Amazon reportedly looking to take over Sears, JCPenney stores as mall fulfillment centers

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Amazon eyeing old Sears, JCPenney stores as fulfillment centers, report

The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon is in talks with the largest mall owner in the United States, Simon Property Group, to convert former or current Sears and JCPenney stores into new fulfillment centers after being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Amazon is reportedly in talks to transform shuttered Sears and JCPenney stores into fulfillment centers.

The online delivery giant is working with Simon Property Group, the largest shopping mall operator in the United States, to transform current or former JCPenney and Sears department stores into new fulfillment centers for the company.

Both retail chains have filed for bankruptcy and are closing hundreds of U.S. stores.

Amazon said the centers could solve one of the company's biggest hurdles to its delivery model: how to get parcels the last mile to customer's homes.

Both Sears and JC Penney have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and were already gutted by the drastic shift to online shopping.

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