The Chicago Sun-Times is running a story with more details about the upcoming expansion plans for JCPenney. As they have previously announced, the focus of their upcoming growth (250 new stores through 2011) is in the off the mall format. But what is revealing is that one of the larger areas of growth is within Chicago.

From the article:

J.C. Penney will open nine suburban, off-mall stores in the next two years, making the Chicago region the biggest market for the retailer’s new stand-alone stores.

[…]

Penney’s strategy is to open free-standing stores near families in growing suburbs that welcome “lifestyle centers” — outdoor malls with restaurants, movie theaters, landscaped walkways and stand-alone stores that have their own parking lots.

The new, one-story stores measure 85,000 to 105,000 square feet, slightly smaller than Penney’s traditional two-story mall stores at 100,000 to 165,000 square feet. The new stores sell no furniture.

“The stand-alone Penney’s stores fit the shoppers’ lifestyle of not wanting to park in a mall parking lot, but to park at the store, run in, do their shopping and go home,” said John Jones, Penney’s district manager for Chicago’s North Side.

(More information, see Penney shifting to off-the-mall strategy.)

I wonder how many of these new stores are going to go into existing markets, either as a replacement for an aging mall anchor, or into an area where they previously had and closed locations.

JCPenney held a two day analyst meeting where they outlined some of their long term growth plans for 2007-2011. Some of the development highlights that they’ve outlined:

- 250 new stores opening in this period with the majority of them being in the new, off the mall format

- 300 stores being rennovated by 2011

- announcing that they’ve signed a plan to open a 125-150,000 square foot store in the redeveloped Manhattan Mall in Midtown Manhattan. Located at 33rd and 6th Ave, this mall has huge foot traffic and is right across the street from Macy’s flagship Herald Square location. Location is expected to open in 2008 or early 2009.

JCPenney has an aggressive growth plan outlined for this time period. Coupled with the rapid expansion of Kohl’s (previously announced growth plans of 500 new stores opening in the period of 2006-2011), it looks like there is tremendous room to grow within the mid-tier department store sector.

More information from TradingMarkets.com (see: J. C. Penney Lifts Q1 Guidance; Plans To Open 250 New Stores In Five Years - Update) and Forbes (see: J.C. Penney Co. raises profit forecast, will open Manhattan store 1 block from Macy’s)