Upon hearing the news this morning that American Apparel CEO Paula Schneider was resigning from her post, we couldn’t help but feel a twinge of deja vu. After all, she’s far from the first top executive to cause a stir with a sudden departure. [More]
ron johnson
Former JCPenney CEO: Should Have Stayed With My Plan Despite $6B Loss
By 5.16.16
Former JCPenney CEO Ron “No Sales Here” Johnson may have cost the retailer $6 billion in sales during his tenure, but the executive believes his plan could have turned around the company, eventually. [More]
Disorganization, Confusion, And Stained Carpets In The Ruins Of Ron Johnson’s JCPenney
By 11.13.13
Equities strategist Brian Sozzi has developed a very specific sideline: taking blog readers on tours of sad, pitiful, dilapidated stores belonging to iconic 20th century retailers. This isn’t just a hobby, but is related to his work. Namely, telling people, “for gosh sakes, don’t buy Sears Holdings stock!” Now, his Retail Despair Tour is making a stop at JC Penney. [More]
JCPenney Continues To Modernize Stores, Gradually And Cheaply
By 6.4.13
JCPenney’s new housewares department is like a colorful oasis of hipness and color plopped in the middle of, well, a JCPenney store. Can it draw the younger and more affluent shoppers that JCPenney needs to survive, now that all of the Hitler teakettles have sold out? [More]
JCPenney Already Done Apologizing, Moves On To Celebrating Customers’ Return
By 5.14.13
It feels like fewer than two weeks ago that JCPenney was coming to us, hat in heads, begging our forgiveness for the 18-month mistake that was the Ron Johnson era. Humbled, demure, wary of rejection after so much time in the dog house, JCPenney’s ad asked shoppers to please, please come back. [More]
JCPenney Admits Last 18 Months Were A Huge Mistake, Begs You To Come Back
By 5.1.13
The last thirty years are filled with horrendous missteps that were ultimately dismissed as one-off errors in otherwise reliable track records — New Coke; the 11th season of Saturday Night Live; Neil Young’s Everybody’s Rockin’; Highlander 2: The Quickening — and now JCPenney is hoping that the Ron Johnson era will fade into memory with a new ad that basically admits the company made a mammoth oopsy. [More]
JCPenney Knocks Out Macy’s In Court Ruling: JCP Can Sell Martha Stewart Products
By 4.12.13
Well lookee here — there’s news about JCPenney and for once, the company isn’t on the losing end of the stick. A judge ruled today against Macy’s request to extend an injunction that barred JCPenney from selling Martha Stewart designs in its stores. The ruling means JCPenney can peddle Martha’s wares (temporarily), as long as the products don’t have her name on them. [More]
‘Today’ Show Aptly Notes That Wisconsin Senator Will No Longer Be Running JCPenney
By 4.9.13
No wonder JCPenney axed former CEO Ron Johnson this week — it seems he’s been busy leading a double life as a Wisconsin senator. Or at least, that’s what the Today show seemed to think during its reporting of Johnson’s exit. [More]
JCPenney Ends Ron Johnson Experiment, Sends CEO Packing
By 4.8.13
When Ron Johnson took over as CEO of JCPenney a little more than a year ago, he promised sweeping changes. A new image, an end to sales, everyday low prices, iPad-toting staffers, Genius Bar-like customer service. He tried all that, but the retailer still couldn’t shake its reputation as the place your mom dragged you to buy clothes you hated in 1984, and now Ron Johnson, he’s gone. [More]
JCPenney Fires A Warning Shot At CEO Ron Johnson By Way Of A 96% Pay Cut
By 4.3.13
JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson is basically drowning in a sea of sliding sales numbers and sinking stock prices, but instead of tossing out a life preserver, the company has instead fired off a warning shot by way of a 96% pay cut in 2012. The clear message? Either sink yourself, or prove you can, in fact, turn the company around. [More]
JCPenney Admits “There’s No Assurance” It’ll Be Able To Turn Things Around
By 3.21.13
Things have been rough for JCPenney, there’s no doubt about it. Just recently it got ditched by Caribou Coffee and had to promise not to sell Martha Stewart designs it’d already ordered because of a fight with Macy’s. It seems the retailer knows it, as the company admitted in its annual report that its resurgence “may take longer than expected,” and also that its efforts to remake itself might not even work. [More]
JCPenney Laying Off Even More Employees
By 3.7.13
A year ago, JCPenney staffers were telling us they were afraid the retailer was “turning into Sears,” but at this point that might not be such a bad thing. [More]
JCPenney Pinning Its Hopes On The Guy Responsible For Marketing New Coke
By 2.28.13
JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson had a lot of explaining to do today during the company’s Q4 earnings call. The retailer has been circling the drain since the former Apple head honcho took over, losing billions in sales and admitting its turnaround tactics were not so smart. Which is why Johnson said he’s bringing on the guy behind New Coke to help the company rebound. Heck, why not? [More]
That Didn’t Last Long: JCPenney Brings Back Sales
By 1.28.13
Almost exactly a year after saying “NOOOOOO!” to sales and switching to an everyday low price model (and about six months after deciding maybe this was a stupid idea), JCPenney has officially changed its mind and will be bringing back all the sales it had assumed customers didn’t want. [More]
JCPenney Ditches President After Only 8 Months
By 6.18.12
Last Fall, JCPenney’s new CEO, former Apple retail guru Ron Johnson, hired another retail biggie with a charmed resume, Target vet Michael Francis, as president. Francis was charged with the goal of righting the ship and steering JCP back on course. Continuing this nautical theme, Francis has now been put out on a dinghy and cut loose to drift in the sea of unemployment. [More]
JCPenney Getting New Logo & Something Resembling Genius Bars
By 1.30.12
The revolution continues at JCPenney, better known as that store your mom used to drag you to for back-to-school clothes you didn’t want to wear. Last week the company announced it was doing away with many of its sales and going the everyday low price route. Now the retailer’s new CEO, former Apple exec Ron Johnson (which sounds like the name of someone in the witness protection program) has unveiled a new logo and plans to turn JCP into something more Apple-store-ish. [More]
