The J.C. Penney Co. store at 9501 Arlington Expressway in the Regency Square Mall closed permanently Oct. 18. (Photos by Karen Brune Mathis)
Customers wait in line to pay for some of the last merchandise sold at the store.
A hand-edited sign says that all clothing is 97% off.
Fixtures and a table are offered for sale.
A bin of arms was available.
This foot could have been yours for $5.
A mannequin half bust was $25.
Advertising artwork is offered for sale.
The top floor of the store was closed.
With most of the merchandise gone, some furnishings were available.
A U-Haul picks up shelving and fixtures from the closed store.
A U-Haul truck is loaded with store fixures.
Not much was left inside the closing J.C. Penney store.
J.C. Penney was the last department store at Regency Square.
Few stores remain inside the 1.4 million-square-foot shopping center.
After 53 years in operation as one of Regency Square Mall’s original tenants, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. closed its department store for good at 4 p.m. Oct. 18.
Other than a few pieces of merchandise, all that remained for sale were fixtures, display equipment and mannequins, including assorted feet for $5 and a bin of arms.
Cars, trucks and a U-Haul picked up shelving and other fixtures before and after closing.
Store personnel told arriving shoppers that the store was closing, surprising some customers who expected the usual 6 p.m. Sunday close.
On the dot, a voice on the public address system announced:
“It’s 4 o’clock and we are closed.”
J.C. Penney Co. closed its three Northeast Florida stores in March because of the coronavirus pandemic and reopened those at The Avenues mall and the Orange Park Mall in May.
Penney announced June 4 it would shut the Regency store, at 9501 Arlington Expressway, in its first phase of 154 stores closing in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
It reopened at Regency in mid-June with closing sales. The Plano, Texas-based company said it expected the sales to take 10-16 weeks to complete.
The company filed a notice with city and state officials July 17 that 94 employees will lose their jobs at Regency.
J.C. Penney is the last department-store tenant to leave the mall.
Belk closed and was sold to Impact Church of Jacksonville Inc., which is renovating it.
Sears and Dillard’s own their stores. Sears closed and the building is for sale. Dillard’s operates a clearance center at its location.
J.C. Penney’s departure leaves several independent retailers and a few national names, including Bath & Body Works, GameStop, LensCrafters and Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, operating at the 1.4 million-square-foot shopping center.
Jacksonville-based Rimrock Devlin said in June it has a contract to buy the mall and redevelop the 77.11-acre property into mixed uses. About 1 million square feet is available for the developer to buy from the primary owner.
A Rimrock Devlin representative said Sept. 24 the deal still was in review.
