This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
J.C. Penney laid off 600 employees from its corporate headquarters Thursday, about 14 percent of the staff there, and said it would close one of its three call centers later this year, eliminating another 300 jobs.
The company's new CEO, Ron Johnson, said earlier this year he planned to reduce annual expenses by $900 million by the end of next year, including $200 million from corporate headquarters, $400 million from store operations and $300 million from advertising.
He laid out an ambitious plan for J.C. Penney that included simplifying its pricing, formatting stores with a "town square" area of services and small boutiques around the perimeter, and reducing the number of times prices are marked down.
The company's call center in Pittsburgh will be closed in July. Since the company instituted the new pricing policy in February, along with a more generous return policy, call center volume has decreased 30 percent "due to fewer customer concerns related to coupons, prices and returns," said Darcie Brossart, a J.C. Penney spokeswoman, in an email.
No senior executives were laid off, Brossart said. Before the layoffs, Penney had 4,400 employees at its headquarters in the Dallas suburb of Plano. Penney spokeswoman Darcie Brossart said staffers were notified Thursday.
The Salt Lake Tribune contributed to this story