NEW YORK–J.C. Penney will roll out its exclusive American Living home brand from Polo Ralph Lauren to tabletop in the fall, executives said during the retailer’s analyst meeting here.
The brand launched in soft home in February.
Assessing the performance of American Living so far, Mike Ullman, chairman and chief executive officer, said top of bed and window coverings have sold well, but bath “has been less strong.”
By contrast, American Living housewares has performed well, as has tabletop and mattresses, said Jeffrey Allison, executive vice president of home and custom decorating.
The retailer will roll out an open-stock and set glassware program from its J.C. Penney Home collection brand come fall.
On the national brand front, J.C. Penney will add Portmeirion dinnerware and Paula Deen cookware to its mix.
It will also debut Tempur-Pedic mattresses to its stores in the fall.
In time for the summer season, Outdoor Oasis, a private-label outdoor home brand, is now in stores.
In a bid to speak with one merchandising and marketing voice, J.C. Penney completed the integration of its home buying teams for its brick-and-mortar stores, catalog and jcpenney.com into a single group last week.
Previously, the stores had one buying team, and catalog and Internet were purchased by a second team.
The integration did not result in any job losses, as home merchants were reassigned to other positions, Allison said.
Buying will be integrated across all product categories at the chain.
Overall, the home business has been challenging, with a recent “drop off in soft home” and the ongoing weakness in big-ticket furniture that reflects the housing market malaise, Ullman said.
