Sequim JCPenney, 651 W. Washington St., a retail staple for 26-plus years, began its liquidation last week.

The sale started more than a month after staff learned of the store’s closure on Dec. 10 last year, and customers are letting staff know of their concerns.

Moments upon entering the store on Jan. 21, customers were saying the closure is “heartbreaking” and “terrible.”

“This is bad; we need this store,” another customer said.

General manager Beverly Nelson said the store will close its doors by mid-May, with progressive sales starting at 20-50 percent and all sales final.

Susan Erdman of Port Angeles has worked on the store floor for 17 years, worked for two general managers and met “a lot of great people,” she said.

“It’s been a good store for Sequim,” Erdman said. “People are going to miss it. They’ve been telling us, ‘Where are we going to shop? What are we going to do now?’”

Sequim’s closure follows a “store optimization strategy” from new owners Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management Inc., reporting plans to close up to 200 stores for financial restructuring following the retailer filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020.

As the only JCPenney on the North Olympic Peninsula, the next closest store is at the Kitsap Mall in Silverdale. Sequim JCPenney moved from Port Angeles to the former Sequim Safeway store in 1995 at the Sequim Village Shopping Center.

Prior to the liquidation, the store employed 35 part-time and full-time employees.

Salon

Some employees have moved on to other employment, including all but one stylist at the JCPenney Styling Salon. Salon manager Rebecca Claymore will remain with the store as long as the salon remains open with the timeline unknown, she said.

This week (Jan. 25-29), she’ll take remaining vacation time and then be open for appointments from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday by stopping in or calling 360-681-4047.

The last two stylists finished on Jan. 15, Claymore said, and all her stylists found local positions.

“People who knew the salon was closing called to see how we’re doing and if they could offer employment,” she said. “It made me feel so good and it speaks well for this salon.”

Claymore said she loves the people who worked there, and she’s “heard a lot of healing words from customers.”

She made the switch from Silverdale as a master stylist in August to lead the Sequim salon and was sad to learn about the closure a few months later. With state regulations in place late last year they had to downsize from four to two stylists and from 50 percent to 25 percent capacity.

“We got creative (with hours),” Claymore said.

Store

JCPenney was founded in 1902. Sequim’s store remained open in 2017 after the company closed 138 stores nationwide. However, it joins GameStop and Ulta Beauty as franchises to close in the city during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Erdman said in her years with the store, she’s “seen a lot of ups and downs,” but she plans to stay through the entirety of the closure.

“I have a granddaughter, and I’m going to keep taking care of her a few days a week, so I don’t want to mess that schedule up,” she said.

As for what’s next after the closure, Erdman says she’s not going to rush things in finding another job.

Sequim’s store won several corporate awards in recent years, including the Chairman’s Award and the Founder’s Award, the “highest distinction for excellence” according to JCPenney representatives.

Claymore, who commutes from Poulsbo, said she loves Sequim.

“It’s beautiful here, and I’ve met so many neat people,” she said. “I’ve always treated it like a little vacation when I come here.”

Logistics

JCPenney’s website states: “Items purchased prior to the start of the liquidation sale may be returned or exchanged throughout the entire liquidation sale.”

Gift cards from the store can be redeemed but not purchased at the Sequim location.

More information can be found here companyblog.jcpnewsroom.com/storeclosings on closures.

For more information about the Sequim JCPenney store, call 360-681-2833 or visit jcp.com.

Property manager Michelle Ridgway with Sun Valley Realty said there’s been some interest in leasing the JCPenney space. For more information, contact her at sunvally@olypen.com or 360-683-6500.

Marge Dahll said she’s been coming to Sequim JCPenney Styling Salon since it opened in 1995. On its first day of liquidation, she came for a cut and some hair coloring from salon manager Rebecca Claymore, who said people have offered a lot of healing words in recent weeks. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash

During its liquidation through mid-May, there will be progressive sales on items with new stock coming in, said general manager Beverly Nelson. All sales are final and gift cards will be accepted. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash