Here’s an article from the New York Times with more info.  Two Illinois stores are part of the scheduled closing:  Stratford Square Mall in Boomingdale and Hickory Point Mall in Forsyth, a town of 3,000 near Decatur.

In yet another sign of its deep slump, J. C. Penney Company said on Wednesday that it would close 33 stores across the country and shed about 2,000 jobs.
The company said in a statement that the closings and resulting job cuts would save about $65 million a year.  One of the oldest retailers in the nation, J. C. Penney has undergone considerable management and investment turmoil in the last few years. It fired one chief executive, Ron Johnson, and then brought back his predecessor, Myron E. Ullman III. It tried a new retail strategy, which alienated core customers, and reverted to its old strategy. Its stock has plummeted nearly 80 percent in the last two years.
In Wednesday’s announcement, Penney said it was closing “underperforming” stores. But some analysts and industry experts said that with 1,100 locations and such extensive difficulties, shedding 33 stores would not be enough to move the needle on the company’s performance.
“The hole is too deep,” said Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director at the Strategic Resource Group, a consumer industry consulting company that specializes in retailing. “This is a warning shot across the bow to landlords to try to provide accommodations or concessions, like on common area maintenance charges or lease reduction.  Read more here.

Really, what did they expect would happen when they started sending out sales ads that looked more like art gallery catalogs and mailings from Christie’s?  That the Victoria’s Secret models would come window-shopping?  Talk about being out-of-touch with your customer base … wait, which retailer were we talking about again?