How is J.C. Penney faring?
We did see an upturn because of pent-up demand. People had cabin fever from the difficult weather. People who do come and discover us aren’t returning to their former loyalties. The discount channel does a great job on commodities, but we still compete very vigorously in those categories. Discount stores don’t have a lot of wardrobe dressing. And better department stores have style and quality, but tend to have higher price points. We offer our own private brands, and we will be the exclusive retailer for the Liz Claiborne brand this fall. We work hard to have style and quality that’s much better than the discount channel. Q: What are your expansion plans, if any? A: We had a very aggressive new-store growth plan before the recession, but there aren’t many new projects available now. We redeployed investment into digital during the downturn, and there are opportunities in existing stores to improve the shopping environment. We are adding 75 new Sephora shops a year and will have 230 by
