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JCPenney history
JCPenney company history timeline
The so-called “mother store”, in Kemmerer, opened as the chain’s second location in 1904.
1907: James Cash Penney buys out his original partners and assumes sole control of the business.
In 1909, Penney moved his company headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah to be closer to banks and railroads.
1912: With 34 stores, Penney annual sales reach $2 million.
Spółka J. C. Penney Company, Inc. została formalnie założona w 1913 roku, a rok później jej siedziba została przeniesiona z Salt Lake City do Nowego Jorku.
In 1914, Penney relocates the headquarters to New York City in order to be closer to the country’s main garment district.
By 1915 the company had 83 stores and the next year ventured east of the Mississippi River for the first time with stores in Wausau and Watertown, Wisconsin.
Penney became chairman of the board in 1917, when the company had 175 stores, and Earl Sams became president.
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.
1922: Penney operates 371 stores with annual sales of $49 million.
Though he had quietly been giving thousands of dollars to local churches and organizations, in 1923 he founded Penney Farms, a 120,000-acre experimental farming area in northern Florida for down-on-their-luck farmers.
The company opened its 500th store in 1924 in Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penney’s hometown.
In 1925 when the company's 674 stores generated sales of $91 million, Penney was again giving some of his good fortune back, this time by establishing the J.C. Penney Foundation to fund a myriad of family-related agencies.
Even in 1927, when the company ceased operating as a partnership and sold its stock publicly, managers were given stock in the company, and eventually all employees were included in profit-sharing plans.
1927: Penney’s celebrates its 25th anniversary.
In 1929 the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company's profits even increased during the Depression; by 1936 sales rose to $250 million, and the number of stores grew to 1,496.
In 1940, Sam Walton began working at a J. C. Penney in Des Moines, Iowa.
By 1941, J.C. Penney operated 1,600 stores in all 48 states.
1942: James Cash Penney gives a keynote address at the company’s 40th anniversary celebration in Montana.
Materials and merchandise were scarce, yet the company increased its sales to $500 million in 1945.
In 1946 Earl Sams was promoted to chairman, with Penney as honorary chairman, and Albert Hughes, a former Utah store manager, was elevated to the presidency.
The company—now with 1,602 stores—opened a store in Hampton Village, Missouri, in 1949 in a "drive-in shopping district," a precursor to suburban malls.
After only four years as chairman, Earl Sams died in 1950.
1952: Penney’s passes the $1 billion mark in annual sales.
In 1956, J. C. Penney started national advertising with a series of advertisements in Life magazine.
At the same time, William Batten, a vice-president, conducted an internal study in 1957; the results indicated the company should adapt to changing consumer spending habits, especially by beginning to sell on credit instead of for cash only.
J. C. Penney credit cards were first issued in 1959.
The company dedicated its first full-line, shopping center department store in 1961.
Walton later went on to found future retailer Walmart in 1962.
The company opened stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska in 1962.
1962: After several years of study, the J.C. Penney Co. looks to dramatically change its business plan.
1962: Company enters the mail-order business through the purchase of General Merchandise Company.
1963: On August 15, Penney’s opens its first full-line department store, located at the King of Prussia Plaza in suburban Philadelphia.
The Penney Building in Anchorage partially collapsed and was damaged beyond repair in the 1964 Alaska earthquake.
The company needed bigger headquarters because it had grown significantly in 38 years; it built a 45-story office in New York in 1964, where the company stayed until its later move to Dallas.
The company rebuilt the store as a shorter building on a larger footprint, and followed up by building Anchorage’s first public parking garage, which opened in 1968.
1969: Penney’s acquires the Pittsburgh-based Thrift Drug Company and enters the pharmacy business.
1971: Founder James Cash Penney passes away at age 95.
JCPenney reached its peak number of stores in 1973, with 2,053 stores, 300 of which were full-line establishments.
1974: In addition to shopping mall expansions, JCPenney establishes a plan to build smaller retail stores in less urban areas.
Donald Seibert was elected fifth chairman of the board and CEO in 1974, the same year a third catalog distribution center was opened in Columbus, Ohio.
While the company was riding high on these achievements, the recession that began in 1974 took its toll.
The company offered, and sold, three million shares of common stock in 1975, and Sesame Street joined JCPenney's fold by signing an exclusive licensing agreement for children's wear.
Walter Neppl became president in 1976 (Seibert was still chairman), and the company launched its women's fashion program in five markets, designed to help the company compete against specialty stores cropping up in malls.
The stores, located in the Lombardy region, are sold in 1977.
In 1978, the J. C. Penney Historic District in Kemmerer, Wyoming, was designated a United States National Historic Landmark.
In 1979, the Visa card began to be accepted in JCPenney stores.
In 1980, The company closed the Treasury discount stores because they were unprofitable and decided to focus resources on its core retail stores.
1980: Inflation and high interest rates severely impact JCPenney’s earnings.
In 1981, when the company's sales totaled $11.9 billion, JCPenney was the first to sell zero-coupon bonds in domestic public markets.
1982: JCPenney eliminates several departments such as major appliances, paint, hardware, lawn and garden merchandise, and fabrics.
1982: Massive reorganization is launched to transform the company from a mass merchant into a national department store.
In 1983, JCPenney discontinued its hardware and automotive departments, and also sold its auto repair shops to Firestone.
Thrift Drug celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1985; JCPenney's total year-end sales hit $13.6 billion.
By the end of 1986, there were 1,482 JCPenney stores dotting the country, about to undergo a major change.
In April 1987, the company announced that it was moving its headquarters to Dallas, Texas.
Penney’s enters the Belgium market and purchases a sizable interest in the retailer, Sarma, S.A. The company sells the Sarma-Penney firm in 1987.
In 1987 the company discontinued sales of home electronics, hard sporting goods, and photo equipment in its stores.
Penney’s discontinues the line in 1988.
The company also launched a massive leveraged employee stock ownership plan (LESOP) in 1988.
In 1989 JCPenney was named the exclusive United States distributor for Olympic apparel, sold its JCPenney Casualty Insurance Company, and debuted the JCPenney Television Shopping Channel.
In 1990, the company broke ground with the new corporate headquarters in Plano, Texas.
In 1990 Miller retired and Vice-Chairman Gill took on the former's responsibilities as COO of JCPenney stores and catalog service.
Earnings for 1990 fell to $4.33 per share from overall revenue of nearly $17.4 billion, slowed by the uncertainty over the Persian Gulf and the coming recession.
Another proprietary brand, the Original Arizona Jean Company (begun in 1990), soared in earnings to $400 million from the previous year's $90 million.
1990: The Original Arizona Jean Company private brand of clothing is launched.
After relocating to its new headquarters in Plano, the company was rewarded with replenished catalog sales; record performances from JCPenney Insurance and JCPenney National Bank; retail sales of $18 billion; and a net income hike of $777 million with an ROE leap of 18.6 percent over 1991.
To the relief of shareholders and management alike, JCPenney rebounded in 1992 while celebrating its 90th anniversary.
When Sears closed its catalog business in 1993, J. C. Penney became the largest catalog retailer in the United States.
Od 1994 roku siedziba przedsiębiorstwa mieści się w Plano, w Teksasie. (pl)
1994: Women’s Wear Daily names JCPenney as the “Number One Best Store for Women’s Apparel” in the country.
Retail sales increased only 0.9 percent for the year ($20.6 billion vs. $20.4 billion), income fell from 1994's outstanding $1 billion to $838 million, and comparative store sales experienced a 1.4 percent drop.
J.C. Penney opened stores in Mexico and Chile in 1995.
Thrift Drug, the tenth largest drugstore chain in the nation with 645 stores in 12 states, had sales of nearly $1.9 billion in 1995 (a 20.2 percent increase) and plans for new outlets in North Carolina and New Jersey.
1996: Penney acquires the Eckerd Drug Corporation.
1997: Company acquires Eckerd Corporation and its 1,750 drugstores for $3.3 billion.
For the fiscal year ending in January 1998, drugstore revenues totaled $9.66 billion, nearly one-third of overall company revenues.
1998: JCPenney joins the internet shopping era with jcpenney.com.
The company, meantime, expanded overseas in January 1999 through the $139 million purchase of Renner, a 21-unit department store chain in Brazil.
Eckerd was bolstered in March 1999 by the acquisition of the 141-unit New York-based Genovese drugstore chain.
1999: Penney’s performs below expectations at its department store and catalog businesses.
The new leader would be working closely with Vanessa Castagna, who had been hired away from Wal-Mart in 1999 to become chief operating officer of the department store and catalog unit.
1999: Credit card operations are sold to GE Capital for $4 billion.
2000: JCPenney defines its customer as “youthful in attitude though slightly older in age.”
By January 2001, the company had closed 48 underperforming department stores as well as nearly 300 Eckerd outlets.
In early 2001 Questrom announced that an additional 44 department stores and three catalog outlet centers would be closed and about 5,500 jobs would be cut.
With the various charges taken for fiscal 2001, the company reported a net loss of $705 million on sales of $31.85 billion.
2002: Penney celebrates its 100th year.
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 694 locations across 49 United States states and Puerto Rico; as of 2003, Hawaii is the only state where the company is without a presence.
In 2003, the company opened three off-the-mall stores in strip centers.
2004: The company sells its Eckerd Drug division and retires $1.7 billion in long-term debt.
JCPenney sells Renner in 2005.
2006: JCPenney develops a partnership with Sephora to open full cosmetic boutiques within its larger department stores.
In 2007, JCPenney launched the Ambrielle lingerie label, which became their largest private brand launched in the company’s history.
American Living for infant apparel was launched in July 2008.
In the summer of 2008, J. C. Penney also added a new brand to its home collection, “Linden Street.” The Linden Street brand features a contemporary lifestyle collection of furniture, domestics, and home decor.
2009: After 46 years, Penney’s discontinues its popular catalog, along with its large network of Outlet Stores.
In September 2010, JCPenney had joined Facebook to help promote their “Care, Share, Win” campaign.
Its most recent profitable year was 2010, and its net losses have totaled $4.5 billion since then.
On January 24, 2011, JCPenney announced it would exit the catalog business and close all 19 of its catalog outlet stores.
CEO Ron Johnson, who began his tenure in November 2011, tries to develop “America’s favorite store by creating a specialty department store experience.” The executive leadership understands the risks but goes forward with the plan.
W 2011 roku sieć liczyła około 1100 sklepów. (pl)
In June 2012, the company announced that Michael Francis, the company’s president, was leaving the company, after only eight months on the job, effective immediately.
In July 2012, the company announced that it was laying off 350 more workers at its headquarters.
Two years later it launched the American Living brand (discontinued 2012), a line of clothing, accessories, and home decor developed by the American fashion designer Ralph Lauren.
Wooster stated in an interview with Esquire magazine that his influence on the brand would begin with spring menswear available as of February 2013.
Though the catalog had a brief renaissance in 2015, JCPenney's catalog ultimately succumbed fully to the digital age.
2016: JCPenney reports $4.8 billion of long-term highly leveraged debt.
2017: In order to pay off part of its debt load, JCPenney sells its Plano, Texas headquarters campus for $353 million.
"JCPenney is nowhere," Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia Business School, told CNN Business in the summer of 2018. "A retailer who's nowhere is dead because the business is always hyper-competitive and typically a zero-sum game."
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JCPenney competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kohl's | 1962 | $16.2B | 110,000 | 1,545 |
| Dillard's | 1938 | $6.6B | 40,000 | 16 |
| Walmart | 1962 | $681.0B | 2,300,000 | 40,719 |
| Target | 1902 | $106.6B | 409,000 | 10,841 |
| Macy's | 1929 | $23.0B | 130,000 | 2,114 |
| Kmart | 1899 | $25.1B | 1,500 | - |
| Sears Holdings | 2005 | $1.4B | 85,000 | 443 |
| Nordstrom | 1901 | $15.0B | 74,000 | 1,373 |
| Lowe's Companies | 1946 | $83.7B | 300,000 | 8,050 |
| Burlington | 1972 | $10.6B | 40,000 | 5,050 |
JCPenney history FAQs
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JCPenney may also be known as or be related to J C Penney Company Inc, J. C. Penney, J. C. Penney Company, Inc., JC Penney Co, JCPenney, Jcpenney, Penney OpCo LLC, THE JCPENNEY FOUNDATION, Jc'Penny and J'c Penny.