JCPenney

Went to JCPenney yesterday to find some dress clothes for my family of four. It used to be a GREAT place to go because of the nice selections of clothing and special occasion dresses. What happened?! I was VERY disappointed in the lack of dresses in Women’s and Girls, there was hardly anything in Boys, and I didn’t even try looking in he Mens section. I had two white dresses picked out and discovered dirt on both of them while in the checkout line. Even those «selections» weren’t ideal but the best from what little stock they had available.
Overall, the store just feels dirty and it’s not as easy to find what I’m looking for. The change that JCPenney instituted as a company has not been a good one. I miss the old JCPenney, and certainly won’t waste my time shopping in the store anymore.

My go-​to place when I need a fancy schmancy dress, I came here thinking I would have to find a new dress to wear to the MAM ball, since I hadn’t found a sweater (yet). I found 3 in silver and one in white. Two of the silver ones just didn’t work for me and I held out on the other two because I hadn’t hit EVERY store in the mall yet… I eventually did find the sweater, so I’m glad that I held out. And, as I thought might happen, I did see someone at the ball wearing one of the dresses I tried on, so I’m glad I stuck with my original choice.
Now, back to the store. They moved a few things around since the last time I was here, and, I think, the place looks more spacious. The aisles were nice and roomy and the clothing racks weren’t smooshed together. The signage could have been a little better, as it was hard to decipher where the misses and women’s departments met and also, where the clearance racks were.
Though not a regular shopper here, I’ve always liked Penney’s, so I give it a solid 4 stars.
20÷2015÷114

I was just stopping into this location for a gift card for a relative, but the service I received for my tiny purchase was awesome. The first woman that helped me steered me towards a register that not only had gift cards, but also had someone working at it. Next, another woman stopped what she was doing to ring me up, then disappeared to make sure I had a gift box for my purchase because the register we were at was all out. Very nice!

How interesting, I too came here on Black Friday, and I too was impressed. No violent crowds, helpful but not pushy sales workers on the floor, and I got a cute free snowglobe. The place is clean, well lit, Macy’s quality clothes at Sears prices. I had a little trouble finding someone to help me in men’s ware, but a woman working in shoes was more than helpful, didn’t just ring me up, helped me order something they didn’t have in my size, but at the heavily discounted Black Friday sale price, for later pick up. Had I written this review the next day, this store would have gotten four or five stars. When I returned a week later to pick up, the store staffing was notably weaker. It took me a long time to find a person to ask where order pick up was, I had in fact walked by it a couple of times, it’s not that clearly marked. There was only one young lady working, she exuded exhaustion and weariness. It couldn’t have been any clearer that she absolutely hated working there. First I had to wait for her to assist a woman making some sort of return. This was taking a long time because the customer was a blithering idiot. The world-​weary worker made it pretty obvious by her tone of voice and body language that she was really tired of suffering such fools, and she would maintain this same attitude with me, when she finally got to me. After an interminable time with the only customer ahead of me, she still couldn’t give me full attention because she had to keep answering the phone, and arrange for other stuff to get taken to the dock for the curbside pick up. While this was going on her hand held radio squawked with a couple of other workers declaring that they were going on break, and down the way, two other workers were discussing something loudly over a great distance, it was all so annoying, inefficient, I decided I probably wouldn’t be back until another free snow globe was involved. And even then, I’m not so sure.

Say all the bad things you want about JCPenney, and it will fall on my deaf ears from now on. We found easy parking near Penney’s on Black Friday, so this is where my sister and I entered and exited Southridge on that busy day.
My sister immediately found some things for our niece in the kid’s department. Plenty of associates on hand to assist at check out. I found a Christmas outfit for my son too. The only ding is a coupon in their Black Friday circular («circular»? Who am I? The old lady on the Simpson’s?) couldn’t be used until Black Saturday. Why play games with the fine print? But Sale prices were extremely forgiving, and so were we.
Where JCPenney (my fourth grade teacher pronounced it French «Jacque Pennay» to be funny) exceeded any other major retailer at Southridge on Black Friday, was their checkout lines. I already mentioned plenty of associates in our AM purchase– and during my PM purchase in a different department is where the magic happened.
Waiting in a pretty short line, we were all asked if we were using debit/​credit to check out, and apparently no one was but me. I got pulled ahead of the line to a non-​descript card table and a girl using her own POP/​POS check out gun that allowed her to swipe my card and be Merrily on my way! This, after my sister and I had already stood in line at another retailer *coughKohl’s*cough for 30 minutes, with no such miracle. Thanks, Penney’s! You’re the tops!

JC PENNEY… I LIKE YOUR STYLE.
Okay, getting a five star review out of me these days is tougher than successfully clenching an olive off a slab of dry ice with your butt. Alas, here it is: FIVE BIG, RED STARS! I’m as shocked as you are that I would give up five stars for what I always thought was a dated, musty, crap vendor with poor lighting and sad merchandise.
THE DESIGNERS
Wondering where all the designers like Michael Graves, Martha Stewart, Liz Claiborne, Bodum and Joe Mimran have gone? Well, you won’t find them at Target or Macy’s. I was shocked to find innovative store-​in-​store designer concepts arriving at, dare I say it: our SOUTH SIDE JACQUE PENNEY? In fact, this store is starting to pack some brand cache. And at a damn nice price. They even have a full Levi’s bar, and if they don’t have your size you can order from an associate using their portable sales device. Believe it, people!
DISPLAYS
You can tell that the CEO of Apple had something to do with the store’s uncluttered, target-​specific merchandising scheme. SKU numbers are edited to a focused selection of relevant goods. I love not having to pillage through boring assortments to find the good stuff.
PRICING
Okay, Ron Johnson was fired for it. And we have to talk about it. Yes, he screwed up, but I sure like the direction he was headed. The idea was to peel back layers of b.s. marketing and needless markups to offer the consumer an unparalleled sense of transparency in pricing. I LIKE THAT! Case in point, a pair of genuine leather designer dress shoes at Kohl’s: $ 90, on sale for $ 59, and then you have to «search» the internet to get the coveted 30% off coupon code to make them $ 41.30. JC PENNEY EVERYDAY PRICE: $ 40! And I didn’t have to run through a maze to get my pellet of savings.
The problem here is that SHEEPLE just weren’t ready for honesty in pricing. There, I said it! They’d rather be «tricked» with the psychological need to clip coupons and respond to «urgent, «almost hourly updates about «One Day Sales.» What Ron should have done is bring the prices down enough to make a statement, and use the current storewide, no-​need-​to-​clip-​coupons, flat percentage-​off strategy currently being employed at JC PENNEY. Like it or not, people like to be lied to on some level. And they need to believe they are «saving» something with the «sales.»
BOTTOM LINE
I hope JC PENNEY doesn’t abandon the course they are on; one set by a visionary, albeit a somewhat nutbag one at that. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, and to see who will then jump in and grab the credit should they succeed. FIVE STARS for a store where I received exemplary customer service in the apparel, shoe, home, and jewelry departments. I hope that JC PENNEY continues to turn the corner for the better!