgia, Fayetteville, Georgia, and McDonough, Georgia are any indicators it still has a chance it’s possible the company won’t end up like Sears. 🤔

Anonymous said...

Northlake Mall is a ghost town. For several years I've been wishing someone would consider reconfiguring and making it an outlet mall with mid to upscale designer stores. Why do we have to go all out to Helen on the chance we might find some good deals. This area has gone thru some big ticket changes in recent years that includes huge rent and property taxes. North Lake Festival across the street is loaded with empty store fronts as well. There is a Target, Publix and Kroger in the immediate area but nothing to create interest for shoppers.

Anonymous said...

The shopping centers in the area leave a lot to be desired. They built the new Sprouts/Dicks shopping center across 285 rather than renovating one of the old ones. The Publix center is very shabby and outdated and so is the empty sprawling Northlake Festival. This is a nice residential area so I don’t know why developers don’t try here. As for the 50 year old dead mall it needs to be bulldozed and not just put some offices in an abandoned Sears which seems to be the plan.

Anonymous said...

Exactly, the shopping in the Northlake area is very lacking or definitely needs a facelift. Very surprising when the majority of homes are over the $400k mark in value. Also, good quality independent restaurants are needed but instead you have to drive to Brookhaven or Chamblee to find a decent place to eat. Hopefully, Marlow's won't leave anytime soon.

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