Photo by JJBers | Flickr / CC BY 2.0

J.C. Penney said it will be closing four New Hampshire stores among the 154 being shuttered in what it is calling the first phase of its efforts to shrink its footprint. 

The Plano, Texas-based retailer said it could take about 10 to 16 weeks to complete the closures. A list of the stores closing was published on Penney’s website. No Massachusetts are being closed at this time, but two in Vermont are – at Bennington’s Bennington Square Mall and at the Berlin Mall.  

The New Hampshire locations to be closed are at Keene’s West Street Shopping Center, North Conway’s Mountain Valley Mall, Rochester’s Lilac Mall and West Lebanon’s Upper Valley Plaza. That leaves the retailer with stores at Nashua’s Pheasant Lane Mall, Salem’s Mall at Rockingham Park, Manchester’s Mall of New Hampshire, Concord’s Steeplegate Mall and Newington’s Fox Run Mall. 

Penney filed for bankruptcy protection last month, making it the biggest retailer to do since the coronavirus pandemic forced non-essential stores to be shut down temporarily. J.Crew and Neiman Marcus sought bankruptcy protection days before J.C. Penney. All three were laden with debt and had trouble connecting with shoppers, who are increasingly skipping the mall and shopping online. 

As part of its bankruptcy reorganization, Penney said it planned to permanently close nearly a third of its 846 stores in the next two years. That would leave it with just over 600 locations.