(Updated 10:56 a.m.)
PROVIDENCE – The JC Penney store at the Providence Place mall is among 40 underperforming stores that the company is closing across the country, according to media reports.
The Providence Place mall store is the only Rhode Island JC Penney store affected; the store at the Warwick Mall will remain open, as will the store at the Franklin Shopping Plaza in Westerly.
A JC Penney spokesman said most locations will close on or about April 4.
The Providence Place mall store employs 68 people; eligible associates who do not remain with the company will receive separation benefits. If possible, the company will assist associates in identifying other job opportunities at nearby JC Penney stores, the spokesman said.
JC Penney has been at the Providence Place mall since 2006, when it moved into the former 120,000-square-foot Lord & Taylor spot. At the time, it employed approximately 120 people.
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Mall senior general manager Mark S. Dunbar said the mall was notified about the store closing on Wednesday.
The news comes after the Plano, Texas-based company reported same-store sales growth of 3.7 percent for the nine-week November and December holiday shopping period when compared with the same year-ago period.
The company also expects fourth-quarter growth to be at the upper end of a predicted range of 2 percent to 4 percent.
