Despite the recently announced closing of the East Brook Mall J.C. Penney, it has been confirmed there are no plans for its other Connecticut locations to close. “There are currently no plans to close other J.C. Penney locations in Connecticut,” said Joey Thomas in a May 28 e-mail. Thomas works for the Office of Media Relations and Corporate Affairs, which is part of the J.C. Penney Communications Department.
The Media Relations office on May 22 stated in an e-mail, “We can confirm that the J.C. Penney store in the East Brook Mall will close effective August 3. It’s never an easy decision to close a store, especially because of the impact on our valued team members and customers. Changes such as these are essential in helping us achieve our long-term goals. We would not have moved forward with this difficult decision if we did not believe it was absolutely necessary for the future growth of our Company,”
According to the 19th Edition of the Directory of Major Malls, the five largest stores in the state include a 191,000-square-foot store at the West Farms Store in West Hartford, a 164,000-square-foot store at Meriden Square Mall in Meriden, 155,000-square-foot stores at Connecticut Post Mall in Milford and the Trumbull Square Mall in Trumbull, and a 137,000-square-foot store in the Danbury Square Mall in Danbury.
It appears the smallest store in the state will remain open.
According to DLC Management Corp., there is a one-level 28,300-square-foot J.C. Penney store in the Torrington Commons.
Other small stores include a 90,000-square-foot store at the Crystal Mall in Waterford, a 126,000-square-foot store at the Brass Mill Center in Waterbury, and a 128,000-square-foot store at Manchester’s Buckland Hills Mall.
The East Brook Mall store, located in Mansfield, is 35,522 square feet making it the second smallest store in the state.
According to the Hartford Courant, in 2002, J.C. Penney closed it’s catalog outlet store in Manchester. Two years prior, in 2000, J.C. Penney closed stores at the Enfield Square Mall and North Haven, two of 45 unprofitable locations around the country.
