Shop JC Penney – It may soon be “less soul crushing”

97.3 KIRO FM host Dave Ross has a new slogan for the retailer – “Shop Penney’s it’s less soul crushing.” (AP Photo/file)

JC Penney’s new CEO is credited with pioneering Target’s cheap chic image, and he also took part in the Apple Store concept. But will Ron Johnson be able to attract new shoppers to a revamped JC Penney?

“I’ll certainly go check it out,” says 97.3 KIRO FM Ross and Burbank Show host Luke Burbank.

He says the Target evolution definitely worked on him. “I think atmosphere, for me it goes a long way.”

“Think about Target vs. Kmart,” says Burbank. “They basically do the same kind of thing and they have the same products, but Target has been tremendously successful because their color scheme is great. The layout of the store seems fairly intuitive. They’ve got those cool escalators just for your shopping cart, which never cease to amaze me.”

Listen to Ross and Burbank: Shop JC Penney – It may soon be “less soul crushing”

“They’ve got all this stuff going on that just makes it a little bit more fun and a little less soul crushing to be there,” says Burbank.

“There’s a great logo. Shop Penney’s it’s less soul crushing,” adds co-host Dave Ross.

New CEO Johnson tells the Associated Press he chose to go to JC Penney because he sees it as “the single biggest opportunity in American retailing.”

“Inherently, department stores have significant advantages compared to all other retailers. Yet, our productivity is at the low end, and that just doesn’t make sense,” Johnson says.

As part of JC Penney’s strategy, announced last week, Penney is getting rid of the hundreds of sales it has each year to focus on every day pricing.

Dave Ross is unsure of know how this move will jibe with American shoppers.

“I don’t see how you can do that. Americans don’t shop for quality. They shop for price,” says Ross. “I think that most Americans like that. They want not just the product they want, but they want it at some deal that is special.”

But Burbank says he thinks the change will make pricing less confusing.

“You go into some of these department stores and everything is 90 percent off, 40 percent off of the last tag, but 50 percent above -it’s confusing.”

The new JC Penney store will also have a new layout. The stores will be divided into 100 specialty shops, and Johnson says the buying experience will be transformed.

“We are going to make the store a place people love to come, just to come. Because they can get support before they’re ready to buy. They can get great support when they want to buy and they can come in after they buy. We’ll transform the buying experience not unlike what we did at Apple.”

Johnson says the changes at JC Penney will come about month by month.

“This will take time,” says Johnson. “We are going to make the store a place people love to come.”

Do you think a JC Penney can become a place people love to shop?

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
The Associated Press contributed to this report.