Karen Doyle, a sales associate with J.C. Penney, assists a customer at the Summit Square store in Calcutta, which is not among the 138 stores nationwide that will be closing its doors. (Photo by Steve Rappach)

CALCUTTA — The J.C. Penney store, located within the Summit Square shopping plaza in Calcutta, will remain open.

That announcement was made official Friday morning when the company released a list of 138 locations that will be closed.

“Thanks to the loyalty of the customers in the area, we’re remaining open and we’re adding departments in our store as we speak,” said Cory Bufalini, manager of the Calcutta store. “We’re going to be adding a home department and things of that nature.”

The department store chain announced last month its plan to close locations throughout the country, but did not issue specific sites at that time.

According to a company release issued Friday on its website, the closings are “a continuing effort to advance sustainable growth and long-term profitability.”

In addition to the 138 stores, J.C. Penney Company Inc. also will close one supply chain facility in Lakeland, Fla., and will relocate one supply chain facility in Buena Park, Calif.

The moves were made “to align the Company’s physical store footprint and omnichannel network,” reads a release.

Approximately 5,000 positions nationwide will be impacted by the store closures, most of which will occur in June. Most affected stores will begin the liquidation process on April 17.

J.C. Penney, the release states, “is in the process of identifying relocation opportunities within the Company for esteemed leaders.” Additionally, the department store chain says it will provide outplacement support services for those eligible associates who will be leaving the company.

In addition to the Calcutta location, other nearby sites also survived the closures, including stores at the Beaver Valley Mall in Monaca, Pa., and Fort Steuben Mall in Steubenville. In addition, the doors will remain open at J.C. Penney sites in Boardman, the Wheeling area, and Robinson Township, Pa.

The four Ohio locations that will close include stores in Findlay, New Philadelphia, Richmond Heights and St. Marys. There is one West Virginia store closing (Martinsburg), and seven in Pennsylvania.

Similar Penney closings took place in 2014, when 33 locations, affecting 2,000 employees, were shuttered.

The Calcutta store has been at its present location in Summit Square since the early 1990s, having moved there from its original downtown East Liverpool location.