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One of the oldest stores at Meadowbrook Mall has gone through a renewal process in the way it does business.
“This has been the largest undertaking I’ve seen in the company in 42 years,” said Steve Scott, manager of Pittsburg’s J.C. Penney store. “I’m very excited about what we’re doing, which is making things easier for the customer.”
A big part of the change, the first major move by former Apple executive Ron Johnson, who became Penney’s CEO in November, involves pricing. The concept is called “Fair and Square Prices Every Day.”
Scott explained that there will be three levels of prices — everyday, month-long value and best prices.
Using sales data from last year, the company has slashed prices on all store merchandise, with prices now at 40 percent lower than they were last year.
J.C. Penney was formerly known for having nearly constant sales, but that will drastically change.
“We had over 590 sale events last year,” Scott said. “We’ve had sales that ran two or three days; we’ve even had sales that ran only four hours. This year we’ll have 12 sales, but each one will last a whole month, so people will be able to come and shop on their own time.”
He added that each sale will be themed for the month.
“In February, because of Valentine’s Day, we’ll be having sale prices on jewelry and other gift items,” Scott said.
The third and lowest pricing level is the best price.
“That’s what we used to call clearance,” Scott said. “If some merchandise has been around and not sold, we’ll take the price down. We’ll be marking down prices on the first and third Friday of each month.”
Customers will also notice that there are no more prices ending in .99, as in $9.99, $19.99 or $24.99. Instead, those prices would be $10, $20 or $25.
This means that every single piece of merchandise in the store had to be re-tagged.
“We had over 100,000 pieces of merchandise we had to re-tag,” Scott said. “We really have to commend our associates because they have worked very hard on this.”
There have been a few physical changes in the store as well, including fewer displays out in the aisles.
“Our aisles are more opened up, making it easier for customers to walk through the store,” Scott said. “The entry is nice and open. We’ve also added more color to our floor presentations.”
One of the oldest stores at Meadowbrook Mall has gone through a renewal process in the way it does business.
“This has been the largest undertaking I’ve seen in the company in 42 years,” said Steve Scott, manager of Pittsburg’s J.C. Penney store. “I’m very excited about what we’re doing, which is making things easier for the customer.”
A big part of the change, the first major move by former Apple executive Ron Johnson, who became Penney’s CEO in November, involves pricing. The concept is called “Fair and Square Prices Every Day.”
Scott explained that there will be three levels of prices — everyday, month-long value and best prices.
Using sales data from last year, the company has slashed prices on all store merchandise, with prices now at 40 percent lower than they were last year.
J.C. Penney was formerly known for having nearly constant sales, but that will drastically change.
“We had over 590 sale events last year,” Scott said. “We’ve had sales that ran two or three days; we’ve even had sales that ran only four hours. This year we’ll have 12 sales, but each one will last a whole month, so people will be able to come and shop on their own time.”
He added that each sale will be themed for the month.
“In February, because of Valentine’s Day, we’ll be having sale prices on jewelry and other gift items,” Scott said.
The third and lowest pricing level is the best price.
“That’s what we used to call clearance,” Scott said. “If some merchandise has been around and not sold, we’ll take the price down. We’ll be marking down prices on the first and third Friday of each month.”
Customers will also notice that there are no more prices ending in .99, as in $9.99, $19.99 or $24.99. Instead, those prices would be $10, $20 or $25.
This means that every single piece of merchandise in the store had to be re-tagged.
“We had over 100,000 pieces of merchandise we had to re-tag,” Scott said. “We really have to commend our associates because they have worked very hard on this.”
There have been a few physical changes in the store as well, including fewer displays out in the aisles.
“Our aisles are more opened up, making it easier for customers to walk through the store,” Scott said. “The entry is nice and open. We’ve also added more color to our floor presentations.”
He added that the store will add some brands not previously available at J.C. Penney.
“We have Arrow shirts now, and we hadn’t had them for a long time,” Scott said.
Returns will also be easier.
“If you’re not happy with something you’ve purchased here, you can bring it back at any time,” Scott said.
One thing that hasn’t changed is the rewards program available for users of the J.C. Penney card.
“We definitely still have that,” Scott said.
He said that the company began talking to its associates about the coming changes early in January.
“We rolled part of it out then, and then all the changes were rolled out on Jan. 25,” Scott said. “Our customers have had some questions, but they’re receiving this well.”
