An official with Meadowbrook Mall said today that it’s way too early to know what stores JCPenney will be closing nationwide, but believes the local facility in Bridgeport is in good shape.

 

Joe Bell, the director of corporate communications for the Ohio-based Cafaro Corporation that owns the mall, said those concerned need to wait out the process. And he also offered some pretty good words of encouragement for those locally who may be uneasy with the possibility of losing another anchor store.

 

“We have absolutely no reason to believe that JCPenney would close at Meadowbrook Mall. The store at the mall does every well and there’s nothing to indicate that it would be on the list of closures when it’s going to be made,” said Bell.

 

This morning, reports broke in multiple media outlets that JCPenney would close up to 140 of roughly 1,000 stores. Last year, the retail giant operated 1,021 stores, which means they are closing just a little more than 10 percent.

 

According to a report on CNN, JCPenney will announce the list of stores it is closing in mid-March. The same report said the stores that will be on the list will likely be shuttered in June of this year.

 

While Bell said you can’t be 100 percent certain, his upbeat comments in light of his time in retail with Cafaro and monitoring of issues related to the industry may be viewed as a reason to be optimistic. He also pointed to something that happened on June 21, 2014 that should be considered a positive for the Bridgeport location.

 

“When Sephora opened up inside JCPenney that was a good sign that the local store was doing well. Sephora has done well and it’s popular,” said Bell. “In most nearly every situation, the store within the store concepts are working and are working well in JCPenney stores that are doing well.”

 

The reason some may have angst is that even though the Meadowbrook Mall still has a high occupancy rate and saw one anchor – Elder-Beerman – just announce a quarter million dollar renovation, the mall will soon be losing Sears. Sears is closing stores nationwide and the Bridgeport location – minus the auto center that will remain open – was on that list.

 

“Understand that this is very preliminary. They’ve only announced there will be a list and haven’t produced a list with names on it,” said Bell. “We ask people to take a deep breath and don’t jump to any conclusions because there’s no way to know who’s on the list. The only thing we know is that the location in Bridgeport is performing well.”

 

Click HERE to see the CNN report.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo is an aerial shot of the Meadowbrook Mall facility, while Joe Bell is shown in 2013 when the mall completed a multi-million dollar renovation.