Sephora and J.C. Penney in deal dispute

Sephora is trying to undo a temporary restraining order that keeps it locked into an agreement with J.C. Penney for operating mini-stores. Sephora has told a Texas federal court that the order was procured by "improper means" based on a "fanciful, one-sided narrative."

Yesterday, a Texas federal court judge set a Friday hearing for Sephora's emergency motion to dissolve the restraining order. J.C. Penney got the order in a dispute between the two retailers regarding employee furloughs and reopening due to coronavirus. A district court judge issued the order on April 27 before the case moved to federal court on Monday. Sephora is currently unable to pull out of a long-term agreement to operate shop-in-shops inside of J.C. Penney locations.

Sephora said the motion J.C. Penney filed made misrepresentations and left no room for the former to refute the claims. Sephora said they received no notice that J.C. Penney would be taking any form of legal action against them.

J.C. Penney is trying to bar Sephora from ending a 16-year agreement where J.C. Penney operates 600 Sephora shop-in-shops within their locations. J.C. Penney said Sephora tried to pull out of their agreement after J.C. Penney tried to furlough their employees. The retailer also said Sephora refused to use a specific cleaning spray at the shop-in-shops for ropened stores now that lockdowns are being lifted.

Sephora says that J.C. Penney is actually the one who breached their agreement, causing them to want to pull out of their 16-year contract. Sephora had initially expressed a desire to end or shorten their long-term agreement with J.C. Penney due to sales lump and financial challenges expected from coronavirus, and J.C. Penney says that Sephora didn't go through the proper motions to proceed with ending this agreement. Sephora said they made no formal moves to end the agreement and just merely expressed an interest in discussing with J.C. Penney how to proceed with shortening or ending their agreement.

For those fans of Sephora at J.C. Penney, hopefully there is a Sephora nearby, because however this agreement goes, it doesn't look like Sephora will be calling J.C. Penney a second home much longer. It's likely the end of an era.

photo: via Businesswire