Two of America’s most iconic department store chains, JC Penney and Macy’s, have separately announced that they are to close stores and cut jobs.

JC Penney has said that it will be closing approximately 40 stores by April 4th, with the loss of 2,250 jobs. The news comes a year after the company announced its previous restructuring which saw the closure of 33 stores and 2,000 job losses.

Despite reporting a 3.7% increase in same-store sales for the last two months of 2014, the company has been hit by the growth in online shopping, as has Macy’s which has announced the closure of 14 stores in the next few months, which is expected to hit 1,300 jobs as part of a new restructuring plan which the company says will save it $140m (£93m) a year. In 2014, Macy’s cut 2,500 jobs and shut five stores.