It seems as though JCPenney is on track to turn its business around. The department store announced its second quarter financial results, which showed a comparable store sales increase of 2.2%.
“We are excited about the initiatives we have in place to drive incremental growth in the back half of the year with our appliance rollouts, new Sephora locations, center core refreshes, in-store .com fulfillment and our chainwide rollout of buy online, pick up in-store same day,” said Marvin R. Ellison, Chairman and CEO of JCPenney in a statement. “These and other initiatives reinforce our confidence in our ability to achieve $1 billion in EBITDA for 2016.”
At first glance, JCPenney seems to be doing better than competitor Macy’s, which recently announced it was closing 100 stores after reporting its sixth quarter of declining sales. However, JCPenney is continuing to cut costs to stay ahead of the curve. In February, Fortune reported that the retailer was looking to sell its Dallas headquarters to pay off some of its debts. Now, The Dallas Morning News has reported that there is a buyer for the two-million-square-foot campus. Dallas real estate investor Sam Ware is a top contender to buy the property, according to the paper’s report, which noted that the retailer is planning to lease approximately 66% of the HQ’s space for its corporate staff of 3,000 people.
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During a conference call with analysts on Aug. 12, CFO Ed Record said the company is in a due diligence phase and expects to complete the sale by the end of this quarter.
The good news? Unlike other department stores, including Macy’s, JCPenney doesn’t have current plans to shut down stores. Cutting down on real estate has been a go-to move for retailers that are struggling financially. Aside from Macy’s, Sears Holdings announced multiple Sears and Kmart store closings in April 2016 following steady declines.
