The Exton Square Mall J.C. Penney’s Store is scheduled to close Saturday, May 3, 2014. This closure will impact 59 J.C. Penny full-time and part-time employees The company will relocate employees whenever possible and will provide separation benefits plus a two-day, on-site job-seeking training.
Economists differ in their views of the future for J.C. Penny stores. The negative view is that the two-to-one debt to equity ratio, a measure of a company’s debt, will impair any possible turnaround efforts. Additionally, JCP’s stock price cuts to about 60% of its highest value is a significant factor.
The opposing view is that J.C. Penny is performing a turn-around effort by closing only 33 or 3% of its 1,000 stores nation-wide. The fact that Penny’s plans to add new store at the Gateway II development in Brooklyn, NY support this less-bleak opinion.
Steven Soles, chairman of West Whiteland supervisors, says that economic viability of the Exton Square Mall is a major concern and that the supervisors and elected officials will work hard to avoid community blight as a result of changes in economic conditions.
Exton Square Mall owners, Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, or PREIT, has already planned Mall upgrades and now is looking forward to including the additional space in those plans.
PREIT’s makeovers of other area malls bolster a brighter future for the Exton Square. The company razed the aging Echelon Mall to make way for a successful mixed-use development in Voorhees, New Jersey. The makeovers of the Cherry Hill, Moorestown, and Plymouth Meeting Malls provided more variety of shops and restaurants. More means additional local employment.
PREIT’s in-house marketing assessments of Exton indicates that more than one-third of households have incomes exceeding $100,000 and that home values are also relatively high. Both factors exceed the state’s average and indicate a rosy future for Exton.
Although the short-term pain is regrettable, there is hope for a future that is bright with additional employment opportunities.
Information for PREIT’s press releases can be found here and for West Whiteland Township here.
