The Three Remaining Shore Area JCPenney Stores Will Survive After All

It's been a rocky road for iconic American retailer JCPenney in recent years.

The nearly 100-year-old business announced that they would close more than 100 stores in 2017, then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May of this year.

With New Jersey locations hanging on, including a trio of Shore-area stores at the Ocean County Mall, the Monmouth Mall, and the Freehold Raceway Mall, the future of the business was up in the air.

But today, CNBC reported that JCPenney will be pulled out of the bankruptcy process by a number of investors, including the Simon Property Group, who counts the Ocean County Mall among the shopping centers that they own throughout the United States.

The news comes just a day shy of being two weeks since the country's second oldest retailer, Lord & Taylor, announced that they will be immediately liquidating all of their stores, including their nearby location at the Freehold Raceway Mall.

According to the CNBC report, the 3 Shore-area JCPenney stores account for just a fraction of the locations that the deal will save, with the total number of jobs saved hitting the 70,000 mark across 650 JCPenney stores.

The Toms River, Eatontown, and Freehold stores are among 11 JCPenney stores that have stayed open in New Jersey.

As for the cost of the deal, between cash, debt, and credit, billions of dollars are involved, with the value of the purchase alone hitting the $800 million mark.

You can click here for the full report from CNBC, and you can click here to check out the current list of still-open JCPenney locations.