Outside of cutting costs and emerging from bankruptcy less debt-laden, it remains unclear what will generate growth. At nearly 22 years into the 21st century, even with “new brands,” there needs to be a radically different value proposition for why new droves of customers would visit a J.C. Penney physically or digitally.

Too late — I don’t know a single person under 35 who’s ever even been in a J.C. Penney. The board had the right idea back in the Ron Johnson time, just not the right content. Smells very much like the slow death spiral of Kmart and Sears to me.

We’ve heard this before – lots of times. That said, the source matters here. This is not the “big talk” of a private equity firm, but rather it’s coming from the largest, most successful mall operator in North America. While having the backing of Simon makes a big difference in terms of financial strength, the fundamental challenges at J.C. Penney regarding relevance to consumers and place in the market are still yet to be resolved. I’d say J.C. Penney has its best shot of regaining footing now, but this is still very much a work in progress and the outcomes are very much uncertain.

Well, we’re already 21 years into the 21st century, and there’s no time like the present! It would be genuinely interesting to present a J.C. Penney case study to a group of distinguished retail observers and hear what they would do if they were in charge of modernizing this company.

“The first goal is to rightsize the company, strengthen the financial capabilities, repairing a vendor relationships that we need to do, stabilize the morale…” They have a lot of “first goals” they must accomplish. Sadly, he speaks of nothing to change the shopper perception and need of J.C. Penney.

Based on his “euphoria” comment from several days ago and now this, I suspect Simon is nothing but bluster.

With the restructuring J.C. Penney will hang on longer but, as I have opined before, the obituary is already written. The question is, when will reality set in?

This message sounds really good, and is somewhat expected from the CEO of the property group and co-owner of the retailer. This does really sound like a better shot at life for J.C. Penney compared to the news we all were reading last year for the retailer. This could be a lot of fun watching the transition, news and store presentations. I do think that J.C. Penney still enjoys good brand equity with many people which will help the transition back into retail life.

So they have reduced debt and labor, which are good things, but have you decided what you want to be and how you will be relevant to customers? Did the remodels from the previous administration ever go forward or were they scrapped? There is a lot of competition and J.C. Penney will need to differentiate itself both in brick and mortar and in the digital arena to survive long term. The question is, how long can you survive if you haven’t defined your customer?

While I wish J.C. Penney well, I see little in the way of any planned differential advantage that will bring customers back into the stores who have migrated to online and specialty retailers. While focusing on the debt and vendor relations is necessary, beyond the promised new brands, there appears to be little in the way of a long term marketing strategy.

Certainly name recognition is high and I would not say there is baggage that prevents reinvention. turning around J.C. Penney and the future of malls are certainly related ideas and I think “shopping therapy” might be the key to both challenges.

In the words of that great philosopher, Rod Tidwell, played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.: “Show me the money!” I will believe it when I see it. Wait and see on this one…

Warm words. No clear plan. No clear actions. I am not optimistic.

At what point does a brand just call it quits and move on?

I am happy to hear of some forward momentum at J.C. Penney, to be sure, but what I would also like to hear is a new vision for their merchandising and assortment strategies. Yes, the addition of the Authentic Group brands has the ability to improve product selection almost overnight, but without a coherent, well-defined brand promise to shoppers – and a very carefully crafted assortment strategy that aligns to that brand promise – I have my doubts about their ability to find sustained growth. Just throwing a bunch of recognizable labels at the problem isn’t a strategy. I sincerely hope another announcement is coming soon defining their updated brand vision and, regardless, I wish them the best on their journey. I would love to see a full-fledged comeback from J.C. Penney.

J.C. Penney have failed to differentiate themselves in the market. Their business has atrophied for years, now they’ve burned through the last of their reserves. New investments will put off the inevitable for a while, but simply reshuffling brands is not enough to right this ship. I admire Simon’s optimism but I have not seen the kind of significant changes needed at J.C. Penney to give me much hope.

I’m intrigued by J.C. Penney’s plug-and-play partnership with Authentic Brands and its SPARC division. The hookup gives J.C. Penney instant access to a growing portfolio of recognized brands, some of which may become exclusives. This could signal a retreat from J.C. Penney’s brand-building past and will take at least several months to take shape. At the same time, J.C. Penney’s paring down of its store fleet may compromise awareness for the J.C. Penney brand and those it is attempting to promote. Stores are also necessary for J.C. Penney to hold onto its digital relevance. J.C. Penney is in a precarious position yet Simon obviously has a master plan that will knit its growing platform of brands, real estate, and strategic partnerships together. J.C. Penney is only one piece of the puzzle, albeit a major one at this point.

Simon’s words certainly sound encouraging from a balance sheet perspective, but where are the words that tell us what the J.C. Penney brand will mean to consumers? What is the “first goal” that speaks to new customer acquisition? What about retention plans for the customers that have stuck with the brand through all of this turmoil and restructuring? While it’s great to see ABG brands will be part of the equation, how does management know those products will attract a new customer base to J.C. Penney stores? As others have pointed out in the comments J.C. Penney has lost an entire generation of shoppers. How will they be attracted to the brand now? I see more questions than answers in David Simon’s statements, so I hope there is more meat to the plan that we are seeing currently, otherwise, this will be the next Sears!

The diminished shell of a once solid mall brand has survived. I guess surviving to fight another day is a good thing, but for that to happen, equity holders, debt holders and vendors had to be eviscerated. I can see why ABG might be excited about the possibilities here, and I can see why SPG is hopeful. To say that they have made a high risk, long shot bet would be an understatement. But mall retailing has never been more competitive. It’s going to take a lot more than race-to-the-bottom promotional tactics to survive the next round of battles.

It’s hard to tell whether Mr. Simon is accurate in describing the J.C. Penney turnaround, or simply talking up the prospects for his portfolio of malls by hyping one of its major tenants. The problems at J.C. Penney go back at least a dozen years (even prior to the Ron Johnson fiasco), and the revolving door in the C-suite hasn’t helped matters.

The interim CEO of J.C. Penney is also a senior executive at SPG; he describes improvements in the business this spring (vs. cratering during the worst of the pandemic) but is still searching for a permanent leader. At some point a new CEO and team need to stop the endless pattern of “revisionist history” (overturning whatever the last CEO did), and find some avenues for sustainable growth. Call me a skeptic.

This is a lot of spin. The brand has an extremely muddled identity, the stores need massive investment to make them appealing and uncluttered, and they are largely mall fixtures — and despite what David Simon says, malls themselves are at risk.

The era of Sears and J.C. Penney ended long ago, they just don’t accept it (yet).

Penney has missed every major trend in the past 10 years or longer. Penney has always taken one step forward and two steps back (10 steps back during the Ron Johnson era). So it will hang on and live a Zombie existence like Sears, undead and delivering some modicum of financial benefit to a few stakeholders, but having no real impact on shoppers or the retail industry as a whole.