the department store chain . for its founder see james cash penney . for the irish retail chain branded penneys see primark . j. c. penney company type public traded as nyse jcp industry retail founded april 14 1902 ; 114 years ago 1902 04 14 kemmerer wyoming u.s. founders james cash penney headquarters 6501 legacy drive plano texas united states number of locations 1 060 2010 area served nationwide key people marvin ellison ceo myron e. ullman chairman products clothing cosmetics electronics footwear furniture housewares jewelry appliances revenue us 12.625 billion 2015 operating income us 99 million 2015 net income us 513 million 2015 total assets us 9.442 billion 2015 total equity us 1.309 billion 2015 number of employees 105 000 2015 website www.jcpenney.com footnotes references 1 2 3 citation needed the j. c. penney company doing business as jcpenney is a department store with 1 060 locations in 49 u.s. states and puerto rico . 4 in addition to selling conventional merchandise jcpenney stores often house several leased departments such as sephora seattle s best coffee salons optical centers portrait studios and jewelry repair . most jcpenney stores are located in suburban shopping malls . before 1966 most of its stores were located in downtown areas . as shopping malls became more popular during the latter half of the 20th century jcpenney followed the trend by relocating and developing stores to anchor the malls . in more recent years the chain has continued to follow consumer traffic echoing the retailing trend of opening some freestanding stores including some next door to competitors . certain stores are located in power centers . the company has been an internet retailer since 1998 . it has streamlined its catalog and distribution while undergoing renovation improvements at store level . contents 1 history 1.1 1902 59 early history and incorporation 1.2 1960 79 growth and success 1.3 1980 99 acquisitions and internet store 1.4 2000 09 continued growth and success 1.5 2010 present rebranding and decline 2 corporate identity 2.1 logo 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit 1902 59 early history and incorporation edit j.c. penney mother store in kemmerer wyoming in september 2007 . james cash penney was born in hamilton missouri . after graduating from high school penney worked for a local retailer . he relocated to colorado at the advice of a doctor hoping that a better climate would improve his health . 5 in 1898 penney went to work for thomas callahan and guy johnson who owned dry goods stores called golden rule stores in colorado and wyoming . 6 in 1899 callahan sent penney to evanston wyoming to work with johnson in another golden rule store . 6 callahan and johnson asked penney to join them in opening a new golden rule store . using money from savings and a loan penney joined the partnership and moved with his wife and infant son to kemmerer wyoming to start his own store . 6 penney opened the store on april 14 1902 . 6 he participated in the creation of two more stores and purchased full interest in all three locations when callahan and johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907 . in 1909 penney moved his company headquarters to salt lake city utah to be closer to banks and railroads . by 1912 penney had 34 stores in the rocky mountain states . in 1913 all stores were consolidated under the j.c. penney banner . the so called mother store in kemmerer opened as the chain s second location in 1904 . it still operates as of 2011 albeit with shorter hours than many other locations . in 1913 the company was incorporated under the new name j. c. penney company with william henry mcmanus as a co founder . in 1914 the headquarters was moved to new york city to simplify buying financing and transportation of goods . 7 by 1917 the company operated 175 stores in 22 states in the united states . 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 . the company opened its 500th store in 1924 in hamilton missouri james cash penney s hometown . by the opening of the 1 000th store in 1928 gross business had reached 190 000 000 equivalent to 2.62 billion in 2016 . in 1940 sam walton began working at a j. c. penney in des moines iowa . walton later went on to found future retailer walmart in 1962 . 8 by 1941 j.c. penney operated 1 600 stores in all 48 states . in 1956 j. c. penney started national advertising with a series of advertisements in life magazine . j. c. penney credit cards were first issued in 1959 . 1960 79 growth and success edit the penney building in anchorage in 1964 following the earthquake . the former downtown seattle store in 1982 with signage from the period when the chain was branded as penneys and used a more stylized font in its logo . pike place market is in the background . in 1962 j. c. penney entered discount merchandising with the acquisition of general merchandise company which gave them the treasury stores . these discount operations proved unsuccessful and were shuttered in 1981 . in 1963 j. c. penney issued its first catalog . the company operated in store catalog desks in eight states . the catalogs were distributed by the milwaukee catalog distribution center . the company dedicated its first full line shopping center department store in 1961 . this store was located at black horse pike center in audubon new jersey . the second full line shopping center store was dedicated at king of prussia plaza in king of prussia pennsylvania in late 1962 . those stores expanded the lines of merchandise and services that an average j. c. penney carried to include appliances sporting goods garden merchandise restaurants beauty salons portrait studios auto parts and auto centers . j. c. penney expanded to include alaska and hawaii in the 1960s . the company opened stores in anchorage and fairbanks alaska in 1962 . the penney building in anchorage partially collapsed and was damaged beyond repair in the 1964 alaska earthquake . 9 10 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 . 11 in 1966 j. c. penney finished its national expansion with the opening of its honolulu hawaii store at ala moana center all hawaii stores were closed in 2003 . the penney store at plaza las am ricas mall in san juan puerto rico which opened in 1968 featured three levels and 261 500 square feet 24 290 m2 . it was the largest j. c. penney until a 300 000 square foot 28 000 m2 store was dedicated at greater chicago s woodfield mall in 1971 . the woodfield mall store served as the largest in the chain until a replacement store opened at plaza las am ricas in 1998 which is 350 000 square feet 33 000 m2 in size . in 1969 the company acquired thrift drug a chain of drugstores headquartered in pittsburgh pennsylvania . it also acquired supermarkets interstate an omaha based food retailer which operated leased departments in j. c. penney stores the treasury stores and thrift drug stores . on february 12 1971 james cash penney died at the age of 95 . out of respect for his death the company s stores were closed for the morning of february 16 during his funeral . 12 that year the company s revenues reached 5 billion equivalent to 29.2 billion in 2016 for the first time and catalog business made a profit for the first time . 13 jcpenney reached its peak number of stores in 1973 with 2 053 stores 300 of which were full line establishments . 13 however the company was hard hit by the 1974 recession with its stock price declining by two thirds . 13 in 1977 j. c. penney sold its stores in italy to la rinascente and also removed its supermarkets interstate leased departments . in 1980 the company closed the treasury discount stores because they were unprofitable and decided to focus resources on its core retail stores . 13 in 1978 the j. c. penney historic district in kemmerer wyoming was designated a u.s. national historic landmark . in 1979 the visa card began to be accepted in jcpenney stores . mastercard was accepted the following year . 13 1980 99 acquisitions and internet store edit jcpenney in aventura mall in aventura florida in february 2006 . jcpenney was a major online retailer on viewtron during the 1980s in 1983 jcpenney discontinued its appliance hardware and auto center departments and also sold its automotive centers to firestone . also in 1983 jcpenney began selling online through the viewtron videotex service . in 1984 jcpenney acquired the first national bank of harrington delaware and renamed it jcpenney national bank . with the bank the company became able to issue its own mastercard and visa cards . the company also began accepting american express cards . also that year thrift drug began co locating stores with weis markets and acquired many former pantry pride properties . in april 1987 the company announced that it was moving its headquarters to dallas texas . 14 after several years of development the jcpenney television shopping channel appeared on cable systems beginning in 1989 . by the mid 1980s all jcpenney stores had discontinued sales of firearms . before this point jcpenney carried rifles and shotguns branded as jcpenney but produced by numerous established firearms manufacturers . jcpenney big box store in houston texas in october 2009 . jcpenney headquarters in plano texas . in 1990 the company broke ground with the new corporate headquarters in plano texas . it was completed in 1992 . when sears closed its catalog business in 1993 j. c. penney became the largest catalog retailer in the united states . in 1996 the company expanded its drug store business with the acquisition of fay s drug and kerr drug . these acquisitions momentum climaxed with acquisition of the eckerd chain in november . fay s kerr and eckerd merged into j. c. penney s drug store subsidiary thrift drug . fay s most kerr and thrift drug stores were re branded eckerd in 1997 . kerr drug stores in the carolinas remain branded as such . 15 in 1998 jcpenney launched its internet store . in early 2001 jcpenney closed 44 under performing stores . on april 14 2002 jcpenney celebrated 100 years as a retailer . in 2003 the company opened three off the mall stores in strip centers . these stores were located in texas minnesota and indiana . the new one level 94 000 sq ft 8 700 m2 format stores focus on convenience with wider aisles and centralized checkouts . 16 2000 09 continued growth and success edit jcpenney in the holiday village mall in great falls montana in june 2007 . in 2001 jcpenney sold their direct marketing insurance unit to dutch insurer aegon for 1.3 billion equivalent to 1.74 billion in 2016 in cash . this was an attempt to allow the company to focus on the retail business . 17 in 2004 the company added 14 more stores and exited the drug store division after 35 years with the sale of its eckerd division . in 2005 jcpenney s e commerce storefront exceeded the one billion dollar revenue mark for the first time . in 2007 jcpenney launched the ambrielle lingerie label which became their largest private brand launched in the company s history . 18 j. c. penney also re introduced cosmetics with the