Plano, Texas
The move, announced on Friday, comes as the Texas-based retailer posted a net profit of $1 million for 2016, compared with the previous year’s $513 million loss. Net sales were $12.5 billion for 2016, a 0.6 percent decrease from the previous year. Last year was the first year the company has posted a profit since 2010. In 2013, it reported a net loss of nearly $1.3 billion.
The closings are expected to result in $200 million in annual savings for the company.
The department store giant operates more than 1,000 locations across the United States and Puerto Rico, including the JCPenney and JCP Salon in West Lebanon’s Upper Valley Plaza.
The list of stores to be closed won’t be released until mid-March, the company said. Nearly all affected stores are expected to close in the second quarter of 2017. A distribution center in Lakeland, Fla., will close in early June, and the company is in the process of selling its supply chain facility in Buena Park, Calif.
About 6,000 of the company’s 100,000 workers will be offered a voluntary early retirement program in conjunction with the closings. Affected employees will receive separation benefits, including outplacement services such as resume writing and interview preparation. Marvin Ellison, the company’s chief executive, said he expects to see a net increase in hiring at the company “as the number of full-time associates expected to take advantage of the early retirement incentive will far exceed the number of full-time positions affected by the store closures.”
Other old-school retail chains have announced similar moves. Macy’s is closing 100 stores and eliminating 10,000 jobs. Sears said in January it would close 150 stores, some from its namesake chain and some from the Kmart chain, The Washington Post reported.