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J.C. Penney Co.’s sales are falling, its stores are stuck in malls and the turnaround strategy keeps changing. Now, three months after the embattled retailer hired a new chief executive, a handful of senior positions remain vacant. The series of events is prompting analysts and other industry experts to question whether Penney can avoid the fate of fellow department-store operator Sears Holdings Corp., which filed for bankruptcy and barely staved off liquidation, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Penney is a broken business,” said Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia Business School. “They are looking at a very problematic 2019. It’s the mistakes of the past coming home to roost.” The Plano, Texas-based chain was once the go-to apparel retailer for middle-class families. It and Sears had once dominated American retailing but lost their customers, first to discounters like Walmart , then to fast-fashion retailers and off-price chains like T.J. Maxx. The shift to online shopping hastened their decline. A strengthening economy brought Penney’s problems into sharper focus. It scaled back discounts and private brands, and focused on appliances at the expense of apparel. At a time when consumers have been spending, Penney posted a 3.5 percent decline in holiday sales and said that it would close more stores, following a string of weak results.

U.S. discount retailer Payless ShoeSource Inc. has hired an adviser to help evaluate strategic alternatives, including a sale or restructuring, less than 18 months after it emerged from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The action underscores the efforts Payless is making to avoid a second bankruptcy, as the popularity of online shopping on websites such as Amazon.com Inc. continues to challenge the viability of many brick-and-mortar retailers. Payless has hired investment bank PJ Solomon. The chain, a fixture in malls and strip malls known for its shoes costing less than $30, is also considering shuttering at least one-third of its approximately 3,000 stores. The retailer may also consider filing for bankruptcy, sources said, cautioning that no decisions on the company’s future have been made. Payless exited bankruptcy in 2017 with about $400 million in loans, after slashing its debt pile from over $800 million, according to court papers.

Children’s clothing retailer Gymboree Group Inc. is expected to seek bankruptcy protection this week, with plans to close all 900 of its stores, the Wall Street Journal reported. The expected bankruptcy comes less than two years after the retailer’s first stint in bankruptcy court, when it closed a portion of its stores and saw lenders take control of the business. The stores operate under the banners Gymboree, Janie and Jack and Crazy 8. In December, Gymboree announced it began a strategic review of the three brands, which could result in a sale or other transactions at the brand level. While Gymboree is expected to liquidate, the fate of Janie and Jack stores is still up in the air. If no buyer can be found, the chain could also be liquidated. Gymboree first filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2017, weighed down by more than $1 billion in debt stemming from a leveraged buyout by Bain Capital Private Equity LP in 2010. The company was able to slash $900 million in debt from its balance sheet and turned over control to its lenders, including Carriage House Capital Advisors LLC, Brigade Capital Management LP and Oppenheimer Funds Inc.

The company behind Sleep Outfitters, Mattress Warehouse, and Mattress King filed for bankruptcy protection with hopes of selling itself, the second mattress retailer since October to succumb to overexpansion, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Innovative Mattress Solutions LLC, which runs 142 retail locations with roughly 400 employees, entered chapter 11 in Lexington, Ky., on Friday to protect itself from creditors while it puts its assets up for sale and closes some stores. IMS said in court papers that its business had suffered along with the general brick-and-mortar retail market and worsened after 2016 due to a series of expansions “which were, in hindsight, poorly timed.” The mattress market, like most other retail sectors, has also come under pressure in recent years from online upstarts, such as Casper Sleep Inc. and Leesa Sleep LLC. The newcomers mostly sell bed-in-a-box mattresses they ship directly to customers, promising free returns.

Sears has survived the Great Depression and world wars. Whether the 126-year-old retailer stays afloat or goes out of business now hinges in part on paying for the enormous bill piled up by going broke, Reuters reported. The fate of Sears Holdings Corp. highlights a harsh reality of U.S. bankruptcy — it requires armies of pricey specialists in a system driven by an outcome, not costs. Sears today will consider bids for its assets, including a last-ditch $5 billion proposal by chairman and controlling shareholder Eddie Lampert. To ensure his chances of outbidding proposals to liquidate the chain, Lampert last week agreed to assume more than $600 million in additional liabilities that Sears has incurred since filing for bankruptcy protection last October.

It could soon be last call for the popular but ailing Cowboys Dancehall that’s mired in bankruptcy, the San Antonio Express-News reported. A lender for the honky tonk wants bankruptcy-court approval to foreclose as early as next month on the 16.6-acre property at 3030 NE Loop 410 in San Antonio. Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ronald King has set a hearing for Monday on Oklahoma City lender Crossroads 2004’s request. Cowboys Far West, the bankrupt Arlington partnership that owns the country music venue, has been trying to find a buyer for the property. The judge told the partnership at a Nov. 8 hearing that it needed to have a signed contract by the end of last year, Crossroads said in a recent court filing.