Oskaloosa Residents Petitioning JC Penney Corporation
JC Penney in Oskaloosa (file photo)
Oskaloosa, Iowa – J.C. Penney has been an Oskaloosa fixture for decades, and some Oskaloosa area residents are picking up their phones and submitting signatures to online petitions to express their desire that the store in Oskaloosa remain open.
Michelle Purdum created an online petition at ipetitions.com to “consider keeping our store open for a while longer. With the closure of the Ottumwa Store, ours would give them a place to shop which would help our store’s sales volume and keep it open.”
As of 10pm on Thursday evening, that online petition had 284 signatures out of a goal of 500.
One signee of the petition stated, “Please don’t close the store; we need at least one J.C. Penny store in this area. Especially for elderly people who do not shop on line. We need a clothing store in this area!”
Purdum spoke with Oskaloosa News about the efforts to bring attention to the store closure, and to attempt to save the clothing store in Oskaloosa.
Being limited in options for shopping already, Purdum says the loss of the store would further damage the local economy, and potentially make it more difficult to attract future businesses to the area. “I think if we lose that [J.C. Penney store], we lose our attractiveness to other retailers to come to our community.”
Purdum reached out to J.C. Penney and their decision to close the Oskaloosa store. The company told Purdum that they have been receiving calls about the decision to close stores. “I think when you look at the logistics, the situation, we’re very close to another store.”
That proximity to the J.C. Penney store in Ottumwa is part of the argument Purdum, and now many others are making in order to save the Oskaloosa store.
Purdum said that shoppers in Ottumwa still have options for clothes shopping. “We don’t have those”.
“I think if J.C. Penney would be willing to consider delaying the closure of our store, after the Ottumwa store closes, we’re close enough we would see people come from Ottumwa to Oskaloosa to our J.C. Penney store.”
“My request is, just give us a chance”, says Purdum to the decision makers at JC Penney.
The announcement of the store closure came in mid-March in a press release from JC Penney.
The press release says that liquidation process at most affected stores will begin on April 17th. Oskaloosa and Ottumwa were both named in the release as being locations to close.
For area residents interested in signing the petition asking that the Oskaloosa location be kept open, you can find the online petition HERE – https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keep-oskaloosas-jc-penny-store-open/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=button
