J.C. Penney store in Anchorage escapes round of national closures

The J.C. Penney store in downtown Anchorage did not make the list of 154 closures that the national retail chain announced Thursday.

But the future of the Anchorage location, closed since March due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, remains uncertain.

The chain has reopened nearly 500 stores as government officials ease COVID-19 restrictions, J.C. Penney said in a statement Thursday.

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The Anchorage store is not among them, though city and state officials have lifted most restrictions on businesses in Alaska.

The chain filed for bankruptcy on May 15. It plans to close 242 of its 846 stores, according to a filing with securities regulators.

Following the closure of the stores announced Thursday, J.C. Penney said in a statement that it “expects additional phases of store closing sales will begin in the coming weeks.”

The store at the Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall has been a fixture downtown since 1963.

But large national brands have been hard-hit by changing habits in the e-commerce age. The Nordstrom chain closed its store in downtown Anchorage in September, though a Nordstrom Rack location in Midtown continues to operate.

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