JCPenney shares fell 3.5 percent yesterday after a Wall Street analyst said the retailer’s stores looked like a mess during recent visits.
Chief Executive Ron Johnson last week unveiled three in-store shops that will sell denim — Levi’s, Arizona and a new brand called i jeans by Buffalo — that are slated for rollout at nearly 700 stores.
But visits to a few locations, including the Manhattan Penney store, showed they were not ready for the openings planned for this week, according to Credit Suisse analyst Michael Exstein.
“The real battle and the determinant of success for [Penney’s] efforts will be fought in hundreds of other mall locations across the country,” Exstein said. So far, the look of the stores isn’t “encouraging.”
Sluggish sales of spring and summer fashions left stores looking cluttered, Exstein said, adding they didn’t appear to have enough basic clothing and home goods inventory to meet demand.
Shares declined 81 cents to $22.19; the retailer’s stock is down 37 percent year to date.