• May 9, 2007

J.C. Penney plans to open nine off-mall stores in suburban Chicago in the next two years, similar to the smaller stores it is opening in the Dallas, Houston and Detroit areas.

While the typical mall-based Penney store is between 100,000 and 165,000 square feet on two levels, these new stores are in the 85,000-to-105,000-square-foot range and are designed to appeal to time-pressured shoppers who just want to park, find what they need and go home.

"We plan to continue opening 50 stores per year through 2011, and while we haven't determined yet where they all are going to be," a spokesman says, "it is a significant push for us."

--Sarah Mahoney