To quote one resident who attended Sunday's Rally to Keep JCP open in San Fernando ... "It just ain't right!"

After being the anchor retailer in town for more than 80 years, JCPenney is closing its doors and ending it's long history with San Fernando. It seems everyone who lives in the Northeast Valley has a story about shopping at that store. They, with their families, have done much to build the JCP brand and they want it to stay. They want JCP to stay and improve.

Executives say that San Fernando JCP showed a 20 percent loss. But the truth is JCP made their own template for loss of sales. This store has been described by its managers as a "workhorse" for the retailer for decades, but still, there was little put back in and no improvements to the store's interior. There is no Sephora cosmetic counter, clothes look like sloppy seconds and discards from last season.

This has not escaped the notice of the consumers. In recent years they have noticed the store has treated the location and San Fernando customer with too little respect.

There hasn't been parity with other JCP locations. As the quality of the merchandise declined so did sales. Residents believe that JCP has stereotyped this town and hasn't cared to understand this diverse community and it's potential to build success for some time.

Instead, they've treated this store like an outlet although it wasn't supposed to be an outlet. Worse, after informing the city of their closing, they have refused to discuss it and have only said that "San Fernando is not in JCP's future." The store calls itself "America's" store, Don't the executives sitting in Plano, Texas consider San Fernando part of the American fabric?

After numerous tries, the Mayor spoke to an executive gatekeeper who, she said, was told there was nothing that could be done and San Fernando shoppers "could just go to Northridge."

Well residents would like to tell JCP where they can go if they desert this town. No one likes dented cans in their supermarket and no one likes inferior merchandise that isn't of equal quality. JCP has treated this community with little respect and at the very least should be given the opportunity to be heard.

At Sunday's rally, Residents were clear in saying that they won't go to Northridge or Glendale or any outside location if JCP leaves. They understand the importance of keeping their hard earned dollars here at home and why should they work to benefit a community that already has so much more. "If they leave I'm throwing my JCP credit card away," said a resident. Makes sense.

After all, if they leave in all of their shortsightedness, they've thrown this community away haven't they? The store's founder, James Cash Penney, started the company with a mission to treat the customer "fair and square." There is nothing fair about how JCP has treated our community.