The lesson also could be used to enhance the study of African American history or women's history. I have been trying to get before you business people to tell you what I am doing. 4. My talk to you this evening is to be very brief and very much to the point. 3. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. These two historic buildings--one large and imposing, the other modest--provide insight into the characters of two of America's most famous businesspeople. Fax: (704) 342-4320 Completed by her daughter in 1927, the Walker Building housed her company as well as other businesses. J.C. Penney Foundation Archives. "Effectively, change is almost impossible without industry-wide collaboration, cooperation, and consensus." Simon Mainwaring. Why did Walker develop her special hair formula? Another manager, hearing of the new competitor, wanted to run ads showing how much better the Golden Rule was. Employ, American Stores Company They put as much power into the hands of store managers, close to the customers, as possible. The manager agreed to train someone to take his place at the existing store. He even helped many of his store managers become part owners of new stores. He cut off the whiskey, lost the customer, and the butcher shop failed, Jim losing all his savings in the process. But his father pointed out that those selling watermelons inside the fairgrounds had paid a concession fee, and insisted Jim stop competing unfairly. He cut back on financing theChristian Herald. The woman, named Berta, consented to marry him. Today, the restored six-room house is a museum operated by the J.C. Penney Foundation. Analysts observe that employee morale, which would have meant everything to J. C. Penney himself, is much improved. "It was a life-changing miracle, and I've been a different person ever since. U.S.A. Copyright by Archbridge Institute. Some students can conduct interviews with the owners and workers of the business and with customers. 1) To identify the attributes that helped Walker and Penney to succeed as entrepreneurs. To test our every policy, method, and act in this wise: "Does it square with what is right and just?". 2. 3. By the time she died in 1919, the 51-year-old former laundress had become one of the wealthiest businesswomen of her day. A bargain at 10 cents a bar. Each store became a mother store to others. How does Photo 5 differ from the images in Photo 4? Johnson, Callahan, and Penney opened a store in another mining town, Cumberland, Wyoming, around the first of 1905. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. "No matter what his position or experience in life, there is in everyone more latent than developed ability; far more unused than used power.". It seems to me so. Imparts a rich, healthy lustre. By the time she was five, Sarah had learned to carry water to field hands, drop cotton seed into plowed furrows, and, for a dollar a week, wash white people's clothes with strong lye soap, wooden sticks, and washboards. Walker Building" (with photographs) and "J.C. Penney Historic District" (with photographs), as well as other sources related to Madam Walker and J.C. Penney. Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Despite Penney opening the companys books and sharing everything, and despite enthusiasm on the part of the other companies owners, the Penney company ultimately decided it could best preserve its unique sharing culture by remaining independent. By 1903 Jim was also participating in buying trips, introduced by his partners to their many Eastern suppliers. 2. It also began to enter Midwestern and Eastern markets. Both Madam Walker and J.C. Penney established a base of operation in New York City and ultimately made it their permanent home. In the midst of the Great Depression, one of America's leading businessmen sank into a personal depression of his own. She recruited and trained a national sales force that included schoolteachers, housewives, cooks, and washerwomen. How did Walker benefit the lives of African-American women? Over time, the company had begun using black letters on a yellow background to identify its stores, and often said J. Why would it have been important to the company to rent office space in the building to African Americans? Expansion became a regular program for Penney. Contributing to this decline is the general cloud over bricks-and-mortar retailing as Amazon and other online sellers become larger and larger. [CDATA[ Updates? Not willing to live with her sister again, Sarah set off for St. Louis where, she was told, laundress jobs were plentiful and fairly well paid. That experience soured young Jim on the organized church. Someone read a Scripture passage: "Come unto me all you that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The company continued to grow by incentivizing store managers, and later employees, with stock. But life was not easy on J. C. Penneyin 1910, his beloved Berta contracted pneumonia and died suddenly, leaving him with two small boys, a broken man. Corrections? Bonhoeffer Transferred to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The partners were wary, as other ambitious men had failed to make stores work in the town of nine hundred people. . In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Today, the store still has 1,109 locations throughout the United States and a market capitalization of almost $8 billion. 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. To expect for the service we render a fair remuneration and not all the profit the traffic will bear. Glimpses generally focus on historical figures who have changed the church or affected the world in some overtly Christian way. Because of this profit-sharing arrangement with his store managers, J.C. Penney was called "the Man with a Thousand Partners," a phrase Penney used in his autobiography. Perhaps most importantly, he carried merchandise that his customers wanted, ensuring a rapid inventory turnover. How did James Cash Penney achieve his goals? "Penney, James Cash He lost control of Foremost Dairies, but retained some stock (that company went on to become the third largest dairy corporation in the world in the 1950s). Throughout this period of rapid growth, Penney maintained the fundamental system of sharing ownershipor a big share of profitswith those who made his success possible. The companys message to all associates, whether managers or clerks, was the importance of serving the public, of keeping prices low, of living by the Golden Rule. 2. "5 Businessman. If so, how? There were more than 30 within that first decade. It was a moment of clarity for the hard-working entrepreneur. His financial fortunes began to be restored in the mid-1930s. American Entrepreneurs: Madam C.J. The banks called in his loans and his collateral including Florida real estate, the value of which was also devastated. Callahan advertised constantly, and included pictures of items in his ads, a rarity then. How did their efforts affect life today? "1 Many in Kemmerer thought Penney's business would fail. Today under former Home Depot executive Marvin Ellison, the J. C. Penney Company is making some progress, but the road has been hard. Both Walker and Penney overcame great odds, and both combined a desire to serve others with great financial success. . He had been striving all his life to honor God with his business, but now it was time to rest in the Lord's grace. By 1909, Penney moved away from Kemmerer, leaving the store there to an associate. They Know How to Buy. In 1907 he bought out Callahan and Johnson and became sole owner of the Kemmerer store. Superfine Face Powder (Brown)--Clinging, velvety smooth, invisible and adorably perfumed. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-C-Penney, City of Hamilton, Missouri - Biography of J.C. Penney, Missouri Legends - Biography of J. C. Penny, WyoHistory.org - James Cash Penney: From Clerk to Chain-store Tycoon, The State Historical Society of Missouri - Historic Missourians - Biography of J. C. Penney, Penney, James Cash - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). 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. (February 23, 2023). Walker left one unfulfilled dream. Inventory sold faster and was turned over more frequently than in most similar stores. He sold the Miami mansion. When Madam Walker and her associates started to develop her beauty preparations, which are now used all over the world, they perfected their toiletries step by step. 5. Company sales dropped precipitously, down about 30%, and profits became huge losses. By selling dry goods, notions, shoes, and clothing at fair prices, the Callahans Golden Rule Store in Longmont had prospered. New York: Garland Publishing, 1993. 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. Jim could not tolerate the unfair practice and immediately quit. His intentions . He could foresee the day when his Golden Rule Stores, still co-operating with a larger buying syndicate of similarly named stores throughout the West, would number twenty-five, or even fifty. Over time, the company then returned somewhat to its roots, focusing on soft goods and divesting its many acquisitions. But he did not test his ideas in any region or store first. But he also found and developed new, younger partners, always loaning them enough to own one-third of their own stores if needed in order to make sure they had an investment in their stores and shared in any success achieved. They added two daughters to the family. An old friend convinced him to enter a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. J. C. Penney owned over 50% of the total stock. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. How would you describe this building? The policy upon which we expect to build is just what the name implies. In 1927, A'Lelia Walker Robinson completed the Walker Building in memory of her mother. That's what put him in the Michigan sanitarium in 1932. Walker Manufacturing Company. It shifted from its small-town Western base into a major national retailer as an anchor in malls from coast to coast. But he wrote a hometown Missouri bank and got the same loan at 6%. 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. For medical reasons he moved to Colorado in 1897 and was soon hired by local dry-goods merchants Guy Johnson and T.M. Walker Web page, owned and maintained by the great-great-granddaughter and biographer of Madam C.J. "Profits must come through public confidence, and public confidence is given to . He became a national celebrity as the company became known throughout the United States. Gather up a collection of fairly recent magazines and newspapers (the students can help) and have students work in groups with at least 10 different kinds of ads. Sams had been recommended by a Denver employment agency. By the 1960s, the company abandoned its cash-only policy by adopting its own credit cards and updating its merchandise (much of it manufactured under the Penney label). By 1929 the J. C. Penney company was so highly regarded that both Sears and Wards tried to merge with it to obtain their retail and buying expertise and improve their own chains. 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. 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. They can use city or county business directories to see how long the business has operated and at what addresses. 3. The 118-year-old store sells. In 1902, owners Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan, impressed by his work ethic and salesmanship, offered him a one-third partnership in a new store he would open. National Park Service Jim was relentless. (Not until 1927 did the company have stock which was the same for everyone, but this was supplemented by handing out a sixth of each stores profits to its managers.). He often went home late, could not sleep, and thought about the store through the night, until he got up the next morning to dash back to the store. 5) To investigate whether businesses in their community were established by entrepreneurs with characteristics like those of Walker and Penney. I am a woman who started in business seven years ago with only $1.50. The city was served by eight major railway systems and was home to a substantial African-American community. James Cash Penney (1875-1971) believed that working people in isolated regions in the West deserved to have dry goods stores nearby that would offer quality products at reasonable prices. (801) 539-0112 What did he mean when he wrote, "You are invited to become a member of our large Golden Rule family." The young couple lived above the store, using shoe boxes for chairs and packing cases for tables. He was just 26 when he bought that first store, in a mining town with a population of about 1,000. Then came stunning news from his doctor. Within a year, Penney was managing two more stores. Incorpor, J. F. Drake State Technical College: Narrative Description, J. F. Drake State Technical College: Tabular Data, J. J. Thomson, the Discovery of the Electron, and the Study of Atomic Structure, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College: Narrative Description, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College: Tabular Data, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/penney-james-cash. - James Cash Penney. Plumb, Beatrice. (Applause.) As a result of the stores success, the Callahans lived in one of the nicest homes in town. J. C. Penney remained extremely active in the affairs of the company, but he and the others at the top were far from autocratic. Dillard Department Stores, Inc. The basic biography of Penney isMain Street Merchant: The Story of the J.C. Penney Company, by Norman Beasley. Later that year she built her dream house, a mansion in Irvington-on-Hudson, a wealthy community north of New York City. The company opened another store in Kemmerer, Wyo., in 1902, and young Penney became a one-third partner for an investment of $500 and a promissory note for $1,500. 3) two advertisements for Madam Walker beauty preparations and Penney's Golden Rule Store; The company was the ultimate decentralized enterprise. Walker Manufacturing Company. Penneys first job was clerking in a general store for a salary of $2.27 per month. This faith and his financial arrangements with store managers worked profoundly well. How did JC Penney achieve his goals? All rights reserved. I think I need say no more, because in those few words, I have said much. Under pressure from major Wall Street investor William Ackman, the company appointed former Target executive and Apple Store leader Ron Johnson as CEO. Wilmington, Delaware 19801 He accepted "cash only" for his goods, rather than credit. They closed each day just before midnight. Only in her thirties, she found her hair was falling out. 4. (704) 377-4251 In May 2020, the J.C. Penney chain announced it would close nearly one-third of its remaining 846 stores after filing for bankruptcy. Questions for Document 1 Penney's store was successful because his customers liked the merchandise and good service. Time period: Early 20th century. . How did the company change to meet competitive challenges that arose in the 1950s and 1960s? Part of the building contained the Indianapolis branch of Lelia College as well as the Madam Walker Beauty Parlor. His name lives on on over eight hundred stores across the United States. . Today the building houses commercial businesses as well as the Madame Walker Theatre Center, which provides arts and cultural programs and education for children and adults. First day's sales were a gratifying $466.59. Life was tough, his father said, and success only came through hard work and long hours. Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Job Creation, Social Capital and the Independent Sector, Rexburg, IdahoPenney Neighbors and Woidemann, Lewiston, IdahoPenney Neighbors and Brown, Moscow, IdahoPenney Neighbors and Coffey. He died in 1971. Penneys greatest passion, outside Christianity, was his desire to help Americas farmers, whom he had long understood and empathized with. One morning he awoke too early for breakfast and was wandering the corridors when he heard a hymn he remembered from childhood. With letters of recommendation in hand, the young man headed west toward the Rockies in the summer of 1897. As that happened, he renewed his support of various charities, putting millions of dollars into the Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, Florida, Christian Herald magazine, and more than 100 other organizations ministering in the United States and around the world. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. To that end, in 1952 he donated one of the world's most respected dairy herds to establish CAFNR's Foremost Dairy Research Center, west of Columbia. When the senior clerk came back to work, Tom Callahan kept Jim on. Enter your email address to subscribe and receive our newsletter and updates on new publications. Following the sound, he stumbled upon a chapel filled with worshiping doctors and nurses. Arriving in Denver in 1905 with $1.50 savings, she rented an attic room, joined the local AME church, and found a job as a cook. Madam Walker was so impressed during a visit to Indianapolis in 1910 that she decided to make it her national headquarters. Penney's father was a Baptist preacher and farmer whose strict discipline included making his son pay for his own clothing once he reached his late pre-teens. Even the Great Depression did little to halt the Penney expansion program. Perfumed delightfully. He died on February 12, 1971, at the age of 95, as the founder of the nation's second-largest department store behind Sears. 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. Activity 2: Changes in Advertising 3. To do all in our power to pack the customer's dollar full of value, quality, and satisfaction. "4 These employed women now were able to educate their children, buy homes, and support various charitable organizations. . Over time he recovered, more energized than before. Students will have noted that advertisements for the Walker products and the Golden Rule Store are quite different from those that are run in newspapers and magazines today. What language does the ad use to entice women to purchase the products? He proposed that a smaller town like Kemmerer, Wyoming, would be better. By age eight James Penney was forced to earn money to buy his own clothes. He folded the inventory. She began selling her homemade products door-to-door in 1905 in Denver, Colorado. JCPenney is an American department store chain founded by James Cash Penney and William Henry McManus in 1902. That business hit hard times when he refused to give free liquor to his biggest client. Gradually, training courses and an internal company magazine,The Dynamo, were established. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1998, s.v. 2. He was soon promoted to first manthe top sales clerk. 1. J. C. Penney, as he was now more often called than Jim, had no limits on his ambitions. 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. U.S.A. Abstract During the release of the J. C. Penney company's results of the 2nd quarter, Ron Johnson who is the CEO of the departments store of company was getting ready as he was reconsidering the dramatic changes that he initiated in favor of the business model and brand image With many observers not believing in the future of the company, the stock in recent months hit an all-time low of under $3 per share, valuing the company at less than one billion dollars. While he recognized that the Golden Rule was a "slogan of good publicity value," his also found it "a poignant link with my father's and my mother's ideals and injunctions." Penney decided to return to the dry goods business, taking temporary employment as a clerk in Callahan and Johnson's store in Longmont. 2. Make sure to address the following questions: What did each person do? They travelled the world with their now five children of diverse ages. He met with any employee who was in the city. But when the economy caved in during the 1930s, Penney lost nearly everything--including his health. ", 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. For more information, contact Kemmerer's J.C. Penney Store at 722 J.C. Penney Drive, Kemmerer, Wyoming 83101. By 1906, C. J. Walker moved to Denver and the two soon married. A Chain of Good Men Penney stocked quality products at fair prices for mining and farm families. To continue to train ourselves and our associates so that the service we give will be more and more intelligently performed. I saw God in his glory and planned to be baptized and to join a church. When he later arrived on a late train with his family, he had a small terrier with him, and Penney worried that it would distract from his work. At 17, she bore her only child, a daughter named Lelia. 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. Soon he began establishing stores in other towns in Wyoming and then throughout the United States. He had a strong work ethic and a knack for merchandising, and within two years of taking the job, his salary rocketed from $25 a year to $300. How Is Harry Potter a Literary Christ Figure? Business was brisk on opening day, and Penney brought in an impressive $466.59. It was no longer about his own efforts, but God's. Wonderful Hair Grower, Glossine, and Vegetable Shampoo were well accepted by the African-American women of Denver. Most of the quotes in the article come from a compilation of his writings entitledLines of A Layman: The Golden Rule in Everyday Living. J.C. Penney, in full James Cash Penney, (born Sept. 16, 1875, Hamilton, Mo., U.S.died Feb. 12, 1971, New York, N.Y.), merchant who established one of the largest chains of department stores in the United States. I like the way he has started out. This inspired Jim for the rest of his life. James Cash Penney (yes, that was his full name) learned about faith and business from his father, who served as the pastor of a small Primitive Baptist church in Hamilton, Missouri, and struggled to make a living off the family farm. James Cash Penney (18751971) was born on his father's farm in Hamilton, Missouri, the seventh of 12 children. (Prolonged applause). Surveys have found our nation's business schools at a loss to find an adequate philosophical basis on which to teach business ethics. In the 1920s, the company acquired most of the old Golden Rule Stores, even including Tom Callahans mothers store in Chillicothe, Illinois. That spring, his father died; among his last words were, Jim will make it. by Gary Hoover | Dec 7, 2017 | American Originals, From inauspicious beginnings rose one of the great entrepreneurs in American history, a man with unusual dedication and exceptionally high ideals. In a land far from home, he was on the street, alone. Standard 1A- The student understands the connections among industrialization, the advent of the modern corporation, and material well-being. U.S.A. In the midst of the Great Depression, one of America's leading businessmen sank into a personal depression of his own. (Applause.) Each preparation's wide use and higher merit were always proved. With the experience of men of 20 years of successful merchandising to give us, all guess work is eliminated. In recent years, we have witnessed a steady stream of corporate executives defrauding their companies and stockholders. C.J. What similarities and differences can you list about how they conducted their enterprises? Discuss the findings of each group, and then have each student develop an ad for a product or store to be shown to the class and perhaps displayed on a bulletin board. But he now had the time to serve in broader ways. He readily accepted. With support from headquarters, each manager put together his own advertisingeventually in over two thousand newspapers across the West. This would be a major asset for a mail-order business. Have them consider whether they would develop a new product or a new way of merchandising an existing line of related products. Where to Buy. Jim put up his entire savings of $500. We will supply you with durable and comfortable wearing apparel cheaper than ever before. The stores net worth had risen from $500 to $50,000 in the ten years since its 1889 founding. The company also opened its own catalog business. This lesson is part of the National Park Services Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) program. Belk Stores Services, Inc. This issue was based largely on the book The Spiritual Journey of J. C. Penney, by Dr. Orlando L. Tibbetts, published by Rutledge Books (1-800-278-8533 or www.rutledgebooks.com). He spent long hours again doing whatever it took. He was endlessly curious and an outstanding salesman. Golden Rule prices were often 2550% below those of other merchants, but the stores always offered good, dependable quality merchandise and the latest fashions. After much debate, Jim convinced them to open the next store, his store, in Kemmerer, Wyoming, in the heart of a growing coal district. --J. C. Penney. Encyclopedia.com. 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. Managers mentored and nourished each other. "Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk. 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. Why or why not? Former industry leaders Montgomery Ward and F. W. Woolworth are long gone. The Walker Building, planned by Madam Walker herself but constructed after her death, was designed to serve not only as the headquarters for her business, but as a social and cultural center for African Americans in Indianapolis. All rights reserved. In fact, his first store was called The Golden Rule. It provides an interesting contrast to the typical textbook coverage, which tends to emphasize a few robber barons, while giving little information on the success stories of other exceptional people who moved from rags to riches. Sometimes they may make you poor. Solicit their continued patronage on the Golden Rule Motto. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The following selections show both their determination and their dedication to meet those goals. Imparts an olive tint to fair complexions and harmonizes bewitchingly with darker skins. 1. Have them consider the special needs of different groups of people, the types of products or services that would improve their lives, and the ways in which a new business might be developed in their own community. 4) To analyze the factors necessary for founding a successful business today and compare them with those needed in Walker's and Penney's day. The pay was $100 a month versus the $50 that Penney offered. (Ellison is one of only three African-American Chief Executive Officers of aFortune500 company as of this writing.) But Penney's own fortunes were not so bright. I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But things weren't working out so well for the elder Penney. Both achieved their goals by setting up an ambitious strategy to secure new paths of growth. 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. What did Penney mean by saying that "cheap goods" are expensive at any price? He bought his first in the small mining community of Kemmerer, Wyoming, in 1902. 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. In the years following his epiphany in that hospital chapel, Penney spoke often of that experience. 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? The Salt Lake City store was for many years the most profitable. Within five years, Penney opened two more stores, then three more. We are here to stay; we like the countryits people; we believe in selling you good dependable goods on a Small Margin of Profit Only.