But he now had the time to serve in broader ways. He told the Associated Press, at age 85, I know the secret of the J.C. Penney stores success was the Golden Rule. When he followed the Golden Rule, things went well; when I became neglectful, I got in trouble. He died on February 12, 1971, at the age of 95, as the founder of the nations second-largest department store behind Sears. J. C. Penney was a successful retail businessman from Missouri. Penneys business philosophy was simple find good employees, train them well, and sell quality goods at a small markup in order to keep prices down. Self is forgotten by the one who serves, for such a one rejoices to see success coming to others through his or her efforts. Web. [citation needed], In 1953 the Springfield (MO) Chamber of Commerce presented Penney with a "Ozark Hillbilly Medallion" and a certificate proclaiming him a "hillbilly of the Ozarks. Unlike other retail chains, he never bonded his managers to insure against theft and embezzlement. With an international scope, Acton manages a robust publishing and events outreach that argues for a moral foundation to the market economy. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. C. Penney under The Golden Rule. By 1919 it was determined that all stores should go by the new common name of J. C. Penney. J. C. Penney's father was a farmer and unpaid Baptist minister who taught his children to believe in the Golden Rule -- "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you . After a career full of turbulence, James became manager of a Golden Rule s tore in Evanston, Wyoming. The J.C. Penney Company still maintains a store on the Triangle in downtown Kemmerer. In 1902, its first year, the store cleared $8,000 on sales of more than $28,000. She had survived a failed marriage, but Jim married the divorcee he loved even knowing others might not approve. In both World Wars, employees who had gone to war continued to receive partial salaries from the company. Website for the city of Kemmerer, Wyoming. You miss the mark unless you call to the attention of every man or woman that comes into the store that many (of our) lines have been priced lower than they have ever been, he wrote. 2 Recreation Board, Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West, http://www.jcpenney.net/about/jcp/jcphistory/default.aspx, http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/dyn&CISOPTR=65&CISOBOX=1&REC=5, http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/smu/00012/smu-00012.html, http://ahc.uwyo.edu/eduoutreach/citizen/penney.htm, http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10617FA3A5F0C7A8DDDAA0894DA494D81&scp=12&sq=%22James%20Cash%20Penney%22&st=cse, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/snapshots/2255.html, Green River Historic Preservation Commission, Natrona County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Natrona County Recreation Joint Powers Board, Sublette County Historical Preservation Board, University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, The JC Penney Co. corporate history website. Originally called The Golden Rule, the store sought to "treat others as we would like to be treated." Starting with his first store initially called the Golden Rule Stores in 1902, there are now over 1000 JCPenney department stores across the United States and Puerto Rico. New York: Harper Bros, 1950. By 1932, he ended up in a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he had a mystical experience. how did james cash penney achieve his goals why did blamire leave summer? France And above all else, cooperatingwith headquarters, with the other Golden Rule Stores, and within their own communities. With letters of recommendation in hand, the young man headed west toward the Rockies in the summer of 1897. However, the date of retrieval is often important. As each new store opened, Penney offered a profit-sharing plan to its manager. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. James Cash Penney Jr. (September 16, 1875 February 12, 1971) was an American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the JCPenney stores in 1902. His estate was valued at approximately $35million.[17]. Portland, Oregon 97202 The first store, named The Golden Rule, set the standard by which we have operated for over a century to treat others as we would like to be treated. Ellison provided his employees the tools to change and set goals for them. Penney was a member of two professional collegiate fraternities: Alpha Gamma Rho for agriculture and Alpha Kappa Psi for business. It also began to enter Midwestern and Eastern markets. He suggested Jim move west where the air was clearer and drier. It was not uncommon at that time for managers to earn $3050,000, ten to fifteen times the average American family wage. The following years store openings indicate how many good men Penney had found, trained, nourished, and (like his mentors) financed into partnerships: Opening eight stores in 1910 and eight in 1911 was exceeded by twelve openings of 1912. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Johnson, Callahan, and Penney opened a store in another mining town, Cumberland, Wyoming, around the first of 1905. He spent long hours again doing whatever it took. He was endlessly curious and an outstanding salesman. Madame CJ Walker was an early entrepreneur in the beauty industry that today garners billions of dollars . They travelled the world with their now five children of diverse ages. Penneys success made him a national figure, whose business philosophy and methods provided a model for others to follow. JC Penney was founded in Wyoming by James Cash Penney in 1902. Jim wasnt happy, but went along with his fathers wishes. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. In 1922, the company's oldest active private brand, Big Mac work clothes, was launched. Charlotte, North Carolina 28217 Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). She was one of the first self-made African-American millionaires. Kruger, David D., "James Cash Penney: The Impact of a Main Street Merchant on Oklahoma,", This page was last edited on 18 January 2023, at 22:28. lynn ann searcy. In truth, he did not want to go into as much debt to the senior partners as would have been required to finance a big store in Ogden. Working in the Callahan store, Penney began to dream of operating his own chain of stores, based on the idea of having partner-owners who would share in all the profits. It is reported that he had tithed up to 30% and at the end of his life he was tithing 90% - but no records of this. [3], Penney was married three times. He wanted to attend college from a young age to become a lawyer. He increasingly realized that he wanted to own his own store. The senior partners then offered him a one-third interest in the nearby Rock Springs store if he would oversee it as well. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. In 1916, he began to expand the chain east of the Mississippi and during the 1920s, the Penney company expanded nationwide, with 120 stores in 1920 (mostly still in the west). ", In later life Penney, who now had the financial means to do what he pleased, operated cattle farms, became involved with charitable and religious endeavors, and pursued frequent public speaking engagements. . More Ups and Downs. Typically, the tenure of a top corporate official is short; Penney was at the top of his company for more than four decades. James Cash Penney, Jr., was born September 16, 1875, near Hamilton, Missouri, to the Reverend James C. Penney and his wife, Fanny. J.C. Penney. The 5 Big Mistakes That Led to Ron Johnson's Ouster at JC Penney. Penney took to this new line of work, and began to set aside money to start a business of his own. Still, each manager decided what was carried in his store because he knew his customers and decided how to price each item for his market and his competition. But the elder Penney also ran a 390-acre farm where the family raised both cattle and crops. jos a bank tailored fit vs traditional fit pants. The railroad needed coal, the coal mines needed miners, and the miners and their families needed dry goods. Regardless of what may befall J.C. Penney in the years to come, the fact that the . Jims $3,750 one-third share of the 1904 $11,250 profit is equivalent to about $102,000 today, not including his managers salary. He often visited his birthplace, Hamilton, Missouri, where he helped build the school and library. It does not store any personal data. This article was based in large part onCreating An American Institution: The Merchandising Genius of J.C. Penney, by Mary Elizabeth Curry. From inauspicious beginnings rose one of the great entrepreneurs in American history, a man with unusual dedication and exceptionally high ideals. It read: Serve the publicto its ultimate satisfaction.. (704) 377-4251 Less than 5% of applicants made the grade. Updated February 2023. Download free, high-quality (4K) pictures and wallpapers featuring James Cash Penney Quotes. In a land far from home, he was on the street, alone. He died on February 12, 1971, at the age of 95, as the founder of the nation's second-largest department store behind Sears. His $3 million life insurance policy was reportedly smaller than only those ofmovie mogul Adolph Zukor,retail kingpin Rodman Wanamaker, andchemical and auto leader Pierre Du Pont. Offering a wide variety of relatively inexpensive general merchandise, J.C. Penney stores appeared in every state in the United States. It took years to rebuild his fortune. He sold the Miami mansion. The younger Penney came to a turning point in 1898, when he opened a butcher shop in Colorado. Public Company Callahan and Johnson had previously promoted store managers to partners, and implied to Jim that the same might happen to him if he performed. Later, the entrepreneurial young man sold watermelons outside the gates of the local fair. Penney first stopped in Longmont, Colo., where he opened a butcher shop in 1898. Either case is a failure of leadership. Penneys store was successful because his customers liked the merchandise and good service. The next year, Jim earned $200, and $300 in his third yeara luxurious $25 per month. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He became enthusiastic about the future of Florida and invested heavily in real estate there. Previously, he worked for LifeSiteNews andFrontPageMag.com, where he wrote three books includingParty of Defeat (with David Horowitz, 2008). In 1913, The Penney Idea was drafted, outlining Penneys business values and principles. He continued to serve on Penneys corporate board until his death at age 95 in 1971. J. C. Penney personally interviewed five thousand men in one year. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Frequent national and regional conventions of managers were held, with Penney and other leaders speaking at every opportunity. His personal websites aretherightswriter.comandRevBenJohnson.com. how did james cash penney achieve his goals. 7 How did James Cash Penney manage his business? "Profits must come through public confidence, and public confidence is given to . Each store became a mother store to others. Penney's childhood and early adult life appeared quite ordinary. Madame CJ Walker was the first member of her formerly enslaved family to be born a free person. His work ethic caught the eye of the chains owners, who dispatched him to manage their Evanston, Wyo., store in 1899. He almost turned to drink, but his strong faith enabled him to resist. Since then, the retailer has already closed more than 150 locations. It has been a monument to one of the great merchants of American history, and may continue to be so. 1977: This is JCPenney becomes the company slogan. James Cash Penney graduated from Hamilton High School in 1893 . As a result of the stores success, the Callahans lived in one of the nicest homes in town. He received many awards during his life and was involved in the founding of the University of Miami. . James Cash Penney Jr. was born on a farm near Hamilton, Missouri, on September 16, 1875. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. His father, a farmer, served as an unpaid preacher for a fundamentalist sect known as Primitive Baptists. The volunteers donate more than 150 hours per month of their time. Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton put a copy of Penneys motto above his desk. Copyright by Archbridge Institute. After hearing the hymn "God Will Take Care of You" (written by Civilla Durfee Martin) being sung at a service in the hospital's chapel, he became a born-again Christian. The basic biography of Penney isMain Street Merchant: The Story of the J.C. Penney Company, by Norman Beasley. His views are his own. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/penney-james-cash, "Penney, James Cash Penney was born in 1875 on a farm near Hamilton,. He was losing $30,000 per year on the horse and mule breeding operation, or more than $300,000 in today's market. James Cash Penney started his first retail store in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming, a small mining town. All employees took part in profit-sharing. Minneapolis, MN: TS Dennison, 1963. the ethical means by which my business associates and i have made money is more important than the fact that we have achieved business success. In May 2020, the J.C. Penney chain announced it would close nearly one-third of its remaining 846 stores after filing for bankruptcy. J. C. Penney, as he was now more often called than Jim, had no limits on his ambitions. Visit Business Insiders homepage for more stories. J.C. Penney had his chain of department stores on auto-pilot and cash-flowing nicely during the boom of the Roaring 20's. It was the quintessential American dream fulfilled. Another aspect of J. C. Penney himself was his ability to trust men, and to delegate. ." In 1902, he started the J.C. Penney Store. Post-acquisition, the new owners plan to close nearly a third of all remaining JCPenney stores in the next two years. . Despite miners often being paid in scrip that could be spent at mining company stores, The Golden Rule only sold for cash, rare for the time. When Sams arrived in town for a final interview, some locals told him Penney was an honest man but a hard man to work for. Penney and his partners dreamed of a thousand stores (achieved in 1928). J. C. Penney had to give up on his Florida farming dreams. U.S.A. His column in the May 1932 edition of the company newsletter chastised managers for failing to sell goods that had languished on store shelves for a year or longer. In 1971, when James Cash Penney died at age ninety-five, the annual sales of the J. C. Penney company were $16 billion, second only among non-food retailers to then giant Sears, Roebuck. The first store, named The Golden Rule, set the standard by which we have operated for over a century to treat others as we would like to be treated. The company opened its 500th store in 1924 in Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penney's hometown. Web site: http://www.belk., Dillard Department Stores Inc In 1907, looking for a man (they were all men back in those days) to work in the Cumberland store, Penney had an interesting and extensive correspondence with Earl Sams from Kansas. (February 23, 2023). After opening his first store for business in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyo., J.C. Penney tallied first day's sales of $33.41. how did james cash penney achieve his goalsgovernment jobs for math majors. Penney was involved with the founding of the University of Miami and served on its Board of Trustees from 1926 to 1930. James Cash Penney was wise when he preferred the idea of opening a store in Kemmererm, Wyoming because he knew that it was a small town with about 1,000 residents. One night, as a hymn wafted out of the hospital chapel, he cried out, Lord, will you take care of me? The company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company. In 1926, Penney founded a retirement community in Northeast Florida for retired ministers, in honor of his father. Fax: (801) 961-5574 In the first year (1902), the store did almost $29,000 in sales, and made a profit of $8,500. Initially, all managers were partners and, after he went public, managers received company stock. In the fall of 1901, the two partners told Jim they wanted to open a new store in huge Ogden, Utah (population 20,000). He was 26 years old and had grown up on a farm near Hamilton, Missouri. Accessed March 30, 2011 through Texas Archival Resources Online at, Biography of James Cash Penney. Fifty Years With The Golden Rule. For J.C. Penney, Poor Results Are Better than Abysmal Results. Five years later Penney bought out his partners shares and launched the beginning of what became the J.C. Penney Co. As each new store opened, Penney offered a profit-sharing plan to its manager. The man who sold him the butcher shop said he could hold onto this key customer as long as he bought the hotel manager a bottle of whiskey each week. 75009 Paris James Cash Penney was the founder of JCPenney, and he has a name thats, well, rich with money and deal references. The main customer was a local hotel. Penney Remained Involved in the Stores JCPenney is starting the new year with a post-Chapter 11 restart, new owners, new financing and soon will have a new CEO. By the time he died, Americans had landed on the moon. ." In 1927, Penney predicted the company might someday reach sales of a billion dollarsa goal which was achieved just twenty-four years later, in 1951. James Cash Penney, Jr., was born September 16, 1875, near Hamilton, Missouri, to the Reverend James C. Penney and his wife, Fanny. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. His mother was a woman with a vibrant Christian faith and a descendant of a genteel southern family. Heres the story of the department stores fall from grace. 9. . By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. And by 1924, the number of stores reached 1,400. In addition, Penney was personally liable when a Florida bank, where he served as board chairman, failed in 1930; he paid several million dollars to cover losses by bank depositors. The Reverend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale delivered the eulogy at the funeral. Tebeau, Charlton W. The University of Miami. Fax: (503) 233-4535 He brought in good men willing to work from all over the United States, and funded everything. The American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. When he was between eight and ten years old, Reverend Penney told young Jim that he needed to earn money to contribute to the familys limited coffers. In September 2020, JCPenney was acquired by Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management in a cash and debt deal worth around $800 million. Public Company Penney.". There he also founded Foremost Dairies to try more scientific methods of dairy farming. See also: Chain Store, Mail-Order House, Retail Industry. How did James Cash Penney achieve his goals? Mr. Penney, who died at the age of 95 on Feb. After nearly 120 years in business, JCPenney filed for bankruptcy on May 15, 2020. J. C. Penney had a somewhat unusual attitude toward competition. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Not far from the butcher shop was the busy Golden Rule Store, owned by fellow Missourians Tom and Alice Callahan. By 1903 Jim was also participating in buying trips, introduced by his partners to their many Eastern suppliers. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. Curry, Mary E. Creating an American Institution: The Merchandising Genius of J.C. Penney. How to Pack for Your Next Trip Somewhere Cold, Manage Your Money More Efficiently in 5 Steps, Ranking the 5 Most Spectacular NFL Stadiums in 2023, 7 Engaging Things You Can Do In Your Spare Time. Callahan and Johnson offered to loan him the balance of $1,500 in order to buy his one-third ($2,000) share of the $6,000 investment required, at 8% interest. When the senior clerk came back to work, Tom Callahan kept Jim on. After his death, the company settled in suburban Dallas. But this was just the beginning. But he wrote a hometown Missouri bank and got the same loan at 6%. Solano Verde Water District. (192468), American retail company, founded in 1902 by James Cash Penney and today engaged in marketing apparel, home furnishings, jewelry, cosmetics, and cookware. Mary gave birth to their son before her death of unspecified medical issues:[3], In 1926, Penney married Caroline Marie Autenrieth (18951992). Jim could not tolerate the unfair practice and immediately quit. He returned to Kemmerer each year to honor his and the companys humble beginnings. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. When the straitlaced Penney refused to give liquor to the hotel cook in return for his trade, the butcher shop failed. Today, the company operates fewer stores about 1,100 but they tend to be much larger than the old Main Street outlets. But most of the buyers and all the key executives were former store managers or had store experience. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. In the 1920s, the company acquired most of the old Golden Rule Stores, even including Tom Callahans mothers store in Chillicothe, Illinois. Penney moved to Colorado for health reasons and his life changed. Penney's childhood and early adult life appeared quite ordinary. Penneys success made him a national figure, whose business philosophy and methods provided a model for others to follow. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Penney was raised in Missouri by a father who doubled as a preacher and a farmer. To earn money he purchased a pig, fattened it, and sold it for a profit, then bought others. Active listening has countless benefits when it comes to employee productivity. By age eight James Penney was forced to earn money to buy his own clothes. Encyclopedia of World Biography. we achieve what we get ready . By selling dry goods, notions, shoes, and clothing at fair prices, the Callahans Golden Rule Store in Longmont had prospered. The Acton Institutes international events calendar includes public lectures, academic seminars, joint participation in panels, and the annual Acton University conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.