The midrange department store, once the mainstay of the American retail landscape, has been all but done in by discounters, big-box category killers, and the upscaling of middle-class consumer tastes. Yet the J.C. Penney Company has not only survived, but thrived, in this competitive marketplace while remaining true to its commitment to providing good merchandise at affordable prices.
For nearly 110 years, JCPenney has stayed true to its founder's original business principle: Treat others as you would want to be treated. In fact, the name James Cash Penney chose for his original dry goods store in Kemmerer, Wyoming, reflected that principle - the Golden Rule Store.
At the outset, the Golden Rule Stores spread across the small towns of the intermountain West, offering farmers and miners work clothes, shoes, fabrics and sewing materials. In 1907, five years after his first store opened, Penney bought out the interests of his original business partners, Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan, and in 1909, he moved the company headquarters to Salt Lake City to be closer to banks and railroads. Four years later, he incorporated the company under its present name, and in 1914, moved its headquarters to New York to be closer to its principal suppliers of merchandise.
By then, the company had 34 stores throughout the Rocky Mountain states. It would grow rapidly over the following decades, expanding to 175 stores in 22 states by 1917 and opening its 500th store in Penney's hometown of Hamilton, Missouri, in 1924. By the time it had doubled in size to 1,000 stores in 1928, it rang up sales of $190 million a year and had truly become, as one of its early logos read, "A National Institution."
Like rivals Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward, Penney initially focused on furnishing good value to rural and small-town America, but unlike them, he did so at the direct retail level, with stores in hundreds of smaller communities like Kammerer and Hamilton; the first JCPenney catalog would not appear until 1963. At its peak store count, there were more than 2,000 J.C. Penney stores on Main Streets and in downtowns across America.
As the country changed after World War II, Penney changed with it, following its customers into the suburbs and opening anchor stores in shopping malls. The stores on small-town Main Streets gradually vanished, with catalog order centers taking their place. And like all of its competitors except Sears, J.C. Penney gradually shed product lines such as appliances and furniture to focus on apparel, accessories, home electronics and housewares.
Since the 1980s, JCPenney has established a solid position among America's largest retailers by offering customers high style at attractive prices through a mix of nationally known designer labels and private brands. And it continues to honor the legacy of its founder to this day: among its 1,108 stores in all 50 states and Puerto Rico is the "Mother Store" at 722 J.C. Penney Drive in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
By Sandy Smith
Sandy Smith has been blogging for RetailGigs.com since 2010. In addition to launching award-winning newspapers and newsletters at the University of Pennsylvania and Widener University, Sandy is a veteran writer whose articles and essays have appeared in several local and regional media outlets, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia CityPaper, and PGN, and on several Web sites. He is also an active participant on several discussion boards, including PhiladelphiaSpeaks.com, where he posts as “MarketStEl.” He has been supporting himself through a combination of freelance and part-time work and unemployment compensation since early 2009 and is himself an active job-seeker. Read more of his posts on RetailGigsBlog.com and follow him to Nexxt for more job opportunities.
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