The Fight For the Middle

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The ability to buy wares at a mouse click is invariably a big selling point for time-pressed customers. But ultimately the revival of Penney and the continued success of Kohl's can be traced to one thing: women are simply finding things in these stores that they want to buy. And it has certainly helped that Wal-Mart botched an attempt to upgrade the fashion quotient in its apparel offerings. "JCPenney and Kohl's finally got the merchandise right," says Nicholson. "It's hipper, and it's not boring anymore."

Is it possible that these stores are becoming--egads!--cheap chic, as Target was a few years ago? Consultant Wolfe thinks so. "It's almost cool now to say 'I bought it at Penney's,'" he says. Suzanne O'Callahan, 35, a mother of four and a regular Kohl's shopper, certainly agrees. "I just walked through Macy's and didn't find anything, but I've been here for about an hour already," she said, her arms full of clothes, on a recent afternoon at the new Jersey City store. "I always shop at Kohl's. And so do my friends." For JCPenney and Kohl's, comments like those must sound as joyful as jingle bells.