J.C. Penney is trying to help parents who depended on their local Babies R Us stores that closed. The department store announced that it will be opening 500 baby shops in stores near the same Babies R Us stores that went out of business in June, according to a press release.
J.C. Penney will now sell items that the company previously sold only online, in the brick and mortar locations. The items will include large items like cribs, high chairs, strollers and car seats along with smaller items like bottles, pacifiers and diaper bags.
"The baby care business is expected to reach over $13 billion by 2021 and we are seizing this opportunity to pursue available market share and aggressively go after the baby customer with these new shops," James Starke said in a statement. Starke is the senior vice president and head of merchandising for J.C. Penney, USA Today reported.
The popup shops will be at J.C. Penney stores and located near the baby apparel department. That department will also have expanded stock of Carter’s, Gerber and Okie Dokie branded clothing.
The popup stores will be open by the end of the month in time for its annual baby sale, the company said in the press release.
There are currently more than 860 J.C. Penney locations in the United States.
But J.C. Penney isn’t the only company trying to snag the shoppers left high and dry when Babies R Us and Toys R Us closed all stores in June.
Party City is trying to lure customers who used to visit Toys R Us for birthday party items to its stores, USA Today reported.
Walmart has updated its website's baby pages, allowing shoppers to browse by style and offering more baby products, increasing the number to 30,000 items over the last year, CBS News reported.
Target has also been banking on the demise of Babies R Us. It has expanded its Cloud Island brand adding more diaper bags and crib sheets, while Amazon is using Khole Kardashian and her pregnancy to boost its baby registries, sharing it with her 70 million Instagram followers, CBC News reported.
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