mary sent a message to Marvin R. Ellison – President of J. C. Penney Company Inc.- email address that said:
I have been a JCP customer for decades! I like the brand.
I mainly shop at the stores in Hampton, VA, and Newport News, VA. I also have shopped in Newnan, GA. I am dismayed that a town the size of Norfolk, VA, no longer has a JCP store; however, I am aware of the decline of the Military Circle Mall, a former location.
I have a few suggestions.
1. PLEASE clear the stores mentioned, so they be more visually attractive! Presentation matters! There is TOO MUCH merchandise in the ladies' clothing departments. The merchandise is CRAMMED together to the point where the three stores mentioned resemble discount stores. Make JCP stores "pretty." The Hampton, VA, store in the former Coliseum Mall, at one time, was a pleasant, pleasant experience, so much so that one visiting JCP manager, from a Florida store, said that it was one of the prettiest she had seen.
**I also think that the crammed ladies' aisles may impede access of the handicapped who, in wheelchairs, are not able to maneuver appropriately.
2. PLEASE hire buyers who can choose NICE and PRETTY garments for the Womens Plus Dept. I do not find that department worth my looking. The items are homely and poorly displayed. Other than SOME of the active wear, I RARELY find a need to visit that department.
3. PLEASE hire buyers who can select appropriate outerwear. The JCP coats lean towards fall and early spring in weight. YES, we get cold here. This is a seaport area, where the wind can be cold. At one time, JCP carried a range of coat weights. Now, the weights are light. Please stock some weights which are selected for Northern climes.
4. Weeks before Thanksgiving, I saw some wonderful shawls/poncho-like items hidden near the junior department in Hampton, VA.
If those items, which retailed for about $50, had been positioned more strategically, they would have sold out before the Thanksgiving sales. I mentioned this factor to an associate, who replied that she had to display them according to the corporate scheme provided. Somebody, however, should have been able to move those items where they could have been seen. I almost needed a search warrant to locate them, again---and I HAD seen them before.
This communication does not require a response.
Have a great day!
