J.C. Penney to close 242 stores

(Image credit: Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images)

J.C. Penney is planning on closing 242 stores — more than a fourth of its locations.

The beleaguered department store chain filed for bankruptcy last week. J.C. Penney has 846 stores, and will close 192 locations during this fiscal year and 50 over the next. In a document filed with the Securities and Exchanges Commission on Monday, the retailer said the 604 stores that will remain open "represent the highest sales-generating, most profitable, and most productive stores in the network."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.