JCPenney Announces Permanent Closure at Idaho’s Pine Ridge Mall

✅ JCPenney becomes the THIRD major department store brand to close in Idaho in 2025

✅ Affected mall’s new owners have major renovation plans for their new property

✅ JCPenney recently merged with a portfolio of other formerly bankrupt brands

If there’s one thing that’s proving to be true in 2025, it is that it’s a bad year to be a major department store. Just a few weeks after two other major department store brands announced the permanent closure of an Idaho location, a third brand has done the same. 

Retail Recap: Macy’s Leaving the Silver Lake Mall in Coeur ‘d Alene

In the day and age where many shopping malls are failing, this mall in North Idaho is fascinating. Things looked pretty bleak for the mall when they lost two major anchors: Sears (2018) and JC Penney’s (2021.) However, in a twist of fate, rather than being sold to an investment group with a reputation for further destroying struggling malls, Brookfield Properties transferred the ownership of the mall to a local couple that already operated a successful business in the area.

READ MORE: 13 Big Brands That Closed One or More Idaho Locations in 2024

By November 2024, the Knoll family managed to bring the mall back to 100% occupancy which makes the announcement that the location in their mall was one of the 66 stores being shuttered as part of Macy’s “bold new chapter” a bummer. Macy’s decision to leave CDA makes the location at the Boise Towne Square Mall their only remaining Idaho location. 

Retail Recap: Boise Towne Square Mall Loses Kohl’s

While Macy’s staying at Boise Towne Square Mall is good news for the Treasure Valley’s indoor mall, they received equally bad news. Macy’s may be staying put for now, but Kohl’s has made the decision to close 27 stores, including the Boise Towne Square Mall location. The store is expected to close by April. According to the company’s release, employees were given an opportunity to accept severance or opportunity to apply to other stores.  The Meridian and Nampa locations will remain open. 

Another Department Store Calls it Quits in Idaho

Now a third major department store has announced the permanent closure of one of their Idaho locations. East Idaho News reports that JCPenney will close their location at the Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck for good, with its final day likely falling in May. 

When the mall opened in 1981, JCPenney was one of its original anchor stores. The other original anchors included ZCMI and The Bon Marche. ZCMI eventually became Dillard’s when May Department Stores Company sold the Eastern Idaho location off. It closed in 2008.

The Bon Marche, like other locations across Idaho, became Macy’s but it didn’t last long. The Pine Ridge location closed in 2006. 

Major Changes Coming to Pine Ridge Mall

The mall was sold to SimonCRE in May 2024 and the company has plans to reimagine the space as an open-air retail space. If that phrase sounds familiar, it’s nearly identical to what a different developer said about the next chapter for Karcher Mall, which was Idaho’s first indoor shopping mall.

The idea is to demolish a lot of the mall’s interior and give tenants who remain part of the shopping area their own exterior entrances. They’ll also add out parcels, giving retailers an option to have a location on the outskirts of the existing parking lot. 

Shortly after the mall was sold, SimonCRE shared an article from the Idaho State Journal on their website that seemingly confirmed that Kohl’s would be moving into one of the vacant anchor locations. However, with Kohl’s closing locations across the country, including the location at Boise Towne Square Mall, it appears that the eastern Idaho location is no longer in the works. 

As for what could be coming to the mall during its redevelopment? Rumors of a new Target location are rampant, partially impart to one line of an Idaho State Journal article about JCPenney’s closure that read:

Chubbuck Mayor Kevin England has confirmed that the mall’s new owner has signified that a lot on the mall property will be the future home of a Target store.

However, he tried to clarify that comment in a different article from East Idaho News, saying the rumors have been exaggerated and suggested people dial back their excitement so that Target doesn’t get angry and decide to build their next location somewhere else. 

JCPenney’s Major Transition Underway

The changes at Chubbuck’s mall might not be what led to the end of its last original anchor. In August 2024, JCPenney announced the abrupt closure of four locations across the United States. 

CRE Daily, a commercial real estate website, reveals that JCPenney merged with a company called Sparc Group in January and is now part of a new concept called Catalyst Brands. That means the department stores are now part of a group that also includes Forever 21, Eddie Bauer and Aeropostale. 

CNN calls the new venture a “zombie mall store king,” explaining that many of the brands in this new portfolio have gone through bankruptcy themselves. JCPenney filed for bankruptcy in 2020.  After the merger, JCPenney’s CEO told CNN that the new venture will benefit customers:

We can design a more personalized shopping experience, offer unified loyalty and credit card programs, and ultimately, cross-sell more effectively.