JCPenney

J.C. Penney Company, Inc.

File:JCPenneyLogo.png
Company type	Public (NYSE: JCP)
Industry	Retail
Founded	1902 (Kemmerer, Wyoming)
Headquarters	Plano, Texas, USA
Key people	James Cash Penney, Founder Mike E. Ullman, Chairman & CEO
Products	Clothing, footwear, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics and housewares.
Revenue	US$18.781 billion
Website	www.jcpenney.com

This article is about the department store chain. For its founder, see James Cash Penney.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc [1](NYSE: JCP; most commonly known today by the name JCPenney or simply Penney's) is a mid-range chain of American department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The company operates 1,050 stores in all the U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Until 2004, J.C. Penney also operated Eckerd Drugs and fifty department stores in Central and South America.

In addition to sale of conventional merchandise, J.C. Penney is also home to several leased departments such as Optical, Portrait Studios, Jewelry & Watch repair, etc.

History

The Golden Rule

J.C. Penney was founded in 1902 by James Cash Penney and William Henry McManus. The original name for the store that started J.C. Penney in the dry goods business was The Golden Rule, but was changed to J.C. Penney in 1913 when Penney accepted a majority ownership of the chain, William McManus still being a partner. The mother store is located in Kemmerer, Wyoming and still operates as of 2007.

J.C. Penney Company

The exterior of a typical J.C. Penney department store in the Aventura Mall in Aventura, Florida.

In 1909, J.C. Penney relocated the headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah to be closer to banks and railroads and again in 1914 to Buffalo to simplify the buying, financing, and transportation of goods. By 1917, the company operated 175 stores in 22 states in the United States. In 1920, J.C. Penney acquired The Crescent Corset Company, the company's first wholly owned subsidiary. In 1922, the company's oldest active private brand, Big Mac work clothes, was launched. In 1924, the company opened its 500th store in Hamilton, Missouri. In 1928, the company opened its 1,000th store in Beloit, Kansas. In 1940, future billionaire and founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton, began working at J.C. Penney's Des Moines, Iowa store. Sam Walton later went on to found future retail giant Wal-Mart in 1962. By 1941, the company operated 1,600 stores in all 48 states. In 1956, J.C. Penney started nationally advertising its store with a series of advertisements in Life Magazine. In 1959, J.C. Penney credit cards were issued and accepted at its stores.

The Treasury, Catalog, and Full-line stores

In 1962, J.C. Penney entered discount merchandising with the acquision of General Merchandise Company which gave them The Treasury. J.C. Penney closed the money losing discount stores in 1981. In 1963, J.C. Penney issued its first catalog. The company operated in-store catalog desks in eight states. The catalogs were distributed by the Milwaukee Catalog distribution center. J.C. Penney also opened its first full-line department stores in 1963. Those stores were located in Audubon, New Jersey and King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Those two stores broaden the lines of merchandise and services that a typical JCPenney carries to include appliances, sporting goods, garden merchandise, restaurants, beauty salons, portrait studios, auto parts and auto centers. In 1966, J.C. Penney finished off the country's 50 states with the opening of its Honolulu, Hawaii store.

1969-1979

File:Penneys logo.PNG

Penneys logo used in the 60s until 1971.

In 1969, the company acquired Thrift Drug, a chain of drugstores headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It also acquired Supermarkets Interstate, an Omaha-based food retailer which operated leased departments in J.C. Penney stores, The Treasury stores, and Thrift Drug stores. On February 12, 1971, James Cash Penney died at the age of 95. In respect of James Cash's death the company's stores were closed for half a day. In 1971, the company adopted the famous JCPenney logo which is still in use today. In 1977, J.C. Penney sold its stores in Italy to La Rinascente and also removed its Supermarkets Interstate leased departments. In 1979, the Visa card began to be accepted in J.C. Penney stores. The MasterCard was accepted the following year.

1984-1997

In 1984, J.C. Penney acquired the First National Bank of Harrington, Delaware and renamed it JCPenney National Bank. With the bank the company became able to issue its own MasterCard and Visa cards. The company also began accepting American Express cards. In 1987, the company headquarters were relocated again, to Dallas, Texas. After several years of development, the JCPenney Television Shopping Channel appeared on cable systems beginning in 1989. In 1990, the company broke ground on the company's new corporate headquarters in Plano, Texas. It was completed in 1992. In 1993, when Sears closed its catalog business, JCPenney became the largest catalog retailer in the United States. In 1996, the company expanded its drug store business with the acquisition of Fay's Drug and Kerr Drug. These acquisitions momentum climaxed with acquisition of the Eckerd chain in November. Fay, Kerr, and Eckerd merged into J.C. Penney's drug store subsidiary Thrift Drug. Fay, Kerr, and Thrift drug stores were re-branded Eckerd in 1997.

1998-2005

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J.C. Penney logo used from 1999 to 2007

In 1998, J.C. Penney launched its third channel for shopping convenience. Its Internet store has grown into one of the largest apparel and home furnishings retail sites on the Internet. Among its general merchandise peers, the on-line store has the highest rate (10.1%) of converting site visitors into buyers. On April 14, 2002, J.C. Penney celebrated 100 years as a retailer. In 2003, J.C. Penney opened three free-standing stores in strip centers. These stores were located in Texas, Minnesota, and Indiana. The company added 14 more stores in 2004. In 2004, the company exited the drug store division after 35 years with the sale of its Eckerd division. In 2005, J.C. Penney's e-commerce storefront exceeded the one billion dollar revenue mark for the first time.

Today

Today, most J.C. Penney stores are located in suburban shopping malls. Previously, most stores were located in downtown areas. As shopping malls became more popular in the latter half of the 20th century, J.C. Penney relocated its stores to shopping malls. However, in recent years, the chain has been following a retailing trend in opening some standalone stores. The company is an Internet retailer and has undergone significant institutional changes to compete in the ever changing retail landscape. Increased competition from big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target have forced J.C. Penney to focus on private brands such as St. John's Bay, Worthington, and Arizona Jean Company. It has streamlined its catalog and distribution while undergoing renovation improvements at store level.

In 2007, J.C. Penney launched Ambrielle lingerie label, and became their biggest private brand launched in J.C. Penney history. Also a re-introduction of cosmetics included the installation of Sephora inside JCPenney located in some key stores. Beginning in 2007 the store slogan changed from "It's All Inside" to "Every Day Matters"

Controversy

J.C. Penney found itself the focus of a boycott by gay rights groups when the company pulled advertising from the sitcom Ellen in 1997, which it deemed "controversial." [2] The company was not the only one to pull ads; other companies included Wendy's, General Motors, Chrysler, and Johnson & Johnson.

Fiction

A J.C. Penney location appears on the movie Back to the Future, when Dr. Emmett Brown shows Marty his experiments with the De Lorean time machine, at the Twin Pines Mall.

A J.C. Penney store is also seen in the movie The Blues Brothers when Jake and Elwood get chased by the police through Dixie Square Mall.

Slogans

Here are a few of JCPenney's slogans from the past and present.

• A Nationwide Institution (1920's)
• Always First Quality
• We Know What You're Looking For
• Where Fashion Comes to Life
• Doing It Right
• I Love Your Style
• It's All Inside
• Every Day Matters (present)

External links

• J.C. Penney Official Website
• Yahoo! - J.C. Penney Company, Inc. Company Profile