Shoppers like Audrey Rasmussen remember the seasonal JCPenney catalogs well. “They used to be very thick and they got thinner and thinner, probably because people like me started doing other things,” said Rasmussen.The company is officially announcing the end of its big catalog. “Then we still will have the specialty catalogs, we just won't mail out the large fall, spring catalogs any longer,” said Holly Kruger, the JCPenney store manager in Mason City.
Kruger says they haven't mailed out, or carried, the seasonal catalogs for nearly two years now.
She says the official switch allows the company to re-allocate resources. “Before we weren't able to show case everything in the store on the website,” she said. “Now that we've eliminated the outlet centers we'll have a full expansion, plus our clearance items that we typically would send there will get added to there, so if it's not here in your local store it's going to be on jcpenney.com.”
Kruger says the same merchandise will still be available, this is just a different way of getting it. “This is just one huge step towards getting smaller…stores the fashion that we deserve, so it's exciting,” she said.
And even those who used to use the old catalogs, like Rasmussen, say they don't really care about its demise. “Well I just don't use it that much anymore you.....either come in the store or use internet,” she said.
Kruger says they do have a catalog department at the Mason City store. That department’s now transferring over to the company's internet portion. She says no jobs will be lost during the switch.
