JCPenney — Local services in Clearwater

We visited the portrait studio at this location, and if I could give our experience zero stars, I absolutely would. It started with getting a reminder call the Friday prior to our appointment, with the photographer telling us to be on time for our appointment at 11:00am, because she has a full schedule and will have to skip over us if we are late. At the time, I thought what a wierd thing to say, but no big deal because we are habitually early to all appointments. We arrived at the countryside mall at 10:35am, only to discover that the actual doors to JCPenney are locked until 11:00am. We ended up taking a seat close by the doors to JCPenney on the upper level, so that we could get straight to the portrait studio. This still didn't sit well with me, as my anxiety about being late started creeping in my mind, so I decided to call the studio to let them know that we are physically outside the doors, and will be at the studio as soon as the doors open and we can get there. I called at 10:45am and heard the list of options to choose from, and 7 was for the portrait studio. I picked 7 and received the message "this is not a valid option". I listened for the operator and picked option 0. It rang for 2 minutes before I hung up, realizing that I wasn't going to get ahold of anybody. I thought to myself that surely this is common, that families are a few minutes late if they are the first appointment and the photographer would give some grace for the doors being locked. I was wrong. The doors unlocked right at 11:00am, and my husband and I hustled inside and asked the nearest associate where the photography studio was, as we hadn't been here before (hindsight would suggest checking the location out prior, so that we could be at our appointment earlier, but that didn't happen). We were told to take the elevator to the bottom floor. We found the elevator and made it to the lower level and headed to the portrait studio. Upon arriving (approximately 11:05am), the three associates working were all sitting behind the desk. I let them know that I needed to change our baby Into his outfit, since he has horrible reflux and I wanted to try and keep him clean as long as possible. The trainee showed us the changing room, and we had little man changed as quickly as possible. We were just about to exit the changing room when the photographer with the long whitish hair and new England accent came back to tell us that she can't wait any longer, that we were late and our appointment started at 11:00am. I was frustrated at this point and told her that the doors didn't even open until 11:00, and there was no possible way to be here right at 11:00. She continued to argue saying that still, our appointment was at 11:00 and other appointments had already shown up and were checked in, ready to go. I told her that we were ready to go, and she continued to argue that we were already running late. We went to the front desk to choose backgrounds and then went into the photography studio. We were posed, and it was then that the photographer realized she didn't even have her stuff ready to go! The flash wasn't on and working, the memory card wasn't loaded, and the props weren't even in the photography studio! The photographer quickly posed us, took a few photos, and posed us again (as expected). It was very warm in the studio, and our baby started becoming fussy. The photographer then said "well of course he is fussy, we don't wear long sleeves in Florida!". First- this was unprofessional and an unnecessary comment. Second- I have seen PLENTY of people wear long sleeves in Florida in the MIDDLE OF SUMMER OUTSIDE! Third- I had always been told that long sleeves in photos is a classic look and always looks nice, which was the point. After the session was done, it took an hour to be able to see the photos. We didn't realize until we got home that the photographer chose bad photos and duplicates of photos. It was a complete waste of time,...

September 14 2019 it is the first time my husband and his brother experience a racist profiling at JCPenneys on 19th North Highway. My brother went in the store with my husband to do a even exchange of men Nike merchandise. The merchandise was ordered a couple weeks ago and it was the wrong size. My husband went to this JCPenney's without the receipt. Attempted to do an even exchange. The female at the register call the manager over name Dino. My husband explained the situation to him and stated I have my JCPenney's card and I can provide you my driving license can you please look up the receipt. The manager refused he was loud and combative. My husband requested another manager to come over there he refused. After numerous of times my husband explain the situation again. also told him that he observed him ringing up a customer before him without a receipt and allowed the customer even exchange and change a price on Nike merchandise. My husband said this statement made this individual mr. Dino more upset. My husband stated he inform Dino that he will go to his car to look for receipt. When my husband left the store to retrieve the receipt Mister Dino turn to the cashier and told her he is a big black dude he probably stole the merchandise and need the money to go get drugs. My brother overheard the conversation told my husband when he came back in the store. My husband requested a new manager a female came up there he was very distraught. I told him to keep his cool explain the situation , request new manager provide credit card and his driver license to the new manager. A lady named Gladys assist my husband with this problem. she was wonderful understanding and she resolved the issue. She apologized for the gentlemen's behavior and will speak to him about this incident This is not the first time I have experienced racism by this gentleman mr. Dino and my friends calling corporate doesn't do anything because all them stick together we need to boycott go to the NAACP. Also video tape the incident and put on Facebook. This behavior is unacceptable but when 2019 racism is alive and managers are allowing...

God bless JCPenney. Personally I think JCPenney is going to be the last man standing of all of the Legacy chain retail stores in the US. They have come a long way - they reorganized a couple of times in the last few years and have cut the fat and redundancy for the most part of their offerings in the store. In my opinion they could cut this even further by not offering for example three pairs of similarly priced men's size shorts in three different departments. They have true doorbuster bargain purchases on very good quality men's clothing every week and at some point nearly my entire clothing collection will be from JCPenney. Good value generally modest prices but they still play games like Kohl's with the artificial sales on certain items, id est, they place a significantly higher price on a certain item offer it on sale and people think they're getting a bargain. So you do have to be a Savvy Shopper and really know prices. This particular store in Clearwater is always busy however it is very neat clean orderly well-stocked with friendly helpful and knowledgeable staff. As opposed to the next nearest one which is over at Citrus Park mall that you should absolutely avoid. This JCPenney store at Clearwater Countryside is always a pleasure to shop it's inviting it is well planned and thought out and does not have the feel of a leftover has been 1960s era retail monolith like its competitor still holds on to. I truly hope Penney's sticks around for another hundred years remains competitive and is strong enough to hold up to the changes in culture like online purchasing it would truly be sad if Penney's went the way of Toys R Us and where Sears and Kmart are...