JCPenney

Clean store, friendly staff.

JCPenney… where do I start?
Ron Johnson tried to radically transform JCPenney from a run-​of-​the-​mill department store to a boutique stores-​within-​store concept. Billions of dollars later, he was dismissed as the CEO (though with a hefty severance via a pre-​negotiated golden parachute). Currently, only remnants of what Ron Johnson tried to do can still be seen. Sephora planted itself as a centerpiece of the store to attract younger shoppers.
There seemed to be also a push for e-​commerce. But unfortunately, it’s needlessly confusing to pick up online orders. When we went in, we stood at a counter that says «online orders» directly underneath «cashier.» But when we got to the counter (after waiting in line), we were told that we should instead walk all the way to the back to the service counter to pick up online orders. Of course, when you order something online, you don’t get to try them on. So the logical thing to do is to locate the online order pick-​up counter next to some fitting rooms. Unfortunately, once again that’s not the case here. We picked up the order, then walked the entire length of the store to fitting rooms. Afterwards, we found out that the stuff we ordered online didn’t have the proper fit as was described. So we walked the length of the store again to return it, only for no one to be there to help us.
Anyway, it’s apparent that JCPenney wanted to start something new. But too bad all that’s left is a half-​finished transition that is full of half-​baked ideas and half-​effort attempts at modernizing its retail operations.

Ok experience, but not great. We have plenty of weddings coming up for which Jim ordered a tux as per one of the wedding parties he’s in. When the tux came in the mail it was in a plastic wrapping, folded and wrinkled. The box was also barely taped together, which could easily send the contents spilling out with one bad bump.
We stopped by this store to return the portion of the tux that didn’t fit as it didn’t come with a return label in the mail. We asked the lady at the front where we should return items and she pointed us to a checkout counter. After waiting in line with no other customers behind us, the lady muttered under her breath that we were supposed to go to the other side of the store to make a return. Ok, that’s fine, but why did the greeter send us here. Either way, we had to go way out of our way to get to this store and then to have the employee give off an attitude was a big disappointment.
All in, JC Penny is what it is… we probably will not be back based on the shipping/​packing quality and the experience we had in store.

I had my hair highlighted and cut at the J C Penney salon, just a few days ago. A Stylist was recommended to me, so I gave it a shot. I am very picky when it comes to my hair, so I was anxious. My stylists name was Libby Jones. She absolutely nailed it! She took a lot of time to consult with me, asking a lot of questions about how I style my hair, and what I wanted. I had a picture of the cut, which she did a fabulous job on. The hair color is gorgeous. The price was very reasonable. Because I was referred to her, the cut was free. And, the gal that referred me, will also get a free hair cut. The only reason I didn’t give her a 5, was because she cut it a little too short, in the back. But, still almost a perfect experience. I would highly recommend Libby.

This is a review of the salon actually.
I went in here last winter to get a manicure. I called ahead of time and booked an appointment for a shellac manicure. I asked the price and was told it was $ 25. That seemed fairly inexpensive so I made sure to double check the information.
I arrived a few minutes early and was told to wait. There were about 6 salon workers and 1 customer. After about 15 minutes I was told that it would be another 15 – 20 minutes because an appointment ran over.
I said that was fine (even though their late appointment was BS since no one was there.
20 minutes later, I was informed that there was no one there who could do a shellac manicure and they could only do a regular one.
At that point, I was pretty angry but it was the day before Christmas Eve and I knew I wasn’t getting in anywhere else. I just needed my nails to look good for the holidays so I agreed and said that was fine.
They FINALLY got me to a table. The girl was new and had NO idea what she was doing.
She seemed unsure of what tools to use and when. She barely filed my nails — she literally swiped the file across the edge of my nail once per nail. There was no shaping or anything. She examined my cuticles and deemed them «perfectly fine» — they were a hot mess since it had been months since my last manicure. But, whatever.
I had to ask her if I could pay before she polished my nails. She didn’t understand why. I explained that I didn’t want to dig around in my purse with wet nails. She looked confused and said «Oh.»
The girl that rang me out told me my total was $ 25. I argued that that was the price I was given for the shellac manicure when I called and that surely a regular manicure wouldn’t cost as much. She said the shellac was not $ 25 and the regular was. I was really irritated but since Christmas is my favorite time of year, I wanted to be nice.
I went back to the manicure table and it got really bad when she starting applying the polish. It was lumpy and she kept trying to just add more to smooth it out. It was ALL over my fingers. She kept wiping it off with her own finger which only smeared it all over mine.
She dabbed the polish on and kept jabbing at the spots it wasn’t covering.
She applied a top coat that didn’t cover most of the nail.
And then she immediately started squirting on that Sally Hansen «quick dry» stuff that comes with the little eye dropper. It immediately started bubbling up the polish.
She closed the bottle and was like «Okay, you’re all done!»
I asked her where the drying table was. She asked me what I meant by drying table.
Another employee showed me where it was, flipped the switch, and said «Oh, it doesn’t really work»
Well, thanks.
Finally, I just said «You know what? They can just dry on my drive home, It’s fine.» and I left.
NEVER AGAIN.
I had to find another salon in the morning to get my nails re-​done. The girl who did them kept asking what I had done to myself. I insisted that it was done at another salon the night before. She didn’t believe me.

I remember when JC Penney had candy and furniture and an auto center. That was quite a while ago. Along with Sears, it’s changed little by little to dismiss many products, giving up almost everything but clothes.
A few stores have included Sephora more recently, and considering how that brand is not widely available, it should bring younger female customers to the store. In fact, this store is in the process of a re-​design to have a series of boutique-​like departments. It will be like a mall-​within-​a-​mall, potentially having what you want. Ron Johnson may have been on to something before he was dismissed.
I’m not sure whether they’ll make it on the inventory that was out on the sales floor. There didn’t seem to be much, but it seemed organized and easy to see. I suspect it’s going to matter about whether they can sell people on the brands they’ll have… or somehow elevate the brands to have a better status. After all, who thought people would pay twice as much for wrinkled, dirty-​looking Abercrombie & Fitch?
The store will look good when finished, and since this particular location isn’t in an indoor mall, it may prove really successful for one stop shopping.

JC Penny seems to have completely reinvented themselves. I’ve started to shop at JC Penny more and more and actually enjoy their products. Although some of their product lines can be on the pricey side, they have a number of lines that are affordable. We had a «buy $ 10 of product and get $ 10 off,» which, in essence is a free $ 10! In addition, they had copies of coupons that were «buy $ 25 and get $ 10 off.» I knew were were going to buy $ 25 worth of stuff as we were shopping for school clothes! So, we actually used both coupons by having one person take an item that was about $ 11 and used the first coupon; so that shirt only cost us just over $ 1! We also had other clothes that came out to about $ 40 and we received $ 10 off (or 10%, whichever you preferred) — it was a good deal.
I seem to get the $ 10 off if you buy $ 10 worth of product coupons frequently in them mail… I wonder how they make any money doing this…
The people are very nice at this store! One time were were her, we were looking at a specific shirt and they didn’t have it on the shelf, they helped us try to find one or one that was very similar. I thought they were done helping and about 5 minutes later one of the employees would come back to us with another shirt to see if it was what he (a 7-​year-​old) wanted. To me, this was great customer service!
I would definitely go back here. Although it is a little pricier than something like a Kohl’s, it’s a good deal if you have coupons.