Bright neon yellow doors frame the entrance of J.C. Penney’s new Liz Claiborne women’s shops that open in almost 700 of its stores this weekend.
Also in stores on Sept. 1 are shops for the new jcp apparel brand in men’s and women’s. The line includes fashionable basics such as shirts, sweaters, blazers, cords and jeans reminiscent of those found at J. Crew. The sweaters are made of a soft combination of cotton and cashmere blends.
“We’re so proud of that brand, we put our name on it,” said Penney’s chief merchant, Liz Sweney. Corporate staffers in Plano have been wearing the early samples from the line, pink checked shirts for women and orange for men.
Jcp clothes “are the building blocks of a wardrobe,” Penney CEO Ron Johnson said last month during a sneak peek at Penney’s new shop layout.
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Last year, Penney paid $268 million for worldwide rights to the Liz Claiborne brand.
The bright yellow door color is repeated on the back walls of Liz Claiborne shops, framing a mirror and creating a focal point, Sweney said. Some criticized Penney for paying so much for the brand, which had been sold in traditional department stores like Macy’s and Dillard’s, but, Sweney said, “This brand has been really successful for us.”
Penney has been selling Liz Claiborne casual wear and some dresses, and it expanded into career wear and a smattering of active wear in the new shops.
“That’s what the Liz Claiborne brand always has been, a lifestyle story, and those are the categories Liz included when she created the brand,” Sweney said. The shop will include accessories and handbags and lots of mannequins displaying outfits.
Penney’s first six shops opened earlier this month and were all about denim and back-to-school.
September’s additions address a different end of the wardrobe spectrum and include an Izod men’s shop from longtime Penney supplier PVH Corp. (formerly known as Phillips-Van Heusen Corp.).
Penney has heard a constant drumbeat of criticism from Wall Street, and some say Johnson earned the criticism with worse than expected 20 percent sales declines and big quarterly losses. Through it all, Penney has stayed true to the timetable it spelled out in January.
Johnson’s plan to transform the department store into a collection of 100 shops, which he more recently has described as “a mall within a mall,” is on track.
As Penney adds brands, others are going away. East 5th and a few other work wear brands have been eliminated as Liz Claiborne moves into career wear.
The jcp brand eliminates St. John’s Bay for women. Penney will still carry St. John’s Bay for men but has transformed it into a smaller men’s outdoor apparel label, Sweney said.
People who don’t like wearing brands on their pockets will like jcp. “No label showing. Not everyone needs a critter on their shirt,” Johnson said.
J.C. Penney stock, which has been in the dumps, has been climbing in recent days, and some analysts credited Wednesday’s 4 percent increase to the debut of the next round of shops.
Penney’s stock price gained 93 cents to close at $26.23 a share, its highest level in three months.