J.C. Penney's woes at the beginning of the decade caused the company to lose a significant portion of its customer base. The dynamic, ultra-competitive landscape of retailing may mean that many of these customers will not return.
Historically the last decline(Dot-Com) the market high was in (Jan. of 2000) the bottom was (Oct. 2002) it took over two years for the market to unwind! The total market decline was about 34% top to bottom! it was a sector (tech) bubble.The bubble we are moving out of now is two sectors deep, the two sectors are intertwined more deeply with each other.the financials bubble and a housing bubble secondly are linked more than tech and finacing were linked in 2000-the whole economy follows housing! and financials make or break the housing sector.those sectors have to heal,banks are balancing budgets, writing down losses and gathering cash from a large spread in the finacial market-when they are comfortable again they will start to lend again-AND... Retail(J.C.Penney's) follows what the finacial sector and housing sector creates(wealth)surplus income for people to spend buying excess goods from walmart jcpenny nordstroms gap etc. etc. we are a ways away from financials being generous with their monies-we will all suffer decline in comfort until the spiggots are turned on again-right now there is a slow drip!