ONTARIO — Several major retail chains announced plans to close dozens of stores last week, but at this time it appears their Richland County locations remain unscathed.
JCPenney and Victoria’s Secret, both with Richland Mall locations, were among other stores that reported declining sales and shared intentions to close a small portion of their brick and mortar stores in 2019.
JCPenney announced Thursday in its Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2018 Earnings Report that it would close 18 full-line stores in 2019. However, this will not include Ontario’s Richland Mall location, Carter English of the store’s Corporate Communications & Public Relations department confirmed in an email.
The chain celebrated its centennial anniversary in Mansfield last April. JCPenney founder, James Cash Penney opened JCPenney’s first Ohio-based store at the corner of Main and Third Streets in Mansfield on April 13, 1918.
In the 1960s, the store moved twice. First, it relocated to the corner of Walnut Street and Park Avenue. It moved again in 1964 to Kingsgate Mall. Its most recent move, to the Richland Mall, happened on Super Bowl weekend in 1996.
Victoria’s Secret parent company, L Brand, also reported declines in sales last week in its Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2018 Earnings Report. This will lead to 53 store closures in 2019, but the locations haven’t yet been released.
“We are not releasing a list of stores closing, which will occur over the next year and represent less than five percent of our total store count,” L Brands Communications said in an email.
Also, Gap has announced plans to create two independent publicly traded companies, Old Navy and a yet-to-be-named company, which will consist of the brands Gap, Athleta, Banana Republic, Intermix and Hill City.
“The spin-off will enable each company to maximize focus and flexibility, align investments and incentives to meet its unique business needs and optimize its cost structure to deliver profitable growth,” the press release states.
The release identifies Old Navy as “one of the fastest growing apparel brands in the U.S.” and says the business is “well-positioned” to grow its market share.
