Penney’s string of disappointing quarters is especially troublesome given the relative good spirits elsewhere in retail. That even applies to the heavily challenged department store sector, where Macy’s, Kohl’s, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, among others, have posted relatively strong sales trends, while J.C. Penney has sputtered.
The retailer’s situation is not nearly so dire as Sears’, but it shares many of the same problems, including a high debt load (just shy of $4 billion in Penney’s case), as well as an attachment to poorly performing malls and the vagaries of a changing, and shrinking, shopper base.
