Corbin JC Penney to remain open as company announces first round of store closings

The JC Penney store in Corbin has reopened with limited hours, and, according to company officials, it will remain open as the company in the first phase of closings as it navigates through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The store reopened on May 27 and will be open noon until 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Sunday. Included with the store is the styling salon.

The company began reopening stores shuttered since March because of the COVID–19 pandemic on May 27. Additional openings continued through June 3, reaching nearly 500.

However, on Thursday, company officials announced 154 stores that would be closed.

Six of those stores are in Kentucky. They include: Middlesboro, Danville, Maysville, Hopkinsville, Owensboro, and Campbellsville.

The JC Penney store in Corbin has survived the first round of closings as the company is working its way through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Stores in Middlesboro and Danville were on the list to be closed.

The Maryville, Tennessee store, south on Knoxville, is also among the stores that are closing.

Officials stated that closing sales at the affected stores are slated to begin on June 12, and are expected to take 10 to 16 weeks to complete.

Officials added the 154 stores are the first phase of closures, but did not say when additional closings would be announced.

The closings are part of what officials described as a store optimization strategy, following an evaluation that included store performance and, “future strategic fit for the company.”

The Texas-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 15 in an effort to restructure its debt.