JCPenney is leaving Maysville.
The company filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code last month. The store in Market Square is among a list of 154 stores which have initially been marked for closure.
“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,” said Jill Soltau, chief executive officer of JCPenney. “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.”
Penney’s, which has been a fixture on the retail scene in Maysville for decades, beginning downtown before moving to its current location, joins Gordman’s and Syleetos as the latest businesses to close following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maysville-Mason County Industrial Development Authority Executive Director Owen McNeill said there is still good news to be had.
“While recently our community has been hit with the closures of national branded stores as well as some unique, smaller downtown establishments, I would urge some perspective when considering the overall health of our economy,” he said. “I would urge the public to consider how well we have fared. Both JCPenney and Gordman/Stage Brands have corporate systemic issues that necessitated restructuring. It certainly was not the case that our area was not profitably sustaining these companies.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the economy, overall the local area has fared better than most, McNeill said.
“In retrospect I’ve been incredibly pleased with how our economy has fared given the CV19 pandemic. While businesses, both large and small in our area, have been drastically affected by CV19, our overall economic health has fared much better than I anticipated. The fact that our major employers, in all sectors such as automotive, healthcare, etc are coming back online with very few, if any layoffs, is truly amazing.”
McNeill said he is confident the future economic outlook for the Maysville area is bright.
“If anything, I am incredibly optimistic for Maysville’s future,” he said. “We have been working with several national firms, both in retail and industrial/commercial development and recruitment, to better position our region for the future. Our retail property owners such as Midland Atlantic have several prospects vying for available space within our shopping centers while consultants such as Retail Strategies are continuously impressed with our growing retail demographics in the Maysville. We are utilizing gap and leakage analysis to better understand what opportunities are most needed here. From a commercial/industrial recruitment standpoint, we have several opportunities, both in reuse/reutilization and expansion as well as new industrial clients vetting our area. Some of these projects, just as on the retail side, will fail however some have the potential to completely alter our community.”
Maysville is among six JCPenney stores scheduled to be closed in Kentucky, according to information on its website. Others include Danville, Hopkinsville and Owensboro.
Store closing sales for the first round of store closures are expected to begin as soon as a judge signs off on the plan and take 10-16 weeks to complete.
The closing of retail businesses is just one of many repercussions of the pandemic, McNeill said.
“Ultimately, the pandemic has altered every part of life and economic development is no different,” he said. “It has hurt many of our individual households and citizens and it has affected our businesses, both retail and industrial however, Maysville and our region has fared much better than I anticipated two months ago. Our economy was strong prior to this pandemic and those underlying indicators have not changed.”
“Overall, while yes, CV19 has affected every portion of life and certainly has impacted our economy. I would just argue that I am very relieved that numbers haven’t appeared to be as grave as I once initially thought,” McNeill said. “While we hate to lose any retail amenity for Maysville, the announcements of JCPenney and Gordman’s were more reflections on their internal models and not that of Maysville’s economic health.”