JCPenney closes Springfield location, laying off 74

National department store chain JCPenney will close its Springfield Town Center location on May 29, laying off 74 workers and marking the loss of one of the site’s original anchor stores.

The company announced the closure of the store at 6699 Springfield Mall in Springfield in a Feb. 18 letter to the state under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. Layoffs will begin on May 15 and continue through May 29.

“Regretfully, we are unable to continue our current lease terms for this store location and have been unable to find another suitable location in the market,” JCPenney said in an email to Virginia Business. “We are grateful to our dedicated associates and the loyal customers who have shopped at our Springfield, VA, location through the years, and we hope to continue serving them throughout our nearly 650 stores nationwide and at JCPenney.com.”

The employees who work at the store aren’t represented by a union and don’t have any bumping rights, the WARN letter said. However, the company informed employees that its leadership will explore whether any jobs are available at other JCPenney locations.

“Closing the store was a difficult decision,” the company said in a letter to employees. “We thank you for the time and effort you have dedicated to JCPenney.”

It was not immediately made clear if Springfield Town Center has another tenant lined up for the property. Springfield Town Center did not immediately return requests for comment.

The JCPenney location opened in 1973, when the shopping center was known as Springfield Mall. It was among the shopping mall’s original anchors, and Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and Princess Diana visited it in 1985. The location survived the mall’s multimillion-dollar transformation into a shopping center in the early 2010s.

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, JCPenney has 645 stores nationwide. Last year, the company reported $6.3 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue, down 8.6% from the previous year.