J.C. Penney plans to increase the amount of watch brands it carries by bringing the Watch Gear by Tourneau concept to its stores, the company announced in a presentation following the release of its financial results.
The store-within-a-store will give the company exposure to watch brands it has never carried before, J.C. Penney president Michael Kramer told analysts. The proposed concept stores will be similar in format to the Tourneau flagship on 57th Street and Madison Avenue in New York City.
“Tourneau is going to do [for us] for watches … what Sephora did for cosmetics,” added CEO Ron Johnson. “[Sephora] got us access to all the brands in a really wonderful shopping environment.”
“The Tourneau team is working with all their suppliers in talking about which ones that want to be in J.C. Penney, and which are the right ones for us,” Johnson continued. “We will clearly get into price points we have never been in before, but we won’t be as high as 57th Street.”
In addition, Johnson said that the company had lowered its jewelry prices and is now bringing that division in harmony with the store’s new strategy of “everyday low prices.” Previously, jewelry had been considered one of the strategy’s few holdouts.
“On the fine jewelry side, we have actually lowered in March all of our fine jewelry prices, so everything went to pure everyday,” Johnson said, adding that the move has already led to “meaningful improvements in the business.”
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