To this day, Stafford white t-shirts are the best tshirts ever made. They're thick, they last forever, and never stretch out. I wear them every day under my work shirt...some are 3 years old and still look new.
I loved JCPenney back in the day.
They used to be a huge catalog company. Anything that you ever wanted was in the catalog and they used to offer free shipping to the stores.
They also had great store brands like Towncraft and Stafford. (yes they were nothing to brag about) They were just store branded clothes that used to be very good quality and a good price. Hell some of their stuff lasted longer that the fancier name brands.
But that was in the 70-80s. Once they reached the 90's they went downhill.
The new stores are trying to get fancy with bringing in all their name brand junk. I guess they are trying to compete with the Macy's and Nordstroms of the world. But guess what? That is not their customer base. They need to go for the folks in the middle. Those that want something better that Walmart but more affordable that Macy's. Kohl's is doing that right now. They seem to cater well to those folks.
Except for the fact that I can return any damaged tool to sears for a replacement. I'd like to see u try that at hf.
There are still Craftsman tools that are made in USA, you just have to pay more for them. And those are lifetime guaranteed, so I have no idea what you're bitching about.
Can i ask what craftsman stuff you purchased, because most of the craftsman hand tools i purchased in the last 3 years are stamped made in the usa. all of my sockets, wrenches, ratchets, hand impact driver, sledge hammer, made in usa. Things like their jack stands, leveler, allen wrenches, and screw driver tips are made in china though.
I don't know if stealing is the correct term to use. JCP approached Martha Stewart's company and negotiated a deal. No stealing found. If anything, Martha Stewart is as complicit in the debacle of JCP and Macy's as JCP is....Martha Stewart should have refused the deal in the first place if there truly was an exclusive deal with Macy's, beyond what KMart has.
And, btw, JCP bought ~16.8% of the Martha Stewart company after the deal between JCP and MS was inked. So again, no stealing really found.
And in the lawsuit, there is an exemption for Martha Stewart selling goods in other stores, as long as the store is a Martha Stewart store, so it seems that the intent was to set up Martha Stewart Living stores within each JCP, which would have let JCP skirt the contract MS had with Macy's.
Also, an appeals court upheld JCP continuing to sell Martha Stewart items, since the items were not labeled Martha Stewart specifically.
Oh, and all the bashing of Johnson and his "lack of knowledge of clothing retailers", here's a bolt of lightning. Prior to his work at Apple, he revamped Target and led its efforts to partner with big-name designers and brands. So it seems Johnson did have prior experience with clothing retailers and did well, just miscalculated the demographic who shopped JCP and what his actions would produce.
Yeah.. but their NEW CEO was the one who had the bright idea of bringing in Joe Fresh and creating those new "We're sorry about screwing up, please contact us on how to do better" commercials.
Gee... maybe you can start by inspecting the factories that your new products are made in before making a major investment in them? You would think that would be a given after the Apple/Foxconn PR debacle.
I forget his name at the moment, but the guy was an anointed Wunderkind for his role with Apple from the dismal days pre-iPod up until the iPad, I believe.
of course, what the business community (that largely agreed that this guy was an infallible genius) failed to realize, is the difference between marketing Apples products to Apple's customers vs JC Penny to JC Penny customers.
Even Willy Lowman could sell an iPod.
It is just me, or is JcPenney having really BAD luck for the past few months?
First they revamp the stores and get rid of their sales and coupons, pissing off a bunch of a bunch their established customers. They "fix" that by raising their new "everyday low" prices, pissing off some customers who liked the new concept. Nice one.
Then they add Joe Fresh to their product lineup, which just happens to be made in that Bangladesh sweatshop factory that collapsed and killed a few hundred workers last week. Nice way to improve your already lousy image, guys. Besides... if I wanted Asian sweatshop clothes, I'd buy them at Target or Walmart.
To make things worse, they create a Twitter account and start asking for customer feedback around the same time. That Twitter account is now being flooded by people calling them murderers for using these Bangladesh sweatshops to create their clothing.
I'm not sure which is worse... JcPenney's luck, or their epicly bad management decisions. What do you guys think?
Ron Johnson was responsible for the retail Apple Stores. Prior to the huge success of Apple stores, NO ONE THOUGHT THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE. He was also responsible for a successful rebrand of Targets clothing lines which made their clothing lines trendier and in general rebooted the Target brand. The same trendier clothing just didn't work with JCPs core consumers. Target was always more upscale than say Kmart or Target, and tended attract trendier consumers. JCP has never been upscale compared to Sears, etc, and it has NEVER been trendy.
Basically under Johnson they alienated their biggest consumer, the frumpy mom. They tried to rebrand into a trendier store, but trendy people never shopped at JCP. They still don't. So without new shoppers and alienating their previous core consumer, it turned into a colossal failure.
Until recently, JCP was always more upscale than Sears, always. Sears was frump central. JCP never competed heads-on against Macy's but was never the dump Sears was and is. For clothes, Sears was Walmart before there was a Walmart. Your statement about trendiness is correct though. JCP clothes tended to the conservative side. That was one thing I liked about PCP, they were reliable.JCP has never been upscale compared to Sears, etc, and it has NEVER been trendy.
Pretty much this.
I dunno, how would you have done things?
They are JCP. I think I'd try to do some truly crazy deals. Like...Levi Jeans for $5 on Tuesdays.
Until recently, JCP was always more upscale than Sears, always. Sears was frump central. JCP never competed heads-on against Macy's but was never the dump Sears was and is. For clothes, Sears was Walmart before there was a Walmart. Your statment about trendiness is correct though. JCP clothes tended to the conservative side. That was one thing I liked about PCP, they were reliable.
I dont know what JCPs you have been in but all the JCPs I have ever been in were exactly the same as Sears in terms of clothing. Sears hasn't had much of a focus on clothing for a long long time now. Right now Sears only survives because of their electronics, household appliances, and tools.
And Macy's is in a completely different market segment. So yeah JCP never competed with them. Kohls, Sears, and JCP are all in the same market segment, ALL ARE struggling, thats why JCP was trying to take a proactive approach.
They deserve the abuse.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenny-block/jcpenney-june-book-gay-dads_b_1556680.html
When you market to just 1% of the population. You will get 1% of the sales. Good job JCPenny!
Except for the fact that I can return any damaged tool to sears for a replacement. I'd like to see u try that at hf.
Have you done it lately? Wherever possible, they use refurbs as replacements, and it only has to be a similar item, not the same item.
I returned a 3/8" socket wrench because the ratchet mechanism began to slip, appearance wise it was in perfect condition. I was given a different model of wrench, that had most of the chrome chipped off due to someone using it as a hammer. And it's a different model that will not fit in the case the socket set came in. When I complained to management, I was told, "Take it or leave it, that's all we have". No more Craftsman for me.