J.C. Penney Opening Toy Shops In All Of Its Stores

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said Thursday that it will open toy shops in all of its bricks-and-mortar locations. The shops will be located next to the Disney Collection , and will feature dolls, board games and more from companies like Hasbro Inc. and Mattel Inc. . The company has doubled its online toy assortment in the last year, adding new categories like bicycles and outdoor trampolines, in order "to compete with pure e-commerce rivals," the company said. The new toy shops are also an effort to "explore new merchandise categories and differentiate its business." J.C. Penney shares are up 1.3% in premarket trading, but down 44.4% for the year so far. The S&P 500 index is up 9.1% for 2017 to date.