Penney’s closing leaves emptiness

But in February, Penney’s corporate office announced that it was closing 138 stores across the nation in an effort to build the company’s profitability.

Five of the stores on the closure list were in Oregon, including The Dalles. The other Oregon stores were in Astoria, Pendleton, Grants Pass, and La Grande.

“We believe closing stores will allow us to adjust our business to effectively compete against the growing threat of online retailers,” read a statement from the retail giant, which owns a chain of approximately 1,000 stores across the country.

Mary Murray, operations supervisor for Penney’s in The Dalles, said July 31 will be a tough day. She has been with Penney’s for 11 years, and does not yet know what she will do once the store is no longer in business.

“I don’t have any plans,” Murray said. “I’ll take some time off and enjoy the summer and work on my house, and figure that out in the fall.”

Penney’s, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates department stores with women’s, men’s, and children’s apparel, as well as housewares and kitchen appliances.

Murray, who lives in The Dalles, said when she heard earlier this year that some Penney’s stores would close, she was optimistic that The Dalles wouldn’t be on that list because the store has been profitable.

“We get people here from White Salmon, Hood River, Parkdale, Sherman County; from a large surrounding area. But we found out it wasn’t our profitability that mattered. They took out rural, small stores. The want to de-emphasize apparel and expand beauty salons; things we don’t have room for,” she said.

According to Murray, the store, which employs approximately 25, started liquidating its merchandise on May 22, with the original closing date set for June 19.

But the jump in sales due to the “going out of business” specials convinced Penney’s officials to keep the store open longer.

“When they realized the sales they could do with clearance, they brought in goods from the outside,” she said.

“Our sales have been huge, which is why they extended the closure for another six weeks.”

Long-time Penney’s shoppers were sad to see the store preparing to vacate The Dalles.

“We’re very upset they’re closing,” said Dave Jones, a resident of The Dalles who was at Penney’s Tuesday with Donna, his wife of 61 years.

“I’ve shopped here since 1946,” said Donna. “It’s tragic.” When she first heard Penney’s would be closing, Donna said she didn’t believe it.

“No way, you must be kidding,” she recalled. “It’s been here forever.”

Donna pointed out that the family has a personal connection to Penney’s, because the store employed their two daughters, Dani and Denise, when they were younger.

“It’s almost like family,” she said.

Once final in-store sales are made, Penney’s employees in The Dalles will have a little more work to do before the store disappears permanently.

“We have to vacate the building by Aug. 11 or 12,” Murray said. “We’ll have to send back any leftover merchandise, shelving and fixtures and whatever else is left. The building is for sale.”

Murray said she hopes the store will soon find a buyer.

“Hopefully, someone will see the potential and pick it up so it won’t be an empty building downtown,” she said.

“This is a nice location and it has its own parking lot, which makes it attractive to investors.”

Donna said once the store closes its doors, she will be forced to shop online because she can’t travel to Portland after recent surgery.

However, Dave said shopping online has not been a satisfactory alternative.

“She shops online, and many things don’t fit,” he explained.

Murray said that factor could hurt Penney’s online sales, because many people don’t like having to go through the hassle of mailing something back if it isn’t quite what they expected.

“When people ordered online, they could come here to exchange it,” Murray explained. “Now you’ll have to ship it back, so Penney’s will lose online shoppers, too.”