No Delaware stores are on a list of more than 150 J.C. Penney locations that are slated to close, according to a list from CNN Business.
Penney is now in bankruptcy proceedings and has not yet reopened stores in Delaware during the state’s Stage 1, which limits occupancy to 30 percent of fire code capacity. That figure will rise to 60 percent on June 15.
Penney has stores in Dover and Christiana malls and in the Prices Corner Shopping Center. All remain closed according to the retailer’s website.
Retailers are often reluctant to close Delaware stores, due to out-of-state shoppers who travel to Delaware to take advantage of its lack of a sales tax.
The Prices Corner store, which may have been the most vulnerable Penney store, is undergoing a makeover that will include a new Target store that will lure shoppers to the aging complex west of Wilmington.
The closings do not mean Delaware stores are safe over the long term as the company has to put itself up for sale as part of the process or attempt to find lenders that will give it a financial lifeline. A liquidation sale is not out of the question.
As seen in the closings of Sears and Kmart stores, closings can take place in a piecemeal fashion, even after a company emerges from bankruptcy proceedings.
