While competitors were busy closing stores in 2009, JC Penney busied itself with 17 new store openings, and the planning for four additional stores that will open in 2010. After 107 years in business, the chain has learned a thing or two about surviving recession, depression, and economic roller coaster rides. It may be the wisdom that comes from longevity that allowed the well-known American retailing icon to keep itself off the 2009 retail layoffs list altogether.
CEO Mike Ullman came out of retirement in 2004 in order to retool JC Penney and keep it relevant for its second century in business. Ullman's company makeover culminated on July 31, 2009 when JC Penney opened a flagship store on a prime piece of Manhattan real estate. Instead of carrying the somewhat indistinct middle-American value-priced merchandise that people associate with the JC Penney name, the well-publicized New York flagship store features well-known designers and unique product lines that are being made specifically for the JC Penney chain. This is part of the strategy that Ullman has implemented throughout the 1,100 store American chain in order to revitalize the JC Penney brand.
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CEO Mike Ullman came out of retirement in 2004 in order to retool JC Penney and keep it relevant for its second century in business. Ullman's company makeover culminated on July 31, 2009 when JC Penney opened a flagship store on a prime piece of Manhattan real estate. Instead of carrying the somewhat indistinct middle-American value-priced merchandise that people associate with the JC Penney name, the well-publicized New York flagship store features well-known designers and unique product lines that are being made specifically for the JC Penney chain. This is part of the strategy that Ullman has implemented throughout the 1,100 store American chain in order to revitalize the JC Penney brand.
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