JCPenney's Ross Park Mall location in Pittsburgh is days from closing permanently after a lease dispute, the latest sign that the post-bankruptcy retailer still can't stop the bleeding at struggling mall locations.
A JCPenney spokesperson told The U.S. Sun that the store will shut its doors on September 20, ending a run that began when the two-story location first opened in 1986. The company blamed the closure on a lease it could no longer afford and a market where it could not find a replacement site.
Closing-sale discounts at the Ross Park Mall store have climbed as high as 60% to 80% off remaining merchandise, a steep markdown that signals the retailer is liquidating whatever it can before the lights go out for good. Brad Terry, a Pittsburgh real estate enthusiast who posted video of the storefront on Instagram, captured signs advertising the final markdowns.
The Pittsburgh location had been contracting long before the closure announcement. By 2019, JCPenney had downsized from both floors to just the first, cutting its footprint in half at a mall where it once anchored the retail lineup.
The spokesperson framed the decision as reluctant but final:
"Regretfully, we are unable to continue our current lease terms for this store location and have been unable to find another suitable location in the market."
The statement continued with a nod to employees and longtime shoppers:
"We are grateful to our dedicated associates and the loyal customers who have shopped at this Pittsburgh, PA, location through the years, and we hope to continue serving them throughout our nearly 650 stores nationwide and at jcpenney.com."
JCPenney did not say how many workers will lose their jobs when the store closes. It also declined to detail what lease terms it could not meet, leaving open the question of whether the company walked away from a rent increase or whether the mall's ownership simply declined to renew.
Pittsburgh is not the only city watching a JCPenney disappear from a fading mall. The retailer confirmed that its Ridgmar Mall location in Fort Worth, Texas, will close on November 1, also because of a lease expiration.
That closure carries a sharper sting. JCPenney has operated at Ridgmar Mall since the shopping center first opened in 1976, nearly half a century. And after Macy's pulled out of the same mall in 2016, JCPenney became the last remaining anchor store. When it leaves, Ridgmar Mall will have no major department-store tenant at all.
Closing-sale discounts in Fort Worth currently range from 20% to 50% off, lower than the Pittsburgh markdowns, suggesting the Texas store still has weeks of liquidation ahead before its final day.
JCPenney issued nearly identical language for both closures. On Fort Worth, the company said it was "grateful to our dedicated associates and the loyal customers" and pointed shoppers to "other Dallas-Fort Worth locations and online."
JCPenney filed for bankruptcy in 2020, and the company has since pitched itself as a brand in recovery. It operates close to 650 stores nationwide and has made moves to expand, including plans to take over a former Big Lots location and a recent push into an online third-party marketplace.
But recovery looks different from the ground floor of a half-empty mall. A store that opened in 1986 and shrank to one floor by 2019 was not thriving before the lease expired. A store that has anchored a Texas mall since 1976, and is now the last department store standing, is not closing from a position of strength.
The pattern is familiar to anyone who has watched American retail over the past decade. A legacy chain files for bankruptcy, emerges with fewer stores and a leaner balance sheet, announces a turnaround, and then quietly keeps closing locations when landlords ask for terms the company cannot justify paying. The press releases stay upbeat. The storefronts go dark.
JCPenney says it hopes to keep serving customers online and at its remaining locations. For the workers in Pittsburgh who lose their jobs September 20, and the ones in Fort Worth who follow on November 1, that is not much of a comeback.