{"id":2707,"date":"2013-04-11T01:49:03","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T01:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.retailprophet.com\/?p=2707"},"modified":"2013-04-11T01:49:03","modified_gmt":"2013-04-11T01:49:03","slug":"is-it-time-to-let-jcpenney-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.retailprophet.com\/2013\/04\/11\/is-it-time-to-let-jcpenney-die\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Time To Let JCPenney Die?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Doug Stephens<\/p>\n

\"JCP\"<\/p>\n

Ron Johnson is out and Mike Ullman is (back) in, and now the debate will begin anew over whether JCPenney can be saved.\u00a0 There will be those who believe that Ullman is just the dose of status quo that Penney needs to restore the company to order.\u00a0 Others will see the return of the deposed Ullman as the kiss of death and lament that Johnson wasn’t given more time.\u00a0 And of course, only time will tell who\u2019s right and who\u2019s wrong, in the debate over whether or not Penney can be\u00a0resuscitated.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I\u2019d like to pose a different question – one that hasn\u2019t been asked as often.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Is JCPenney really worth saving?\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

And, would its salvation actually be a bad thing for the retail market in general?<\/p>\n

I look at it this way; if the retail market were an old-growth forest, JCPenney would be like an enormous, rotting redwood in the center of it. \u00a0And as such, it causes two problems:\u00a0 First, any serious attempts to shift it, as Ron Johnson attempted to do, risk toppling it – \u00a0potentially killing every creature that feeds off it, lives in it or resides close to it.\u00a0 Second, because of its sheer size, it\u2019s stifling other, healthier trees in the retail forest, depriving them of the things they need to grow.\u00a0 And, there are so many genuinely fascinating and original retail\u00a0concepts sprouting promising roots right now.\u00a0 Bonobos<\/a><\/strong>, launching its cool Guide Store concept.\u00a0 Ladies online apparel retailer Keaton Row<\/a><\/strong>, matching shoppers with personal stylists.\u00a0 Warby Parker<\/a><\/strong>, reinventing how we buy prescription eyewear.\u00a0 Hointer<\/a><\/strong>, hacking the apparel shopping experience with new technologies.\u00a0 And plenty of others are doing amazingly creative things.\u00a0 All of them are fresh growth, and eager to flourish.<\/p>\n

One has to wonder if the retail ecosystem might be healthier if Penney were just subjected to a controlled-burn and done away with, opening up fertile ground for a new generation of bright young retailers.<\/p>\n

In other words, is bankruptcy the best outcome?<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t ask that question lightly or merely to be provocative.\u00a0 I recognize and empathize with the number of people for whom JCPenney represents their investment, their job, and their hope.\u00a0 I\u2019m not being cavalier or trying to minimize the gravity of the situation.<\/p>\n

But in order to accelerate the development of these new and innovative concepts, we need to clear out the dead wood.\u00a0\u00a0 For the sake of the retail ecosystem, we need dynamic, new retail to flourish.\u00a0 A lingering, languishing JCPenney only impedes this.\u00a0\"Get-My-Book.001\"<\/p>\n

One has to wonder how long we’ll stand vigil over this dying brand?\u00a0 How long can we continue the same back and forth debate \u2013 \u201cis or isn\u2019t it dead yet?\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a remarkable era of retailing ahead.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s time we move forward into it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Doug Stephens Ron Johnson is out and Mike Ullman is (back) in, and now the debate will begin anew over whether JCPenney can be saved.\u00a0 [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[273,274,223,24,118,263],"class_list":["post-2707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bonobos","tag-hointer","tag-jcpenney","tag-retail","tag-retail-prophet","tag-warby-parker"],"yoast_head":"\nIs It Time To Let JCPenney Die? | Retail Prophet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.retailprophet.com\/2013\/04\/11\/is-it-time-to-let-jcpenney-die\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is It Time To Let JCPenney Die? 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