JCPenney Co.

The chief marketing officer of J.C. Penney is leaving the company after two years on the job.   Mary Beth West is leaving the department store retailer on March 31 to become senior VP and chief growth officer of the Hershey Co. She will join Hershey on May 1.   West joined Penney in April 2015 after serving on the company’s board of directors for 10 years.   

Diane K. Lettelleir, senior managing counsel of JCPenney Corp., discusses why retailers can’t wait for the government to solve the patent troll problem in the commentary below:    JCPenney and numerous other retailers have been hunted for the last decade by patent trolls that aggressively file suits based on overly broad claims in patents against related but distinct technologies. JCPenney alone has endured dozens of patent troll lawsuits over this period.   

Starting soon, select J.C. Penney will be offering bathroom remodeling services.  

The Oaks, a 39-year-old Macerich-owned property in Thousand Oaks, California, has been awarded the first BREEAM green standards certification for an in-use building in the U.S.   BRE America, a unit of the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM), bestowed the designation on the Macerich property at an awards event in London this week. BREEAM is the oldest sustainability assessment method for new construction, renovations, and in-use properties.  

J.C. Penney Company has added a former senior advisor to the director of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), to its board of directors.   Debora Plunkett is joining the Penney board. Possessing extensive experience in cybersecurity, information assurance and innovation in information security, Plunkett has a deep understanding of the data-driven and interconnected world of today, the retailer said.  

Hhgregg is cutting lose its weakest locations.    The struggling chain said it plans to close three distribution facilities and 88 stores as part its effort to improve liquidity and return to profitability. The closings, expected to be completed by mid-April, will leave the retailer with 132 stores.   The announcement comes just days after the New York Stock Exchange delisted Hhgregg for failing to meet the minimum listing requirement, and amid rumors the chain plans to file for bankruptcy protection.

With just over 50 stores, Quincy Mall is hardly the biggest regional center in the nation, but it’s a big deal in the rural Mississippi River town of Quincy, Illinois, just a skiff’s ride from Mark Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. And it was big news in Quincy when the J.C. Penney in the Cullinan-owned property closed shop.  

A regional department store, a warehouse giant, a discount supermarket and an online powerhouse rank among the nation’s favorite retailers.    That's according to the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which rates consumers’ satisfaction across six retail industries. The report found that satisfaction with the overall retail trade rise 4.7% in 2016 to a score of 78.3 (on a 100-point scale) an all-time high for the sector.  

J.C. Penney is extending its appliance showroom footprint and also delving deeper into the category.        The retailer will expand its in-store appliance showroom concept from its current 500 stores to an additional 100 locations in early 2017, and also add new appliance brands to the merchandise mix, company chairman and CEO Marvin Ellison said on Penney’s quarterly earnings call.    

Bruised by weak fourth-quarter results, department stores are now planning more cautiously for 2017 as they re-evaluate how to compete in a rapidly changing retail environment,