SEQUIM — Far from being one of the 39 stores slated for closure, the Sequim J.C. Penney store remains a top performer, said manager Paul Quinn.
J.C. Penney announced Thursday it will close the stores this spring and lay off 2,250 workers.
The Sequim store at 651 W. Washington St. — the only one on the North Olympic Peninsula — is not on the list of stores to be shuttered.
None of the stores pegged for closure are in Washington state, said Christina Voss, Penney spokeswoman.
“The only one on the West Coast was in North Bend, Ore.,” Quinn said this morning.
The Sequim store finished 33rd in the company out of 1,130 stores in 2013 in terms of sales improvement, profit improvement and customer service, Quinn said.
That puts it well into the top 15 percent, he added, and eligible for the Chairman’s Award it received in 2003 and 2009.
Awards for 2013 have not been issued.
And, since the company operates on a fiscal year that ends Jan. 31, results are not in for 2014, Quinn said.
But “so far it’s been really good,” he said. “We were 14th in the company for the first quarter of the year.”
The 29,000-square-foot store has 36 employees, now that the holiday rush is over.
It moved out of Port Angeles to its Sequim location 20 years ago.
J.C Penney closures will be in 19 states, with the most — five — in Pennsylvania and one in the company’s home state of Texas, according to CBS News.
Along with Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas, closures will be in Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North and South Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Vermont and Wisconsin.
The news came just days after the department-store chain reported stronger-than-expected holiday sales numbers, CBS News said.
It said that Penney shares rose less than 1 percent Thursday to close at $7.95, which is nearly unchanged from a year ago.
The new closures are just part of doing business, company spokespeople said.
“We continually evaluate our store portfolio to determine whether there’s a need to close or relocate under performing stores,” Sarah Holland, company spokeswoman, told USA Today.
“Reviews such as these are essential in meeting our long-term goals for future company growth.”
A year ago, Penney said it would close 33 stores across the country and cull about 2,000 jobs, CBS News said.
After this newest round of closures, Penney will have about 1,020 locations in 49 states and Puerto Rico.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
