JCPenney

I love the way you can shop and have plenty of room to move around. The clerks are so helpful and friendly. Not in a mall so i don’t have to worry about losing my car in the parking lot.

I loved shopping here on our visit with my good friend and all of our kids. The staff was very friendly, the store was nicely organized, and the dressing rooms were well attended. I am only giving them three stars for lack of access to the upstairs and downstairs sections for our group. We had children in strollers and could not take them up or down the stairs. It’s an older building lacking accessibility features, but otherwise charming. Best option for clothing and accessories in The Dalles.

This is one of JCPenney’s «Golden Rule» era stores, back before the chain deserted most downtowns for suburban malls and even ‘exburb’ strip centers.
Recently, the chain has introduced a ‘fair every day pricing’ strategy, which means that the tagged prices on items are reasonable and available to the shopper «every day» instead of attempting to create customer loyalty through constantly changing coupons, sale price changes based on time of day, etc. The change was first introduced in February, and adjusted a bit in August. Previously there were 3 tiers — ‘every day,’ ‘monthly values’ (aka «SALE» items) and ‘best price/​clearance.’ Now it’s just two — every day values and clearance items.
I felt I should explain this, because I’ve found the prices to be fair and I like that the prices are mostly set on even «$ 0» or «$ 5» increments, no more pesky «$ 6.87» clearance items marked down five times over from an inflated ‘retail’ price the item never sold for anyway. I’ve followed the changes because I like retail in general and JCPenney is where my family’s bought most of our clothing over the years.
The store in The Dalles is laid out on three floors and shows its age. The main floor is women’s wear and accessories with both a front and side entrance. The store does have a parking lot, but I don’t think parking around downtown in The Dalles is probably difficult. Sadly, the area is not bustling with customers. For those in wheelchairs or with mobility issues, I think it would be a bit of a struggle to get around. There was not an elevator to the upper floor /​mezzanine or to the basement.
The upper floor is children’s wear, which I didn’t need on this visit. It looked like this store had most of the selection I’ve seen at other locations.
The basement floor has some bedding basics and menswear. This store did not appear to carry much Big & Tall, which is one menswear department I’m used to seeing at JCPenney. The men’s department had as many or more helpful salesclerks compared to the mall stores I’m used to visiting. I found most of the same merchandise available to buy despite the space constraints. They did have the new JCP merchandise, Levi and Arizona Jean Co’s. in new displays, Stafford, Arrow, St. John’s Bay, IZOD, Van Heusen, JFerrar and Claiborne. Some brands I didn’t see that I usually do: ZooYork, JOE Joseph Abboud or the new CALL IT SPRING or i Jeans by Buffalo.
I found a few parts of the store fixtures interesting. It seems to have the same carpet that was in the mall store where I grew up (built circa 1986), but the floor tiles are clearly from much earlier. I did not love the changing room experience, as they were basically small closets crammed up against the basement wall. No three sided mirror was around for looking at suits, although I’m sure the sales clerks would’ve loved to give you their two cents. Up in women’s, the store did manage to create a «working wear» area that showcased the new emphasis on Liz Claiborne and Worthington set off from other ladies departments. Shoes were split between floors with men’s on a post in the basement and women’s in a small rear corner of the store. They had the new COSMOPOLITAN brand displayed back there.
Overall I had a good experience and a lot of shoppers seemed to be in the store. I was surprised the front windows are currently empty except for the new «JCP» logo and statements about the new pricing strategy. I guess they don’t want to try to grab interest from passers by.
The other department stores in The Dalles/​Hood River area consist of–
Fred Meyer (The Dalles)
KMart (The Dalles)
Bi-​Mart (The Dalles)
Walmart* (Hood River) so needless to say, JCP wins hands down for fashion and is probably comparable on price.
Things that were missing at this store:
Towels and bath
Kitchen
Window treatments/​blinds
Salon
Fine jewelry
Sephora (or any perfume/​cosmetics)