Speaking of Ron Johnson

Anne D’Innocenzio reports for the AP on J.C. Penney’s continuing struggles:

The first sign that things were falling apart came in May when rival Macy’s told analysts that sales were rising at its stores that share malls with Penney locations. A week later, Penney posted a $163 million quarterly loss. Revenue plunged 20 percent to $3.15 billion. The number of customers visiting stores fell 10 percent.

But the changes Johnson is instituting are so radical, this might be the sort of thing where he really does need a few years:

Surrounding the shops will be wide aisles that Johnson calls “streets.” Along those pathways will be ice cream and coffee bars and wood tables with built-in iPad tablet computers that shoppers can use to surf online.

Penney is starting to see some positive results from the makeover it began. The company says so far that it has converted about 11 percent of the floor space to shops-within-stores. The shops’ average sales are more than double the sales in the rest of the store.

★ Monday, 26 November 2012