Big News For Two Oxford Valley Mall Retailers

January 10, 2025

The Macy’s in the Oxford Valley Mall in January 2025. Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

Big news came this week for two of the Oxford Valley Mall’s largest retailers.

Macy’s announced Thursday that it will keep its store in the mall open, while JC Penney unveiled plans for a major merger.

Macy’s confirmed that it would shutter 66 stores nationwide, including a historic location in Philadelphia’s Wanamaker Building, as part of a broader strategy to close around 150 stores.

The move is aimed at adapting to the evolving retail landscape dominated by e-commerce and shifting consumer preferences toward smaller retail footprints.

“Closing any store is never easy, but as part of our Bold New Chapter strategy, we are closing underproductive Macy’s stores to allow us to focus our resources and prioritize investments in our go–forward stores, where customers are already responding positively to better product offerings and elevated service,” said Tony Spring, Macy’s CEO and chairman.

JC Penney announced a merger with Sparc Group to form a new company, Catalyst Brands.

Customers leave the J.C. Penney at the mall in 2019. Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

The new company will include well-known retail names like Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand, Nautica, Stafford, Arizona, and Liz Claiborne.

Catalyst Brands will launch with over $9 billion in revenue, 1,800 store locations, 60,000 employees, and $1 billion in liquidity, according to a company statement.

Marc Rosen, the former CEO of JC Penney who will lead Catalyst Brands, highlighted the strategic advantages of the merger.

“Our relationships with more than 60 million customers and the deep data we have create a compelling consumer value proposition across our brands. We can design a more personalized shopping experience, offer unified loyalty and credit card programs, and ultimately, cross-sell more effectively. That’s one example of the many benefits we’ll see in this combination,” said Rosen.

Macy’s and JC Penney are the two largest anchor stores remaining at the Oxford Valley Mall, which lost two other anchor stores. The former Boscov’s store was torn down and the parking lot has become a new 600-plus unit upscale apartment complex.

There have been plans in the works for years to revamp the mall, but Simon Property Group has yet to pull the trigger.