Madam Walker shocked the participants when she walked up and claimed the podium from moderator Booker T. Washington: Surely you are not going to shut the door in my face. Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. In a 25-by-140 foot section of the first floor, Penney developed and refined the merchandising ideas that led to the growth of his successful chain of stores. Some students can conduct interviews with the owners and workers of the business and with customers. Now as you go forward tomorrow serving our customers, and the opportunity presents itself, tell them what I have said and tell them in such a way that they will understand we have opened a new kind of store, planned and designed to render service unprecedented in the history of merchandising. When the day of modern shopping centers arrived in the late 1950s, Penney's chain was so strong financially that it succeeded in suburbia too. What products are advertised? Walker's traveling agents taught these women to set up beauty shops in their homes, keep business records, and make their customers feel pampered and valued. "Penney, James Cash Charlotte, North Carolina 28217 Penney remained chairman of the board until 1946, and after that, as honorary chairman until his death in 1971. After bringing back Myron Ullman, whom the board had fired when they brought in Johnson, the ship began to right itself. Now in his fifties, James Cash Penney had already built an empire of dry goods stores, dedicated to following the Golden Rule as a basic commercial principle. The business incorporated in 1913 as J. C. Penney and Company, Inc. (unscrupulous competitors had begun to use the Golden Rule name), adopting seven business principles of fair pricing and good service. Madam Walker, an enthusiastic moviegoer, immediately asked her attorney to sue the theater and hired an architect to draw up plans for a new building to house the Walker business. All rights reserved. (Applause.) Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk. Over the next several years, the company first converted to a stock ownership system, but it was just as complicated: each store partner received a class of stock that only related to their store, and got dividends on that stock in proportion to their stores profits. Find North, South, East, and West streets, which were the original boundaries of the city. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Following is a copy of "The Penney Idea," a declaration of ethics and purpose adopted by the J.C. Penney Company in 1913. In one storekeeping job, Jim discovered the owner substituting cheap coffee into the container of a higher priced product: his father demanded that he quit. "Cheap Goods" are dear at any price. Try these products and you won't have reason to envy another girl her lovely hair and her charming complexion. "1 Many in Kemmerer thought Penney's business would fail. 2. The boy was one of twelve children, only six of whom survived to adulthood. --J. C. Penney. 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. It also required bigger bank lines of credit, and the banks could not understand all these partnerships. 3. What adjectives can you use to describe this section of the advertisement? "At that time something happened to me which I cannot explain," he said later. 4. 1. 4. Now find the present Walker Building (built in 1927), across the street at the northwest corner of Indiana Avenue and West Street. Shortly after his son's birth, the elder Penney, who combined occupations of stock farmer, Primitive Baptist preacher, and politician, moved his family to town so that his children could attend school. I can do nothing for myself!' It diversified broadly into drug stores, discount stores, a mail-order catalog, and European retailing. Born in Hamilton, Missouri, his father was an impoverished farmer and part-time Baptist preacher. . Have students discuss the careers of Madam C. J. Walker and J. C. Penney, using the following questions as a guide: The company developed a large team of central buyers who worked hard to find the best merchandise at the lowest prices. (1) 42 82 34 56 Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. The National Register of Historic Places' on-line travel itinerary, Places Where Women Made History highlights 74 historic properties in Massachusetts and New York that are associated with the many varied aspects of women's history. Gradually, training courses and an internal company magazine,The Dynamo, were established. The business, called "The Golden Rule Store," gave him an exciting new commercial concept. By the 1920s, J. C. Penney was worth perhaps $40 million, over $500 million today. As a result of the stores success, the Callahans lived in one of the nicest homes in town. J.C. Penney, in full J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc., formerly J.C. Penney Stores Company (1913-24) and J.C. Penney Co. (1924-68), American retail company, founded in 1902 by James Cash Penney and today engaged in marketing apparel, home furnishings, jewelry, cosmetics, and cookware. But I was convinced that my hair preparation would fill a long-felt want. New York: Garland Publishing, 1993. Our aim is to sell you Reliable, Staple, Dependable Merchandise at a less price than any other house in the country. But things weren't working out so well for the elder Penney. 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. Photo Credit. (Economics) Howard Schultz James Cash Penney Margaret Hutchison Rousseau Jessica Jackley Choose two entrepreneurs from this list. There are reasons for everything. When he was twenty-one, the family doctor noted that Jim was wearing down and risked getting the dreaded consumption (tuberculosis). 2801 West Tyvola Road His father, a farmer, served as an unpaid preacher for a fundamentalist sect known as Primitive Baptists. In 1874, Sarah was left an orphan, and she moved in with her sister Louvenia. Indispensable for bobbed hair and unsurpassed in the opinion of social leaders and well-groomed gentlemen. Walker continued to tour the country promoting her business and hiring hairdressers and door-to-door sales representatives. He used his $500 savings and borrowed the rest of the $2000 necessary to become a one-third partner in the venture. James Cash Penney, the founder of the once giant retailer, based his business philosophy on one simple personal mission statement: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" the Golden Rule. But he wrote a hometown Missouri bank and got the same loan at 6%. Superfine Face Powder (Brown)--Clinging, velvety smooth, invisible and adorably perfumed. Make sure to address the following questions: What did each person do? The Penneys learned the names of all their customers, even if they only came to town once or twice a year. In the 1920s, the company acquired most of the old Golden Rule Stores, even including Tom Callahans mothers store in Chillicothe, Illinois. That experience soured young Jim on the organized church. By selling dry goods, notions, shoes, and clothing at fair prices, the Callahans Golden Rule Store in Longmont had prospered. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"ux2ZilahsJT2HsvQfKDyDfc4oRvXqaa7VF8UWDjay2g-86400-0"}; He lived and served until he was 95, frequently sharing a Bible verse he had memorized as a child and claimed as his favorite: "I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Most of the quotes in the article come from a compilation of his writings entitledLines of A Layman: The Golden Rule in Everyday Living. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. The following links are of particular interest: Chain Stores Crucial to Penney's success were his associates (as he referred to his employees). 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. Make sure to address the following questions: What did each person do? He went to Salt Lake City, Utah, approximately 125 miles southwest of Kemmerer, where he established the headquarters for the growing chain and consolidated his buying and accounting operations. I am not ashamed of my past; I am not ashamed of my humble beginning. There he competed for customers with 21 saloons. A believer in learning and experimentation, he started Penney Farms in Northern Florida, a massive 120,000-acre effort to try new experimental farming methods. Main Street Merchant: The Story of the J.C. Penney Company. Why do you think she might have eventually moved to New York, although her products continued to be manufactured in Indianapolis? When one of his store managers had saved enough money, Penney would help him open a new store as part owner. Standard 3B- The student understands how a modern capitalist economy emerged in the 1920s. The TB that had claimed his father's life was now threatening him. Sometimes they may make you poor. How does it compare to the building depicted in Photo 2? Activity 4: Researching a Local Business In high school, he was a mediocre student but an outstanding orator, delivering uplifting messages about patriotism, Christianity, and the merits of hard work to his fellow students. 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. We will buy only good merchandise to sell to our customers. Buff-colored terra cotta is used for decorative details, and each doorway is embellished with brightly colored African masks. How did JC Penney achieve his goals? (Hearty applause.) You need not envy her. In both World Wars, employees who had gone to war continued to receive partial salaries from the company. Additionally, he married and found living in a healthier environment stimulated his goals, ambitions, and imagination. 26. 1. The main customer was a local hotel. Each preparation was beyond the point of experiment before it was followed by another. Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. The banks called in his loans and his collateral including Florida real estate, the value of which was also devastated. Less than 5% of applicants made the grade. April 14, 1902: James Cash Penney, along with two partners, opens the 25 . The manager was responsible for investing one-third the amount necessary and Penney provided the remaining two-thirds. My talk to you this evening is to be very brief and very much to the point. Walker and J.C. Penney relates to the following Social Studies Standards: Theme III: People, Places, and Environment, Standard G- The student describes how people create places that reflect cultural values and ideals as they build neighborhoods, parks, shopping centers, and the like.Theme IV: Individual Development and Identity, Standard D - The student relates such factors as physical endowment and capabilities, learning, motivation, personality, perception, and behavior to individual development.Theme VII: Production, Distribution, and Consumption. Activity 3: Starting a Business The woman, named Berta, consented to marry him. . He worked extremely hard and proved himself so adept at merchandising that he advanced rapidly. Between 1920 and 1930, more than 1,250 new stores opened, most of them on Main Streets in small towns across America. In 1913, her daughter, who would later change her name to A'Lelia, persuaded Madam Walker to buy a house in Harlem as the New York base of the business. He based his business on the principle, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." His name lives on on over eight hundred stores across the United States. A few years later, after a failure of the cotton crop, the sisters moved across the river to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where they worked as washerwomen and domestic servants. But he was told to run an ad welcoming the competition to the community. This is my brief story in a simple and plain language. Solicit their continued patronage on the Golden Rule Motto. Virtually overnight, the company dropped the frequent price promotions of prior leadership. The local bank cashier strongly advised Penney against opening a "cash only" store because three other merchants had failed to compete successfully with the stores of the mining companies, which offered credit. (February 23, 2023). He met a man who got him back into the dry goods business, and he met a woman who stole his heart. The Center also includes a small museum with Walker memorabilia and is host to the annual Madame Walker Spirit Awards for Entrepreneurs. An elegant theater in the new building would welcome African Americans. l. What personality and character traits do Walker and Penney share? He underwrote Christian causes like theChristian Heraldmagazine. But the elder Penney also ran a 390-acre farm where the family raised both cattle and crops. But he now had the time to serve in broader ways. "I was at the end of my rope," he said later. Public Company New York: Whittlesey House, 1948. Madam C.J. .this year (up to the 19th day of this month . For the next 17 years, Sarah supported herself and her daughter as a washerwoman. Walker's and Penney's desire to provide people with high quality services and affordable merchandise may well have been based on personal experiences. Schultz succeeded in turning a tiny regional operation into a national coffeehouse chain while Rousseau was a chemical engineer who designed the first commercial penicillin plant. (Ellison is one of only three African-American Chief Executive Officers of aFortune500 company as of this writing.) At first, Madam Walker used all her profits for materials and advertising in papers such as Denver's Colorado Statesmen. in 1913? The assumption was that business is secular, and service is religious. 1. The address is 6l7 Indiana Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). After opening his first store for business in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyo., J.C. Penney tallied first day's sales of $33.41. "It is given," he said, "to few persons to transform a people in a generation. The first year, Penney saw almost $29,000 in sales and a hefty profit, and five years later, he bought out his partners, opened two new stores elsewhere in Wyoming. This building housed the Golden Rule Store, a dry goods business that grew into the J. C. Penney Company, the first nationwide chain of department stores in the country. Old friends and relatives loaned him money to get through this period, and the company briefly paid him a salary for the first time in many years. At fifteen, he started working Saturdays in a local store and took a liking to storekeeping. The company opened its 500th store in 1924 in Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penney's hometown. Ransom, her attorney and general manager, and Alice Kelly, the factory forewoman. The words "only believe" came to him. Copyright by Archbridge Institute. After clerking in one store, he helped a partner start a new store, and eventually, he bought a Golden Rule store of his own in Kemmerer, Wyoming, in 1902. I saw God in his glory and planned to be baptized and to join a church. U.S.A. Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. 35 cents per long-lasting box. In turn, the new manager would train others until they started up their own stores as one-third partners. Raised by a Baptist minister, Penney had a greater interest in the spirit than in the letter of religion. He opened his first store, called the Golden Rule, in Kemmerer, Wyoming, in 1902. relates to the following National Standards for History: Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900). In February 1910, Walker visited Indianapolis, Indiana, and was very impressed with what she saw. It was restored in the late 1980s. 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. Walker soon began to spend at least half her time in New York and moved there permanently in 1916. If so, do they think it would be important to preserve the buildings as part of their community's history, like the Walker building in Indianapolis and the Penney buildings in Kemmerer? 1. It was no longer about his own efforts, but God's. Let competition say what she will. His intentions . With a child, it was too small, and Penney bought this two-storey house in 1904. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. When James Cash Penney moved his dry goods business here in 1904, the building also housed a saloon, offices, and apartments. He spent long hours again doing whatever it took. He was endlessly curious and an outstanding salesman. Report of the Thirteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League, Chicago, IL, August 21-23, 1912, William H. Davis, Official Stenographer, Washington, D.C., 154-55. After she had been in Indianapolis for some time and was already a wealthy woman, she went one afternoon to the Isis Movie Theater and gave the ticket seller a dime, standard admission at the time. Sams had been recommended by a Denver employment agency. When the senior clerk came back to work, Tom Callahan kept Jim on. This is the first building constructed in Indianapolis to house the manufacturing operations of the Madam C.J. He said he saved $30 and it only cost him a postage stamp. Callahan. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The workplaces described in this lesson reveal a good deal about the philosophies and interests of two successful early 20th-century businesspeople who stuck by their principles as they pursued their dreams: Madam C.J. The J. C. Penney House in Kemmerer, Wyoming was the home of James Cash Penney, the founder of the J. C. Penney department stores, during the 1904-1909 period that he developed his formula for a successful dry goods store. 3. 5. There were more than 30 within that first decade. Jim could not tolerate the unfair practice and immediately quit. Public Company Report of the Fourteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League, Philadelphia, PA, August 20-22, 1913, William H. Davis, Official Stenographer, Washington, D.C., 210-212. If a business can be built on the principles of the Golden Rule, and I firmly believe it can, we shall go forward and some day we shall add to this one unit another store and another store, and some day we might have as many as ten stores. Soon enough, Callahan asked Jim to move to Evanston, Wyoming, where Callahan and partner William Johnson operated another Golden Rule Store. Until the end of his life, he continued to go to his offices. how did james cash penney achieve his goals . In 2012 revenue at the company he built was $13 billion. In a way, Penney was conducting a grand experiment, testing his hypothesis that the Christian commitment to love others could be played out in one's entire life, including one's daily work. Jims big chance was a store 25-feet wide and 45-feet deep. Yet still, he borrowed what he could to continue funding causes he believed in. He dusted the floor between customersup to ten or eleven times a day. In that light, some might question our decision to spotlight J. C. Penney. The company was a wreck, on the verge of death. 3. In 1902 Penney became owner of his first store, one of the Golden Rule chain stores; he worked night and day for the success of this Kemmerer, Wyoming, store, which opened at 7 am and closed it between 9 and 10 p.m.. Penney worked six days a week and half a day on Sundays. Over the next three years he established 28 new stores in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. Central accountants and buyers were put in place. Why did she later establish her company in Indianapolis? Many innovative and unusual employee benefits and insurance were introduced. 5) To investigate whether businesses in their community were established by entrepreneurs with characteristics like those of Walker and Penney. In the same year he purchased two additional stores in Rock Springs and Cumberland, Wyoming. Have each group explain their ideas to the full class. She was mourned by many, including W. E. B. DuBois who wrote an obituary for The Crisis, the magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Though his faith was individualistic, Penney had a strong commitment to Christian principles, and he tried to incorporate these principles in his business. Wilmington, Delaware 19801 Below is a timeline that outlines most of the peaks and valleys, mostly peaks, of this great American retail institution. At the age of eight, Penney's father told him he would be responsible for clothing himself, and soon he was earning more than enough for his sartorial needs selling junk, growing watermelons and raising pigs. His father, James Cash Penney Sr., was a minister and civic leader who ran unsuccessfully for Congress on a populist ticket in 1894. 2. During the 1960s and 1970s, the J. C. Penney company went through massive changes. But Earl Sams not only earned Jims confidence, but later went on to follow Penney as president of the company and head of day-to-day operations for almost thirty years. Penney dealt with this loss more calmly than the first time he was widowed, having come to regard his few years with her as a treasure. In 1913, Penney and his many partners incorporated the firm in Utah as J. C. Penney and Company, Inc. "Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.". 75009 Paris His parents had instilled in him a basic Christian faith that had given him the principles on which he had based his life and his business, yet now that faith was being tested. That business hit hard times when he refused to give free liquor to his biggest client. By the time he died in 1971, JCPenney had more than 1,600 stores, many in newly-built suburban malls, and was the fifth . It shifted from its small-town Western base into a major national retailer as an anchor in malls from coast to coast. James Cash Penney. His faith would remain a personal thing most of his life. African-American doctors, lawyers, and other professionals who had difficulty finding office space in buildings owned by whites rented space in the building as well. This article was based in large part onCreating An American Institution: The Merchandising Genius of J.C. Penney, by Mary Elizabeth Curry. He even helped many of his store managers become part owners of new stores. A Dramatic Turnaround: 1986-95 In 1986 JCPenney acquired Units, a chain of stores selling contemporary knitwear and by the next year the company was well on its way to achieving the goals it set forth in 1982. Why do you think both Walker and Penney were successful as business owners? "5 He wrote in his autobiography that all of his business success was based "in adherence to the Golden Rule, faith in God and the country.". The company continued to grow by incentivizing store managers, and later employees, with stock. How did the company change to meet competitive challenges that arose in the 1950s and 1960s? Walker, one of America's most successful African-American businesswoman of the early 20th century. Penney knew he could not control the daily operations of many stores with such wide expansion. 1. 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. By 1904 the Golden Rule Store (no longer standing) had outgrown its one-room frame building off the main business district of the town. Over time he recovered, more energized than before. In fact, his first store was called The Golden Rule. Jim was relentless. Wonderful Hair Grower, Glossine, and Vegetable Shampoo were well accepted by the African-American women of Denver. Why did Walker move to Denver? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. When I went to Kemmerer in 1902, I had no idea that (in 1921) we would have 313 storesbut that didn't prevent me from doing my best and working with all my might. U.S.A. We offer you the benefit of their wide experience in selecting Fall Clothes. Jim wasnt happy, but went along with his fathers wishes. Imparts a rich, healthy lustre. Cooperation proves the quality of leadership.". Penneys greatest passion, outside Christianity, was his desire to help Americas farmers, whom he had long understood and empathized with. His father was a less-than-prosperous Baptist preacher who also farmed. "Profits must come through public confidence, and public confidence is given to . Why or why not? Penney decided to return to the dry goods business, taking temporary employment as a clerk in Callahan and Johnson's store in Longmont. The company store (and the 21 saloons in town) offered credit, but Penney's store was cash-only. Activity 2: Changes in Advertising Do the various places each person established businesses show any pattern? When Jim, as he was called, was eight, his father told him he would be responsible for purchasing his own clothing. . Despite Callahans hesitation at hiring a butcher, Jim Penney got hired at the Longmont Golden Rule as a part-time sales clerk when a senior clerk was ill. He developed one of the nations top herds of Guernsey dairy cattle in Florida and at Emmandine Farm in Dutchess County, New York. Why might this have been the case? He talked about the mistakes he made in trusting success rather than God. These two historic buildings--one large and imposing, the other modest--provide insight into the characters of two of America's most famous businesspeople. 709 East South Temple Unlike other retail chains, he never bonded his managers to insure against theft and embezzlement. By 1909, Penney moved away from Kemmerer, leaving the store there to an associate. Penney's childhood and early adult life appeared quite ordinary.
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