Can this former Apple executive put a shine on JCPenney?

The genius behind the genius bar at Apple is now reimagining JCPenney's 1,100 stores. Penney CEO Ron Johnson, who made it more attractive to go to Apple stores than shop elsewhere, wants to do the same for the 110-year-old retailer. To do so he is creating stores-within-a-store and a "town square" where shoppers can hang out—just like they do at Apple. He's also enlisting the help of such A-listers as Martha Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres and designer Nanette Lepore. Johnson described his plan as the six P's: Price, Personality, Product, Promotion, Place and Presentation. While there are no iProducts on the list, some of JCPenney's branded goods have topped Consumer Reports' Ratings.

The transformation begins on Feb. 1 but you may have already seen the JCPenney TV ad in which shoppers bemoan the confusing and overwhelming number of promotions and markdowns that were the hallmark of JCPenney. Now the retailer will offer three kinds of pricing: everyday, monthly specials and clearance. And instead of sending out multiple flyers, they will send out one catalog a month. Sounds like everything old is new again.

"We will transform each and every JCPenney store over the next four years with a month-by-month, shop-by-shop roll-out of exciting new merchandise initiatives," said Johnson in a press release. DeGeneres has been chosen as the retailer's spokeswoman and Lepore and Stewart will have stores within the store. That is unless Macy's wins its suit to block Stewart from carrying out her partnership with JCPenney. Macy's also sells Stewart-branded products.

At Consumer Reports, JCPenney's Cooks 780-2403 Energy-Saving drip coffeemaker ($50) tops our Ratings due to its excellent brewing performance. We also liked its convenience and carafe handling. Cooks 10-Speed HM820 hand mixer ($30) is a CR Best Buy. It was excellent at whipping cream and meringue and at mixing cookie dough but noisier than others in our tests. Cooks Commercial SM248 stand mixer ($150) didn't score quite as well as some of the others in our labs but we liked its kneading, whipping and mixing ability.

JCPenney also fares well in our upcoming report on where to shop, which will be online and on newsstands early next month. Consumer Reports' subscribers praised the quality of the merchandise and said they liked to shop at JCPenney because of its convenient locations.

—Mary H.J. Farrell