J.C. Penney to Close Its Store in Declining Los Altos Mall : Business: Employees appear unsurprised at announcement of closure Jan. 25. Virtually all are promised jobs in other Penney outlets.
J. C. Penney Co. announced this week that it plans to close its 32-year-old store in the Los Altos Shopping Center, delivering another blow to Long Beach’s limping economy and the ailing retail complex.
The Jan. 25 closure will leave only one major department store, Broadway, in the Bellflower Boulevard center, which is troubled by vacancies and poor sales. And Carter Hawley Hale Stores, owner of the Broadway chain, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, leaving the future of that store in question.
Barry Sparks, Penney’s district manager, said his company’s Los Altos store “has not returned the profit we ought to be getting and it has been that way for some time. . . . It’s not a terribly active mall.”
Virtually all of the store’s 60 employees will be given jobs at other Penney stores, he said, adding that the sales staff did not seem surprised at news of the closure.
Opened in 1956, the Los Altos center has been in decline for years, despite its location in a relatively affluent part of Long Beach. It has suffered from fragmented ownership, an outdated, rambling design and competition from other malls.
Indeed, Sparks said he expected many of the chain’s Los Altos customers to simply drive a few miles north to the Penney’s store in the Lakewood Center Mall.
Long Beach officials have for years worried about the center’s poor showing, since it affects local sales tax revenue. They have proposed a redevelopment project to revitalize the complex with city help. But the plan is still under review and will probably not go before the City Council for final approval until the end of the year.
That, Sparks indicated, is too late for Penney. He also said the chain prefers to locate its stores in regional malls with two or three other major retailers, although he added that the company’s departure from Los Altos would not “preclude us from entering that market again.”
Susan Shick, Long Beach’s community development director, said that her agency would probably try to persuade the chain to return to a rejuvenated Los Altos once the redevelopment project is under way. “But I don’t think the type of Penney’s they were running in the center had any long-term benefits for the center. . . . They need to have the commitment to invest in a modern facility.”
The closure is the latest in a series of financial setbacks to hit Long Beach this year. The Pentagon announced that it will shut the naval station, the Long Beach-based Buffums department store chain folded last spring, and the city’s tax income has been hurt by the lagging economy.
For instance, building permit fees were down about $600,000 in the fiscal year that ended in June, compared to the previous fiscal year. The hotel tax had fallen by $100,000 and business taxes declined $200,000.
