Two Towns Losing J.C. Penney Stores

Two King County communities are losing J.C. Penney stores that have anchored downtown business districts for 70 years, but business leaders aren’t fretting.

In fact, they say, Penney’s departure will allow them to bolster their downtown shopping core with the kinds of shops that will draw customers away from malls and back to downtown.

Enumclaw’s 70-year-old J.C. Penney store will close on Dec. 30. The Auburn store ceases operations on Jan. 13 after 73 years in the same spot.

It’s hardly a surprise. Penney had told Auburn and Enumclaw officials the company likely would pull out when leases on the downtown properties came up for renewal.

Penney has closed 12 smaller downtown stores in the last 14 years in the Puget Sound region, said Bob Davis, manager of the Auburn store. Penney opted instead for larger, newer retail space in regional malls like Tacoma and Southcenter.

Wayne Johnson, manager of the Enumclaw store, said he expected the store to close within the next year or two. The home office just decided to do it sooner, rather then later, he said.

Penney “is going to be missed, just because it has been here for a long time,” said Kris Susee, manager of the Downtown Auburn Association.

Instead, she said, Auburn and Enumclaw have been among the dozens of downtowns across the country that in recent years have been turning to “niche marketing” - specialty shops, boutiques and smaller trendy items that shoppers can’t find in the large regional malls.

Susee said her association is working with the owner of the property that Penney is vacating to help entice specialty shops to the building. No new leases have yet been signed.

Bill Hinrichsen, president of the Enumclaw Chamber of Commerce, says he has been telling people much the same thing as Susee.

The closing of the old downtown Penney “just gives us the opportunity here in Enumclaw to find one of these types of businesses that are targeting small-town America.”