JCPenney says store closing due to lease terms at Sikes Senter

JCPenney couldn't strike a deal with the owner of Sikes Senter. That's why the retail chain that has been in Wichita Falls for more than a century is leaving town.

Signs appeared on the doors of the store on June 6 announcing the closing. In a response to an enquiry from the Times Record News, JCPenney Media Relations said the store will close by Sept. 22.

"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," the company said.

The comments are similar to those issued by Dillard's department store before it closed its Sikes Senter locations in August 2022 shortly after Kohan Retail Investment Group of New York bought the mall.

JCPenney and Dillard's were the original anchor stores when Sikes Senter opened in October 1974, both moving from downtown locations. They were joined by Sears in 1991, but that store closed in 2015 amid financial problems for the chain.

Kohan buys financially distressed malls across the country. The company's website lists ownership of 47 mall properties.

According to various recent media outlets, the company's mall in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, will be auctioned off later this month, Spring Hill Mall in suburban Chicago closed in late March and Town West Mall in Wichita, Kansas, has gone dark multiple times for nonpayment of power bills.

In addition, Marshalltown Mall in Iowa has been dark since November 2023, and Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Michigan, has been threatened with cutoff after more than $2 million in back utility bills accumulated, according to media reports.

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This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: JCPenney says store closing due to lease terms at Sikes Senter