As a JC Penney employee, this should be interesting...I've seen a ton of middle managers fired, I've seen a lot Johnson's ideas explode in his face, like the whole pricing thing(we're gone back coupons), the whole uniform idea, I wonder if the mobile pos(aka the libby) idea is the next to die, I've really gotten sick of the complaints, especially from the older folks. They've also bought back St. John's Bay brand in women's department.
The mobile POS thing was just annoying, at least at my local store. I still have to go to the register kiosk, they still scan using the registers, but the payment part is done on iPods (as an aside, it's easier to program Android for this type of thing) using the rubber-tipped stylus. I think that would have been ok if it had been implemented differently.
I noticed a huge shift in the big and tall section at my store, which sucked. I don't think I've bought any clothes there in about 6 months, other than jeans. I do like the jeans bar, since the Levis are half the price of the ones at Macy's and I'm at an odd between size right now (was a 44, lost at least a full size so the 42's fit me well now...one is B&T, the other is regular). The iPads at the jeans bar suck though. It would be better if they had an associate there. I don't want technical specs on a pair of jeans, I want to know if the cut is giving or restrictive, etc. I also want to know the difference between relaxed and loose, which the iPads won't tell me.
The main thing that Johnson either forgot or refused to acknowledge is that JCP is a mid-level department store. It's a bit higher on the chain than Target, but lower than Macy's (for example). He was trying to implement things that work for higher level boutique stores on a large scale, and that just doesn't work.
ETA - the nice part about St. John's Bay is that, even though the cut doesn't really stay once the clothes are washed, they are cheap and great for looking presentable when you need to. I can run in and grab a SJB polo. I noticed they had reduced the stock in the B&T section in favor of Van Hausen, which tends to be a horrible, unforgiving cut