Economic development head doesn’t blame local economy for JCPenney closure

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It’s never welcome news when a retailer with a century long tenure in town announces they are leaving but Ken Springer says it has more to do with changes in the retail industry itself.

The President of the Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development tells WGIL that retail sales have actually been up 5.5 and 3.9 percent in the last two quarters.

It’s his opinion that the big box retailer packing up has more to do with national trends in retail. He says nationally that about 10 percent of retail sales are made online.

Springer says that shipping has become more efficient, transportation costs have gone down and the market is responding.

“You know everybody [has] seen the Sears and the Kmart, Macy’s closings… It just seems to be something that’s happening nationwide, and I think that’s more of a reflection on changes that are happening within the retail industry itself than a reflection on any particular community,” Springer told WGIL.

JCPenney last year closed 140 stores including location in Canton, Peru, Macomb, Bloomington and Woodridge.

Overall Springer says that JCPenney’s departure isn’t a reason to bemoan the state of the Galesburg area economy.

“The national economy is doing pretty well. We’re getting a little taste of that in Illinois – could we do better with a better state business climate? I think absolutely we could,” said Springer. “If somebody’s going to point to JCPenny closing and say ‘oh, this is indicative of terrible things happening in Galesburg’ that’s just not accurate in my opinion.”

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