I agree with you Johnfwd. I think Ridgmar is too far gone, and Brookfield, JCPenney, and Ridgmar's owners should work out a deal to relocate JCPenney into the old Sears space at Hulen. This will keep JCPenney in Fort Worth proper, and fill a vacancy at Hulen Mall, and then seal the deal for total redevelopment at Ridgmar.
Considering that JC Penny has been through a near-death experience and on life support and the company has not hesitated to shed locations - there has to be some monetary reason why the location at Ridgmar has continued to remain open, however inexplicable it might seem.
I haven't been in that store in several years so I have no idea of what sort of customers that location has in terms of demographics. But I have a theory:
There are people over a certain age who continue to remain suspicious of online shopping. The notion of not buying something in person and looking at if first feels completely foreign to them despite the fact that their own children and grandchildren do it all the time.
Various Westside neighborhoods have lots of people in this age bracket who have lived in those neighborhoods for decades and who are reasonably affluent. Back in the day, when such people needed something beyond what they could get in grocery store or the drug store their first impulse was to go to Ridgmar Mall. That's what everybody did.
These are people who, once they reached a certain age, never kept up with trends and aren't particularly adventurous and sometimes even downright reluctant in terms of trying new things that might come along. They would prefer to shop at Tom Thumb instead of Central Market because so much that is sold at Central Market is unfamiliar to them - weird stuff that their kids and grandkids are into. Besides, years ago, Tom Thumb was the nicest store in town and that perception persists for them. Even when they were younger, they were not particularly inclined to drive to stores on the other side of town to go shopping. They were affluent enough that they didn't feel the necessity of driving around to chase bargains and their preferences were conventional enough that they were perfectly satisfied with whatever selection at nearby Ridgmar was offered to them. Now that they are elderly, they are even less inclined to drive across town.
Fast forward decades into the future to several years back and, in their mind, when they needed to buy something beyond what they could get a the grocery or drug store, their fist impulse was still to go to Ridgmar Mall even though the rest of the world was rapidly moving on to more diverse and convenient options. But, suddenly, the stores they had always gone to in Ridgmar started closing - Neimans and then Macys. But they continued to shop at Ridgmar - just as they continued, without complaint, to pay to have a paper copy of the Star-Telegram delivered to their door despite the fact that its page count is a sad shadow of what it once was and the price for a paper copy has necessarily skyrocketed and that it makes much more sense financially and in terms of timeliness to subscribe to the online version..
These are people who have spent their entire lives perfectly content with the nearby options that were offered to them - and since, back in the day, they had a decent range of options to choose from, they never questioned those options. Thinking outside of the box to explore other options wasn't something likely to occur to them. And when those nearby options started shrinking, out of habit they continued to select from the options that remained until there were none left and they were forced to look elsewhere.
I am guessing that, before it closed, such people constituted a sizeable core of what was left of the Ridgmar Sears customer base. When Sears closed they no longer could reflexively go there if they needed a new lawn mower or power tool. But there is a Lowes down the street which isn't that much further to drive to. And, given they were more or less forced to give shopping there a try a few times, they probably now see its advantages and would not be inclined to go back to Sears if it somehow miraculously opened back up. But if Sears had not closed, they would still be going to Sears.
But, when it comes to items such as clothing, bedding, kitchenware, etc., to the degree that they were previously getting such stuff from Sears instead of Penny's, they reflexively turn to Penny's. Where else, without driving across town, are they going to get such things? And these are people who are from a time where the perception was that things purchased from a Kmart/Walmart/Target were probably of inferior quality. So, while they might sometimes shop at such stores for stuff like cleaning supplies, they are going to be more comfortable about buying other things at a place such as Penny's or Sears, if it still existed.
My GUESS is that it has been people similar to my above caricature who have kept the Ridgmar Penny's going - their long-time customer base plus those they inherited from Sears.. If they move the store to Hulen - many such people are not going to be inclined to drive across town and deal with the nasty Hulen area traffic. Maybe they will switch to the nearby Walmart or Target and, once they get used to them, be perfectly satisfied - or maybe that will be the final straw that finally pushes them into giving online shopping a try..
Meanwhile, I suspect the demographics around Hulen Mall is somewhat different. If they don't have a similar nearby crowd that reflexively goes to Hulen Mall, they will miss out on that segment of the market. And to the degree the demographics around Hulen mall are younger - I have read that younger people tend to perceive JC Penny as being frumpy and are not particularly inclined to go there. So it might actually be more profitable, at least in the short term, to remain by itself at Ridgmar with only the Dillard's outlet as competition. And I don't think the Dillard's outlet is much competition for it. I have gotten some great buys there - but one usually has to put in a lot of effort digging through an enormous amount of wrong sizes and stuff one isn't at all interested in to find them. To the degree getting a really great price is not that much of a factor, then it doesn't make much sense going there.
Just a guess. But, to the degree my guess is accurate, then the JC Penny at Ridgmar is just riding off of dwindling momentum and customer inertia and is very much living on borrowed time. So it will be interesting to see what lasts the longest - JC Penny at Ridgmar or the print edition of the Star-Telegram.