Surprising Stores That Could Replace J.C. Penney at QB Mall

Earlier this month, we reported on J.C. Penney's announcement that it would be closing 250 of its stores and what that could mean for Quakerbridge Mall in Lawrenceville, NJ.

At that time, we mentioned that if the J.C. Penney at Quakerbridge Mall closed, it would be the second vacant "anchor" location at the mall. (Sears left Quakerbridge Mall in the Fall of 2018).

Note: At this time, J.C. Penney has not announced which specific locations will be closing, so it is possible that the Quakerbridge Mall location will remain open.

Since J.C. Penney's announcement , many business insiders have been speculating as to what could happen to the struggling retailer.

For example, an article published on businessinder.com suggests that Walmart or Target could replace certain vacant spaces left after J.C. Penney closures.

Having a Target or Walmart in a mall may sound odd, but it's actually something that has happened in one of New Jersey's neighboring states.

At the Christiana Mall in Christiana, DE, Target is one of the mall's anchor stores. And just like other anchors, you can enter the store from the parking lot or from inside the mall. (Although, I'm not sure how many people carry their groceries through the mall).

If J.C. Penney were to close at Quakerbridge Mall, could either Target or Walmart move across the street from Nassau Park Pavilion?

An even more intriguing concept of what could happen to J.C. Penney was floated by author George Anderson on retailwire.com. According to Anderson, Amazon may be interested in purchasing JCP.

Anderson says that Amazon could use J.C. Penney to boost its apparel and accessory sales, or to grow its retail store plans (ie, Amazon 4-Star), or maybe even to use the spaces for distribution facilities.

This all could just be speculation, but it would be an interesting to watch the company that many people believe is helping to "kill" traditional retail stores and malls to actually swoop in and help save those places.