Amazon reportedly looking to take over Sears, JCPenney stores as mall fulfillment centers

SAN FRANCISCO -- Amazon is reportedly in talks to transform shuttered Sears and JCPenney stores into fulfillment centers.

The online delivery giant is working with Simon Property Group, the largest shopping mall operator in the United States, to transform current or former JCPenney and Sears department stores into new fulfillment centers for the company.

Both retail chains have filed for bankruptcy and are closing hundreds of U.S. stores.

Amazon said the centers could solve one of the company's biggest hurdles to its delivery model: how to get parcels the last mile to customer's homes.

RELATED: JC Penney files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Both Sears and JC Penney have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and were already gutted by the drastic shift to online shopping.