JC Penny

As one of the nation’s largest retailers of apparel, home, jewelry, and beauty merchandise, JCPenney has a portfolio of private and national brands of remarkable quality and exceptional value. Many of our private brands like Liz Claiborne®, Stafford®, okie dokie™, and Worthington™ are so well known that customers don’t realize they are exclusive to JCPenney! JCPenney has a long history of building brands and consistently developing and introducing exciting new products and brands to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers and their families. Check out what’s New & Wow!, featuring the latest brands, products, and styles from JCPenney. Penney OpCo, LLC (formerly known as J. C. Penney Company, Inc), doing business as JCPenney and abbreviated JCP, is an American department store chain with 670 locations in 49 U.S. states (all except Hawaii) and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Womens, Mens, Kids, Home, Fine Jewelry, Shoes, Lingerie, The Salon by InStyle, and Sephora inside JCPenney, as well as several leased departments such as Seattle’s Best Coffee, US Vision optical centers, and Lifetouch portrait studios. Most JCPenney stores were initially located in downtown areas, but as shopping malls grew in popularity during the 1960s, the chain began relocating and developing stores to anchor the malls. In recent years, JCP has opened stores in power centers, as well as stand-alone stores, sometimes adjacent to competitors. The company has been an Internet retailer since 1998 and has streamlined its catalog and distribution while undergoing renovation improvements at store level.

First Half of Twentieth Century

James Cash Penney was born in Hamilton, Missouri. After graduating from high school, Penney worked for a local retailer. He relocated to Colorado at the advice of a doctor, hoping that a better climate would improve his health. In 1898, Penney went to work for Thomas Callahan and Guy Johnson, who owned dry goods stores called Golden Rule stores in Colorado and Wyoming. In 1899, Callahan sent Penney to Evanston, Wyoming, to work with Johnson in another Golden Rule store.^[15] Callahan and Johnson asked Penney to join them in opening a new Golden Rule store. Using money from savings and a loan, Penney joined the partnership and moved with his wife and infant son to Kemmerer, Wyoming, to start his own store. Penney opened the store on April 14, 1902. He participated in the creation of two more stores and purchased full interest in all three locations when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907. In 1909, Penney moved his company headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah to be closer to banks and railroads. By 1912, Penney had 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States. In 1913, all stores were consolidated under the J. C. Penney banner. The so-called “mother store”, in Kemmerer, opened as the chain’s second location in 1904. It still operates, as of 2018, albeit with shorter hours than many other locations, and is closed on Sundays.

J.C. Penny Company

In 1913, the company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company, with William Henry McManus as a co-founder. In 1914, the headquarters was moved to New York City to simplify buying, financing, and transportation of goods. By 1917, the company operated 175 stores in 22 states in the United States. J. C. Penney acquired The Crescent Corset Company in 1920, the company’s first wholly owned subsidiary. In 1922, the company’s oldest active private brand, Big Mac work clothes, was launched. The company opened its 500th store in 1924 in Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penney’s hometown. By the opening of the 1,000th store in 1928, gross business had reached $190 million (equivalent to $2.86 billion in 2022). In 1940, Sam Walton began working at a J. C. Penney in Des Moines, Iowa. Walton later went on to found future retailer Walmart in 1962. By 1941, J. C. Penney operated 1,600 stores in all 48 states. In 1956, J. C. Penney started national advertising with a series of advertisements in Life magazine. J. C. Penney credit cards were first issued in 1959.