Yes, stores are closing and please do not tell me you are surprised. And this goes beyond JC Penney’s store closings that got announced today. If you’ve been following what was going on in retail over last 20 years, the number of stores that closed you’d noticed that the traditional department store format is destined to die. For example, the US Department store sales chart here tells you a great story about what’s going on (it’s a literal nosedive): https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?id=RSDSELD
The customer has changed, the preferences changed. People dread going to a large parking lot, walk for 10 minutes, then navigate a multi-story complex retail space, search through massive departments. Online, it’s so easy, you filter, you slice and dice, you read reviews, you focus on what you need, not on what the retailer is trying to push on you. Specialty stores are more flexible, they adapt quicker, they take care of people better – it’s more niche, tight, it’s better service and better outcomes for the customer. Again, please do not take this as any criticism for your company, JC Penney – this is a problem that the old model of stores have and this is why those stores are closing today.