Because I’m a dedicated and enthusiastic shopper investigative fashion reporter, today I delayed my usual weekday routine of getting home from work and plopping down on the couch in my PJs. Instead, just for you all, I went shopping covered the breaking fashion news of new pricing at JCPenney. All day I’d been hearing and reading about JCP ditching multiple sales and discounts for a simpler three-tiered pricing schedule, and I wanted to see for myself. I expected to find crowds of curious shoppers eager to check out this new approach — and maybe that was true at some JCPenney stores. But not at mine. You pretty much could hear the crickets chirping at the JCP I visited … along with laughter and animated conversation coming from the employees, who were having way too much fun talking to get distracted by mere customers. I have to admit that I’m not a JCP fan and I didn’t see anything on my recon run that would change my mind. But in the pursuit of truth and justice and possible bargain buys, I’ll keep looking. Just for you.
A Penney Saved?
Yes, it’s taken some time for customers to get used to the ‘new pricing strategy’ at JCP. It took all of Jan. 2012 to re-price every existing piece of merchandise in the store. At first it was a painful experience when merchandise was arriving during this initiative and it wasn’t priced correctly. This was supposed to be done at the SSC (Store Support Center). Associates are currently re-explaining the ‘every day price, best price and month long (sale) prices’ to customers. Perhaps if the advertisements explained in plain English…