That space in the mall that used to be occupied by J.C. Penney and Sears? It might just get filled by one of the two retail chains’ biggest rivals: Amazon.com.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the ecommerce retail giant is talking with mall operator Simon Property Group Inc. about setting up fulfillment centers in space where the two retailers once were – in many cases – anchors for several malls owned by Simon Property. J.C. Penney – based in Plano – and Sears have both filed for bankruptcy protection.
If Amazon were to take some of those space, the Seattle-based company could use he locations to provide drive-up services to compete better with Walmart and Target.