J.C. Penney to reopen next week

After several weeks of speculation about its future, J.C. Penney has announced its store in Cape Girardeau's West Park Mall will reopen next week. The store and the J.C. Penney salon will open Wednesday while the Sephora outlet inside the store will reopen Friday.

J.C. Penney filed for bankruptcy protection last month while all of its stores were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company will reportedly close about 30% of its 846 stores and it was uncertain whether the Cape Girardeau store would be among them.

The company opened its first store in Cape Girardeau in 1924 and has been one of West Park Mall's anchor stores since the shopping center opened in 1981.