JCPenney closed 33 stores this month. With over 1,000 stores remaining in operation, this may not seem significant; however, these recently closed locations represent 2.7 million square feet of newly unoccupied retail space. The potential damage from losing an anchor tenant is especially high in malls. The exit of an anchor can cause other stores to leave or renegotiate their leases, contributing to a spiral of declining traffic and investment.

Stores being closed include five in Wisconsin, where top rival Kohl’s is dominant, three in Pennsylvania, and two in the states of Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, and Virginia. No stores in the top retailers headquarter state of Texas are slated to close. A spokeswoman for JCPenney said two of the 33 stores are locations owned by the company, with the remainder being leased stores. The company leases its stores at over half of its mall locations.

Chains Store Guide’s proximity analysis shows that each location closed has multiple competitors within a 5-mile radius, while some have as many as nine. There are a total of 98 department store competitor locations within 5 miles of all of the newly closed locations. There are 23 Kohls, 19 Sears and 8 Macy’s, among others. Of the 33 markets losing a JCPenney department store, the top 10 ranked by total local competitor locations are represented below.

Top Ten JCP Closings – Ranked by Competitor Counts

Announced in early January, the closures resulted in over 2,000 lost jobs. The department store retailer hopes the closings are part of a company turnaround. The company is trying to recover from massive losses and plummeting sales drops that occurred under former CEO Ron Johnson, who was ousted in April of last year after being on the job for only 17 months. It was at that time that the company brought back former CEO Mike Ullman.

With its loyal leader in the driver’s seat, JCPenney is on course to get its business streamlined and bring its customers back. Closing underperforming stores will save the company money. Besides, times have changed and many customers have shifted their shopping to online. Other national department store chains have streamlined their store portfolios in recent years. JCPenney hasn’t closed a large number of locations since 2000 and 2001.