J.C. Penny to Stop Selling Home Appliances

[daveamkrayoguy]

Some references on TV, to the retailer I have witnessed:

 

In the sitcom SANFORD AND SON, Fred is seen with a shovel, sharing with a scientist, his digging with it he was doing in the yard, explaining that it was an artifact of JayCeePennee...

 

While in another episode, Grady met this ugly gal he was dating "at JC Penny", as he'd told Fred and Lamont when asked... She'd recommended a burgundy tie to go with his suit of charcoal gray... And later on, Fred and Lamont bungle up the affair at their house, inviting Grady and his beau to have dinner in their living room and finding a way for him to screw up their rendezvous, to help the couple break up... (He wasn't in love with her as much as she had an affection for him, that with their help, he'd intended to blow off!)

 

Lastly, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW,  quotes Sheriff Andy Taylor to most-likely his Deputy Barney Fife: "You look good enough to be put in a JC Penny window!", as the that scene even got resurrected as a snippet on the A&E Biography of JC Penny, years ago, along with watching countless other episodes about the famous, I also had watched...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[man114]

Not entirely surprised. I went to check out the appliances after it was first announced and installed which I'll get to in a sec, but a few things first.

Our store received a complete Ron Johnson remodel and it looked and still looks fantastic. Making the excuse of Ellen, or mom mom and dad dad ads is really just an excuse.

The problem really was JCP did not have the money to really undertake those remodels. They also didn't have time to wait out the flat dollar pricing strategy to be accepted.

I think both were good ideas, but they alienated the usual shoppers who wanted gimmicky coupons and high low pricing. Mostly older folks who've shopped there a long time. That doesn't work. If it did everyone would be shopping at Sears because Shop Your Way is the best rewards program in existence. Only a handful of people will mess around with that stuff. The reason Sears wasn't successful with SYW is because its a gimmicky rewards program that largely caters to younger people who use rewards programs and the internet, but most of their shoppers are older just as they were at JCP, Macy's and Bon-Ton.

Now JCP backed themselves into a load of debt and were losing sales. I'm sure it would eventually have turned around but instead they ditched Ron Johnson and went back to the same old formula. It helped reverse things to some degree but didn't differentiate them, it was back to same old same old.

So then they decide to bring in appliances. I don't know what the precise reason but it likely had to do with Sears' issues. Except Sears was still competitive in appliances despite their struggles and had everything in place, allocated and designed to sell appliances. JCP had none of it other than the floor space to do it. They started it off in a few stores then for some unknown reason did a mass rollout. However they never really advertised it.

So they put the appliances in. They looked nice, the displays were modern and nice looking. Except no one was shopping them. The times I went there there were no customers and one associate. Soon there were no associates and an empty department.

One problem as I mentioned was lack of advertising. I saw a scant few ads for appliances. Can't sell what no one knows you have. Secondly the pricing was not competitive. Lowe's was almost always cheaper at the outset. Sears always had some of their typical gimmicks like free delivery or financing. Best Buy had better sale prices. Home Depot had better sale prices. Local places had better service because they advertised and had associates to sell the stuff.

There was simply no compelling reason to shop at JCP for appliances.

While I'd have stuck with it if I were them mainly because they have plenty of floor space I doubt appliances have enough turns that they wouldn't have gotten stuck with old models. They simply are not selling in necessary volumes to avoid it. With their questionable financial situation they probably can't afford to invest in it.

With Eddie wheeling and dealing to try and keep Sears alive and the talk of new small format stores, since he's somehow managed to keep this Sears stuff going so long if he somehow makes it last another year, two or longer those big debt payments JCP has coming were likely a factor in their decision to exit.

Had they had more money to stick with it it would have been one thing but they were out of the game too long and didn't market it well.

They need sales now. Not hopes of future sales. They don't have some rich hedge fund money manager like Fast Eddie wheeling and dealing to keep the game alive, nor the time to wait until he finally gives up on this Sears dream he can't seem to let go of. If you look at the track record of stores that were in Sears' financial situation with years of losses, almost all of them are already memories.

JCP also didn't have the luxury of having a still well known private brand like Kenmore to slap on anything they see fit.

JCP should focus on something more manageable that they're still somewhat known for like housewares, small appliances and cookware. Try and drain sales from Bed Bath and Beyond instead. Otherwise I could see them going in the same general direction Sears did but the more likely outcome isn't surviving bankruptcy even if the survival is short lived.

Rumor is JCP is reducing their appliances tomorrow. I'll be going to check it out and get pictures of their display setup because it looked quite nice.

 

[tolivac]

In my area for both Pennys and Sears-appliance shoppers could go to Best Buy or Lowes for better deals and assurance those places will be able to support the applainces in the future.The older Lowes is just next door to the Sears here!And they have a BIGGER Craftsman tool dept!!!The Craftsman tools are going from Sears to Lowes!!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Oops, I meant it was pronounced by Fred Sanford as: "Jay Cee Penn-aaaayyyy!"

 

Wonder if the idea of your Lowe's getting Sears' Craftsman's tools just a matter of moving them from door to next door...

 

Our local retailer Ace Hardware was one outlet that I thought was actually going to carry Craftsman, and under the banners I'd seen in the tool selection was the actual Craftsman tools...

 

Seems as though, to me, Lowe's is actually more worthy chain-wide of gaining Craftsman than Home Depot, but don't know why...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Yes, where did those days go?!

Well, I did have a Penny’s catalog from 1982, and other than major appliances, they sold everything...

So there was furniture, a whole line of light fixtures, every hand and power tool you could imagine, and every kind and sort of auto accessory... Not to mention things like carpeting, clothing, and jewelry...

— Dave

 

[mattl]

I've seen a number of commercials on TV for Penny's appliances, "Now, up to 40% off..."

 

[yogitunes]

JCPenney's had appliances back in 1988ish era.....I know there were small appliances, but I only recall washers/dryers....

as they had Frigidaire FL SpaceMates I was thinking of purchasing....by 1990 they were on clearance....

Sears had this same set on floor model clearance as well....oddly Sears had the better price so that's where I got them....

 

[jamiel]

I'd almost believe that they reached a tipping point with their vendors (GE/Samsung/…) where they had to put up or shut up regarding inventory--believe I read that they were strictly ordertakers for the manufacturers and hosted no inventory. They may have reached a point where they needed to pony up for inventory, but didn't have the business case to do that. They were probably acceptably productive (on a sales/square foot basis) without any inventory investment, but any investment ruined the business case. I knew one couple who bought some appliances there 18 months or so who shopped pretty hard...believe they had a 12 months same as cash which sold them.

As I recall they discontinued full-line whitegoods in 1981/2 as mentioned, but believe they kept WCI front-load stackable washer/dryer in the catalogue for several years beyond that. The original rollout seemed pretty comprehensive to all their clustered stores built since they made their mall move in 1960 or so; and entirely omitted the older dry-goods stores (in St. Louis, they had appliances at South County Center built in 1962 but did not have them at Hampton Village, a 1948 (roughly) build dry-goods store. Back in 1981/1982 their major appliance departments were not comprehensive like Sears or Wards, but were more like any other department store (in St. Louis, both Famous-Barr and Stix Baer and Fuller sold major appliances).

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Around the years you'd mentioned JC Penny last selling appliances in the late-'80's, was when I had seen a catalog showing White-Westinghouse there, and mainly stuff like dishwashers & compact washes and dryers standing out...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[yogitunes]

surprised JCPenney's lasted this long.....

I got my first credit card from them, and still have it....

Boscov's was always been a store of decorated gaudy glitz, trying to compete with the likes of Macy's.....the pricing of KMart, and quality of a Dollar Store....always having their outside tent sales, for stuff they can't give away...although they do still offer gift wrap and discounts to Military...

 

[DADoES]

 
(deleted, wrong thread)