Toys May Not Be All Fun and Games for J.C. Penney

J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) deserves credit for aggressively moving into open niches. The company scored when it decided to re-enter the appliance market and it has made inroads in home services, which it has been testing in select stores. Those are both markets with established customer demand that have been abandoned as Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) has closed stores.

J.C. Penney's latest effort to expand its merchandise, adding toy shops to all its locations, is different. Customers probably don't feel abandoned as mass-market toys is a market well-served by Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Target (NYSE: TGT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Toys "R" Us.

J.C. Penney sold toys during the 2016 holiday season and J.C. Penney Chief Merchant John Tighe explained the decision to bring the category back year-round in a press release:

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Source: Fool.com