J.C. Penney starts liquidation sales at closing stores, including Pittsburgh Mills, Monroeville Mall

Liquidation sales at 136 J.C. Penney stores slated to close, including several in Western Pennsylvania, began Wednesday.

Stores at the Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer, Monroeville Mall, the Clearview Mall near Butler and the Beaver Valley Mall in Center Township are among the stores to close and are holding going-out-of-business sales.

The Penney store at Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield was not on the list of store closings.

Throughout all closing stores, customers will see discounts of 25%-40% off original prices, according to the company. Shoppers can still return items purchased before June 12 while stores are in the process of closing. All sales will be final starting June 25.

Temporarily reduced store hours will be from noon-7 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays.

The company said it will monitor CDC guidelines, state and local mandates and take precautions to ensure the safety of its associates and customers.

Earlier this month, J.C. Penney announced it was closing 154 stores around the country (that list was reduced to 136 stores) to shrink its footprint and focus on its ecommerce site. The retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 15.