Another Department Store Closes and it Hits Close to Home

A pillar of the community here in TRF is about to crumble. On July 31st, the JCPenney store downtown will be closed for business. After nearly 100 years, the community will say goodbye to the store that has provided clothing and home items for the members of Thief River Falls.

How will this impact the community? A couple JCPenney associates were interviewed and offered their insight. When asked what the most significant impact on the people of TRF would be, April Lundeen, who has worked at the department store for almost seven years, said: “The biggest impact will be on the elderly who can’t travel to Grand Forks on a more regular basis. Also, we don’t have any men’s clothing stores in the area. People with kids will be impacted as well because JCPenney is one of the only stores in town with a wide selection of kids clothes.”

When any store closes, the prices of the items sold change. When asked how dramatic those changes will be, Victoria Yoder–an associate that has worked at JCPenney for six years– answered saying: “We’ll have our liquidation sales starting May 22nd,. The regular priced items will not be as large of a sale right away, but we will be continually obtaining clearance items. The last day to return items to the TRF JCPenney store and to be able to use coupons is now May 21st.”

Originally, the closing date of JCPenney was June 18th. However, due to the reaction of the TRF and surrounding communities to the closing of the store, incoming revenue from the sales has risen greatly. The closing date was pushed to the 31st of July because of this.

The people of TRF, as well as people from other nearby communities, will be affected, however the associates working at the store will be impacted as well. When asked how the closing would impact her, April Lundeen replied saying that she would miss the discount and the extra income. This is true for her along with many other associates, including some who work at Penny’s full time and are looking for other jobs.

The emotions are running high with the closing of the store, some angry, sad, disappointed, or mix of all. Regardless, the store will close and hopefully the TRF community will acquire something to make up for the loss of such a staple here in town.