PIQUA — This week, department store chain JCPenney announced its closure list, including its location at the Miami Valley Centre Mall in Piqua, after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy nearly a month ago.
JCPenney at the Miami Valley Centre Mall, located at 987 E. Ash St., Piqua, was one of the 154 stores identified to close in the first phase of JCPenney’s closures, following “a comprehensive evaluation of its retail footprint and a careful analysis of store performance and future strategic fit” for the company, according to a press release from JCPenney.
JCPenney expects additional phases of store liquidation sales will begin in the coming weeks, as well as future rounds of store closures. This first round of store closures are expected to take 10-16 weeks to complete.
The other JCPenney locations in Ohio expected to close in this first round of closings include: Chapel Hill Mall in Akron, Tri County Plaza in Akron, Carnation Mall in Alliance, Ashtabula Mall in Ashtabula, Governors Plaza in Cincinnati, Northtowne Mall in Defiance, Summit Square Shopping Center in East Liverpool, and The Shoppes At Parma in Parma.
“While closing stores is always an extremely difficult decision, our store optimization strategy is vital to ensuring we emerge from both Chapter 11 and the COVID-19 pandemic as a stronger retailer with greater financial flexibility to allow us to continue serving our loyal customers for decades to come,” Jill Soltau, chief executive officer of JCPenney, said in a press release. “I am incredibly grateful to our talented associates for their ongoing dedication and their passion for meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations during this difficult and uncertain time. All impacted associates will be treated with the utmost consideration and respect.”
The company’s roots began in 1902 when James Cash Penney started a dry good store in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The retailer had focused its stores in downtown areas but expanded into suburban shopping malls as they became more popular starting in the 1960s. With that expansion, Penney added appliances, hair salons and portrait studios.
JCPenney has been in operation in Piqua since 1922, and the retail store was one of the original anchor stores of the Miami Valley Centre Mall that opened in 1988, having moved from a downtown location. JCPenney is currently one of two anchor stores left at the Miami Valley Centre Mall, including Dunham’s Sports. The other two previous anchor stores of the four total anchor spots at the mall, Elder-Beerman and Sears, closed in August 2018 and February 2019, respectively. Kohan Retail Investment Group, under the name Miami Valley Mall Realty Holding, LLC, then purchased the mall property in November 2019 for $3,234,000.
