On Friday the largest American Retail chain JC Penny filed for Chapter 11 as the current casualty of the Covid-19 empowered Retail Apocalypse, which so far has toppled Neiman Marcus, J Crew, John Varvatos , Gap Inc, and Aldo Group Inc.
While JC Penney blamed the bankruptcy (which was highly anticipated) filing on the Covid-19 store closures, it failed to cite a 10 year mismanagement streak and declining sales.
The company obtained from the chapter 11 filing $900 million in debtor in possession financing with $450 million of new cash to help during the restructuring process, but could end up in a third party sale or liquidation to satisfy creditors.
The company plans to permanently close stores, but gave no details of which locations (and how many) stores will be shuttered. JC Penney has been around for almost 120 years, but some question if the retail mall anchor should continue to operate.