JC Penney, the mainstream US department store, has become the country’s first leading retailer to scale back capital expenditure and store opening plans for 2009 because of pessimism over the outlook for the economy.

The retailer, which targets a quintessentially middle-American customer at more than 1,000 stores, said on Wednesday it had decided to cut its capital spending next year to about $650m, below the $1bn planned for this year and almost half the $1.2bn spent last year.