Amazon Picks Remnants of Sears, JCPenney
Disruption being completed: Amazon begins to pick malls as distribution centers, taking over the remnants of Sears and JCPenney. Good for the real estate developers as the dominance completes. This implies people should not expect foot traffic in most malls as home delivery becomes the new normal.
Amazon may replace closed department stores at struggling malls. The company is in talks with Simon Property Group (SPG), the largest mall owner in the United States, to convert former or current JCPenney (JCP) and Sears (SHLDQ) stores into distribution hubs to deliver packages, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Both retail chains have filed for bankruptcy (Sears has since emerged from Chapter 11) and are closing hundreds of stores. Simon malls have 63 JCPenney and 11 Sears stores, according to its most recent public filing.
The deal could make sense for both Amazon and Simon as the e-commerce landscape shifts and many traditional brick-and-mortar stores are in collapse.
