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Retailers Extend COVID-19-triggered Temporary Closings Indefinitely
April 1, 2020
Source: Home Textiles Today
Mainly, they are negotiating vendor relations – including canceling merchandise orders, as well as extending temporary store closures and furloughing and/or reducing salaries for employees.
Plano, Texas-based JCPenney this week said it is taking several actions to improve its cash position and financial flexibility during the pandemic. These include; deferring capital spend, utilizing funds available under the revolving credit facility, pausing hiring, cutting spending, reducing receipts, and extending the terms for payment of goods and services.
The department store chain is also furloughing the majority of its store hourly associates, starting Thursday. And come April 5, a significant portion of associates based at the company’s offices – headquarters, Salt Lake City, and New York City (Soho design office) – will be furloughed along with store salaried associates. The many associates in supply chain and logistics centers who were furloughed on March 20 will maintain that status until further notice.
All furloughed associates who are currently enrolled in the JCP benefits program will continue to receive full health benefits, and the company plans to cover 100% of employee-paid premiums for the duration of the furlough.
“We remain optimistic about JCPenney’s ability to weather this pandemic,” said CEO Jill Soltau. “We also believe these short-term solutions will have a long-term benefit for our associates, customers, and key stakeholders as we look forward to the day that we reopen our doors.”
Among its many initiatives, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Stein Mart is working with its vendors and landlords to negotiate temporary terms.
The chain is also furloughing most store associates and a significant part of its supply chain network and corporate staffs, as well as temporarily reducing the salaries of executive management by 20% and associates not furloughed by a lower rate. Additionally, Stein Mart’s board of directors has suspended its compensation.
“The decision to furlough our associates was extremely difficult but required to manage through this unprecedented business interruption. Our furloughed associates will continue to receive their benefits and we will bring them back as soon as possible,” said CEO Hunt Hawkins.
Kohl’s, based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., is launching a new curbside pick-up service option tomorrow to allow online shoppers to receive their orders within two hours, in person with limited contact. This service will be available at most Kohl’s stores daily, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Items available for limited-contact curbside pick-up will be marked on Kohls.com with “Drive Up.”
“It is fair to say that these past weeks have been amongst the most daunting and extraordinary that we have experienced in our lifetime,” Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass said this week in a letter to customers. “We are being tested in ways far beyond what we could have ever imagined, and yet, we are also coming together with renewed purpose, finding greater strength and resilience from each other.”
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