A New JCP?

Amid press leaks making it appear that JCPenney is desperate to cut costs and laying off several thousand workers and news that Macy’s is trying to block the new licensing deal between Martha’s housewares company and JCPenney, JCPenney has launched a multi-platform campaign to rebrand itself.

Maybe you’ve seen the commercial. 

Maybe you watched Bill Ackman, on the board of JCPenney, get interviewed about it on CNBC.

Maybe you’ve seen the print ad. (Click on the ad to see bigger.)

Maybe you’ve seen the ads on the company’s website, Facebook page or gotten an email.

So, what does it all really mean? The big plan is a new pricing strategy and return policy called “Fair and Square” to simplify things for shoppers. It took some looking, but I’ve ferreted out some details for you.

MSN Money has the lowdown on the new pricing model.

Here are the new tiers of prices, starting Feb. 1:

• Daily low prices. This is similar to the “everyday low pricing” model that Wal-Martmade famous.

• Monthly discounts. There will now only be 12 promotional events each year — one a month — when some items will be marked down further.

• Clearance deals. JCPenney is timing its “Best Prices” clearance sales to the first and third Friday of the month — when many shoppers get paid.

Internet Retailer reports:

The new everyday prices are in line with what consumers are already paying when discounts are factored in. For example, consumers paid an average of $3.30 after all discounts for a particular bath towel that had a regular price of $10 last year. The new pricing strategy resets the regular price for that towel to $4, [Ron] Johnson [CEO] says. The retailer also will feature “best price Fridays” on the first and third Friday of each month during which merchandise that needs to be cleared out will sell for less. When J.C. Penney needs to move existing towel stock to make room for new colors, for example, the old towels will be sold for $2 each only on those Fridays. The stores will have no clearance sections, Johnson says.

MSN Money also reported that the store layout and inventory will change:

It’s doing away with what it calls “the confusing and seemingly endless racks” in traditional department stores. Instead, JCPenney plans to carve its stores into dozens of mini-shops based on individual brands. There will be a Martha Stewart shop, for example, along with separate shops for Izod, Liz Claiborne and L’amour Nanette Lepore.

The Budget Babe reported more specifically:

By August 1st, JCPenney will start rolling out mini “shops” within the store. By 2013, they will launch a new retail concept called Town Square. By 2014, they’ll have a whole new prototype for the store and by 2015 every store will be completely transformed.

Internet Retailer also reported:

The plan is to have approximately 100 mini-shops in each J.C. Penney store by 2015.

Stores will also prominently feature a social area in the center of the store—Johnson called it a “town square”—that is intended as a place for consumers to gather. Johnson did not reveal what the town square section would contain.

Brand Channel provided this schedule for changes:

Beginning in August, jcpenney will begin a month-by-month, shop-by-shop strategy to update all stores with new and exciting merchandise and presentation. Two to three shops will be installed monthly, each and every month, over a four-year transformation period, including the debut of Town Square during 2013. These initiatives will culminate in the complete transformation of JCPenney by the end of 2015.

Brand Channel also shows us the logo is being changed (for the 3rd time in 3 years!).  Here’s a sneak peek.

 

Goodbye Epstein! Welcome Back Kotter Loss

Time is reporting that: Robert Hegyes, the actor best known for playing Jewish Puerto Rican student Juan Epstein on the 1970s TV show “Welcome Back Kotter” has died. He was 60.

I wasn’t born when the show was on the air, but I loved watching the reruns when I was a kid. Rest in peace, Robert.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Obama v. Brewer

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says President Obama rudely walked while she was trying to him. Hm. Take a look at the photo of the incident. The mouth open wide, looks like she was shouting. The finger jabbing at him, looks like she was giving him a piece of her mind.

I’d walk away too if someone talked to me that way, especially when cameras were around!

 

Killing Off William Shatner? Nooooo!

The Priceline Negotiator played by William Shatner is being killed off. I know, it’s such a tragedy. He was so young!

Not Afraid of Hat Hair?

If you’re like me, you always take into consideration whether or not you’ll have to take off your hat before deciding to wear one or not. I guess in the UK that isn’t a concern, because they seem to have a million events where hats are de rigueur.

Considering all the hats that style icon Kate Middleton has to wear, I’m not surprised that Kate was named “Hat Person of the Year” by the Headwear Association today. No, what surprises me is that the previous winners were  Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt. That was the best they could do? Really?!

Anyway, Kate does have pretty good taste. Especially in comparison to some of the monstrosities that have been worn by others. 

Marines With a Great Sense of Humor!

When I saw this hilarious Youtube video I knew I had to post it.  I’m not a big fan of scary roller coasters. For me, anything that can go upside down is out of my league. (Stop judging!) So, I’d never get on the Giant Slingshot in Orlando, Florida. But, these Marines did and here’s the tape. I believe there has been mention of one of them “screaming like  a little girl”…

Scoop for Fans of Once Upon a Time!

Of all the freshman shows there is one that I love the most: Once Upon a Time on ABC. I didn’t even want to like it, but I was hooked from the first episode. Now, I find myself dying for scoop about the show. If you are too, Ausiello can help. Just today (January 24, 2012) he posted this, among a lot of other great info about everyone’s favorite shows:

Question: Please, I don’t ask much. Just give us a scoop about Emma and the Stranger on Once Upon a Time. One episode and I ship them already! —Angel
Ausiello: In the next few episodes, the Mysterious Stranger With the Typewriter’s agenda “becomes clearer,” teases co-creator Adam Horowitz, “as we realize he has designs on Emma — both romantically and for another reason related to the curse and more specifically to Henry’s story book.”

Question: Any scoop on David and Mary Margaret on Once Upon A Time? —Louise
Ausiello: They won’t waste any time taking that kiss they shared in Sunday’s episode to the next level. Horowitz confirms that they’ll soon “begin an affair that they know is wrong but is also, somehow, right,” adding that, “Regina quickly makes sure that the cost of this true love trying to work itself out is dire.”

If you want less cryptic scoop, try this site for information about the next episode.

And, here’s a clip for those who want to see The Kiss one more time.

Postbaby Victoria Beckham

I think Victoria Beckham is a nice person who gets a lot of bad press, so I had to post this. (Okay, so there was a time when I enjoyed the Spice Girls. Don’t judge!)

E! Online is reporting that Victoria has her figure back. Her daughter (baby number 4) is 7 months old.

Now, I’m not one of those people who thinks that every woman has to drop the weight she gained while pregnant or face everlasting shame. But, I think that it’s great if you can manage it. I don’t look like Victoria without kids, so I know I couldn’t be so thin after FOUR kids.

I’ll admit that she’s more thin than I’m really comfortable with, but… as long as she’s happy. Besides, didn’t she kind of have to lose all that weight? I mean people have been so harsh. Can you imagine all the comments if she was photographed at a comfortable size 8?

The Lasting Effects of an Affair- Take a poll!

On January 2, 2012 the Chicago Tribune reported on an ongoing paternity dispute. Now, paternity disputes can be interesting, certainly Maury Povich has made a fortune off of them, but this one is unique because the biological father is known yet the case has been ongoing since the turn of the century.

A woman cheated on her husband and conceived a son with her lover. Since then, her husband has forgiven her and they are raising the boy as their own along with their other children. He is now about 16 and clueless about the affair.

The boy’s parents have argued that it would be detrimental to his mental health to tell him now. Their psychologist testified that, according to the paper:

telling the boy now could cause “a deep depression and all that could mean including suicide potential” as he is already struggling with his identity within the “conservative values of his community.”

After a lot of court decisions, the most recent appellate court decision ruled that the boy shouldn’t be told the truth about his parentage until he is an adult. According to the paper:

In making his ruling, Judge Baron found that “there is deep and obvious hatred between the parties” that would prevent them from breaking the news properly.

“The Court cannot conceive that the biological parents could accomplish this at this time without compounding the psychological impact,” he wrote.

What do you think? Take the poll.

Teacher Makes Hurt 6-year-old Crawl

I have known and heard of some mean teachers over the years, but this one takes the cake. How can someone teaching kindergarten be so heartless?

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on January 4, 2012:

Teachers at a Skokie school forced a 6-year-old with a broken leg and a concussion to crawl back to his classroom across an icy playground, then failed to call for an ambulance, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Kindergartner Rahul Chandani slipped on a mound of snow and hit his head in the playground at Devonshire Elementary School on Jan. 3 last year, but didn’t get any medical help until his mom came to get him, the lawsuit filed in Cook County circuit court by Chandani’s parents Pritam and Priya alleges.

“His teacher told him, ‘You’re a big boy — I can’t carry you,’” the boy’s mother, Priya Chandani, said Wednesday, “She told him to walk back, but his leg was broken so he fell again and then had to crawl at least 200-300 feet back to the school building.

“If someone did that to me as an adult, I’d slap them.”

Skokie School District 68 officials declined to comment on the negligence suit Wednesday, but Chandani said that her son was off school for six weeks recovering from the injuries, that he had trouble sleeping, needed six months of rehabilitation and was “emotionally scarred” by the incident.

He suffered a fractured tibia and a hematoma to his head, according to the suit. His mother added that the lump on his head was “the size of a tennis ball” and that he had complained of dizziness but that the school did not provide him with proper medical attention and did not have a wheelchair to move him. She saw him crawling when she came to get him from the school and took him to the hospital, she said.

“This could have happened to any child,” she said. “As soon as I saw him I knew something was wrong.”

She said the accident had happened on an icy patch near some swings, adding that she didn’t understand why the children were forced to walk across the area by teachers. “You can’t expect 6-year-olds to be careful in a place like that,” she said.

The suit seeks in excess of $200,000 in damages.