J.C. Penney And Kohl’s Have Failed Their Most Loyal Customers: Middle-Aged Moms

Christie Mowry, a 43-year-old mom in Missouri, loves shopping at J.C. Penney. Just don’t steer her to the women’s section, which she says has become a dumping ground of striped shirts and ill-fitting capri pants.“It’s like they think women my age should go quietly into their golden years without any style or personality,” said Mowry, a claims representative for an insurance company in St. Louis. “They have an antiquated idea of women my age.” Like many of its peers, J.C. Penney has failed its most loyal shopper: the middle-aged, middle-income mom of middle America. Analysts say retailers, caught up in a millennial-chasing frenzy, have invested heavily in new store formats and trendy brand partnerships, making shoppers such as Mowry feel unwelcome and eating into companies’ bottom lines. J.C. Penney and Kohl’s — which have toggled between courting moms and millennials — both posted disappointed earnings this past week. And Dress Barn, frequented almost exclusively by middle-aged working women, announced Tuesday that it was closing all 650 of its stores. Read more at The Washington Post.