Back in the day you went to Kmart for discount stuff, JC Penney for nicer clothes and Sears for appliances and tools 😀

Summer of 1973 I worked as a Janitor in JC Penney store at Southcenter Mall in WA state. Used the money to buy a 69VW Bug for college. It took 4 hours for a team of 4 people to sweep, vacuum, and clean the rest rooms for both of the 2 sale floors. In 1978 I bought my first couch at Penney's after getting my first credit card...from Penney's. So yea it has been part of my life.

I can still remember the piles of merchandise at the catalog area at Christmas time. I must confess that I did wear out the Christmas Wish Book each year.

We still have two JC Penny's here in Tucson, Arizona..I still have a JC PENNY FOREVER BATTERY..it's been on four vehicles!...Amazing..

Oh what wonderful memories for me growing up in the 60’s. I wanna go back to this time.

James Cash Penny... WHAT A NAME to have to live up to!

First place I bought clothes for myself, without my mom. The salesman in the men’s department gave me advice on how to dress, and I went back to see him any time I wanted clothes!

My mom worked for JC Penny she drew a small pension from them it helped her. God rest her sole. They employed a lot of American people. Sometimes wish we could turn back the clock.

I love watching all your videos, brings back so many memories. But, at the same time it saddens me, we are losing this wonderful country that I grew in. Don't believe me? Take a walk through downtown Seattle or Portland. Both once wonderful, proud, exciting cities.

All your videos are so nostalgic and sad! I know nothing lasts forever, but to see a lot of these icons gone from my childhood is disheartening. Thanks you for making me remember all these places, the memories that surface during the videos is heart warming! Appreciate these strolls down memory lane RC!

Thanks for the video. Many people will criticize J.C. Penney’s but they employed a lot of Americans with good paying jobs. My mom worked there in the 60’s and early 70’s. Penney’s tried hard to compete with Sears and actually did very well. Their prices were affordable and the quality was good. You got your money’s worth. American companies, American employees selling products made in America by Americans. We may never see that again. Times were good for almost everyone ( no doubt someone will disagree, but if you weren’t alive back then you just don’t know) Bad upper management has ruined so many American companies and destroyed the jobs of millions. In the future we will all work for Amazon or Facebook and eat at Taco Bell or McDonalds and watch videos of once great American companies and restaurants.

It’s a shame what happened to JC Penney and SEARS great store now in the dust bin of history

I used to buy furniture, paint, carpeting and draperies at JC Penneys. Their decorator/salespeople were so helpful in choosing colors and fabrics to make a room look great.

I wore a lot of Penneys clothes growing up. It's where working class families shopped in the 1960s and 70s when your parents didn't spring for the extra money for Levi's. But Penneys had nice cords that were identical.

I worked for JCP for 22 and a half years.... we had a fellow come in one year... with a lifetime battery, long after the auto parts dept was gone... we had to go to a Sears store and get a battery to honor the guarantee ... grin.. All in all it was a good place to work.... I say all in all... but in the later years, the big cheese were more interested in profit over people....including its customers. Well, its all but history now.. Keep smilin.

Childhood glory...Christmas catalog!

When I was a child in the 70's, downtown Jacksonville FL had all of these massive department stores close to each other. We would go downtown on Saturdays and go through a lot of them. By the 80's those places were gone and moved to the malls. I always liked downtown better. Now I think malls are dying because of Walmart and Amazon.

It's sad to see JCPenney on life support going the way of Montgomery Ward and Sears. Oh well, nothing in life is meant to last forever... 🥺

The pandemic has really done a number on J.C. Penney. But even before then, the last decade hasn't been kind. I bought the sofa in my living room in the Penney's furniture department (no longer there) in Westminster CA in early 2012. At that time the company was still flush with cash but poor management decisions to eliminate sale prices helped drive away business. I need to buy some clothes and was planning on going to Target but then saw this video, so I'm going to relive old times and go to the store in Lakewood CA, closest to my home. Wish me luck! Last time I was there it was pretty depressing.

J.C Penny was always a family friendly store with pleasant employees. They employed lots of people of the years. We lost our store. We miss them.

Until it closed down last year, there was a three story location in downtown Petoskey, Michigan at the corner of Mitchell St. and Howard St.

Wish I had a time machine so I could go back in time, but this channel does the next best thing for me. Thanks!

You’d think all these big retail companies with huge catalogues and huge customer bases would have been in the box seat to dominate online. A website is just an electronic catalogue.

I’m currently wearing a shirt I bought from JC Penney.

I grew up in a small town in the 60’s and 70’s where JC Penney was the best retail store. I loved shopping for clothes there with my mom. I still recall one of the best dresses my mom bought for me. It was pink and white and I felt like a princess wearing it. I have fond memories of JC Penney.

Vivid memories going through the Penney's catalog before Christmas and making my list for Santa...

When I was a teen, I worked at our local JC Penny’s at Christmas time in the toy department, taking care of displays, stocking , and in the gift wrapping area 🙏- .

J C Penney = James Cash Penney ... his real name. Appropriate, given that he wasn’t a believer in credit. Another great video!

Love these videos! They make me appreciate what we had, and not take for granted what we still have! I was surprised to see a JC Penney at a mall I had never been to before. The Viewmont mall in Scranton PA. I will definitely check it out!

Penney's was a great chain, it's sad that they're a victim of online retail and their own poor management and the liability to aggressively get into online retail.

As a teenager, l absolutely loved JC Penney’s! I still remember the very first article of clothing I paid for entirely by myself at age 14 (1974) with my babysitting money. A multicolored mock turtleneck Minidress for $12.49. I wouldn’t wear it until I had saved enough money to buy a pair of “Patent Leather White Go-Go Boots! I’m giggling now but it was quite fashionable back in the day! I couldn’t wait until l turned 18 so l’m could apply for my first Credit Card. Which was denied, thank you JC Penney. I was finally approved when I was 20yo and I had already gotten a credit card from Sears. I love watching your Channel and your videos are always so interesting. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful videos. ♥️👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I will always remember the J.C. Penney my mom worked at in the mall. It is crazy how much the country and the world has changed since even the mid 90s.

I used to buy all my jeans at Penny's during the 1970's. I was in HS and working so I went where the bargains were lol. Those jeans lasted forever.

I worked at Penny's in Lafayette la. In the early 70's. Good times. Loved my job in the stock room. Did customer carry outs sometimes. Never forget bringing a lounge chair down to the loading dock . The customer was driving a VW bug. He had to go get a bigger vehicle. We were a full line store back then. I have forgotten the names of most of the people I worked with. Wish I remembered the name of the guy who worked with me on the night shift one Christmas season. We worked so well together.

4:00 I remember when hardly no one even used credit cards to buy anything, and this was in the 70s. People used cash, and you would see people writing checks at the checkout instead of credit cards.

I worked for JC Penney for 30 yrs. It's so sad what it's become. No more customer service, stores are ugly and run down, terrible merchandise. We used to have a dress code and there was very little employee turnover...the associates were like family.

Very interesting history, and thanks for doing the research and sharing what you found.

The store at 3:30 looks like the one where my grandmother worked!

I worked for J.C. Penny as a credit collector in the IBM building in downtown Chicago way back in 1979. If you were around then and were a number of months behind on paying your J.C. Penny credit card, maybe you got a phone call from me basically asking, "where's the money?"

Thank you! This more detailed version is excellent! I loved the Penney's of the Funky P era, they were always my choice over Sears. We had a small suburban Penney's in the 60s, in 1969 a large regional mall opened with a full service version and we all loved it. My aunt worked in the small store for many years. If we wanted to make a big purchase, she would do it and we would get her employee discount!

I have purchased most of my clothes from JC Penney for the last 30+ years. We still have one at one of the last shopping malls in the Kansas City area (Oak Park Mall). I am not sure how long they will be able to last. Sad to see them go.

I worked in a mall location PT for about 4 years in the early 80s and still fondly remember it. It was at that time a full line, fully staffed store. Mall culture was at its zenith during that time and it was such a fun place to be, working or not, like an enclosed city unto itself. It was a nice place to work and I had nice co workers and friends. I loved to eat their restaurant food on my breaks and shopping trips, and they helped this then young adult keep a rather dubious car moving more than once. Their electronics were great and I also bought furniture for my first apt. there. I've continued shopping with them semi regularly through the years and am still a cardholder who makes occasional online purchases.

i bought alot of clothes at JC Penney- they always had the right sizes i miss it

I miss the old days, and I miss the S&H Green stamps. I used to buy all kinds of neat stuff with the green stamps.

I still love J.C Penny's to this very day. I dont want to see them go. I have good memories shopping in their store with my parents growing up.

Very sad to hear this. I buy most of my shirts from Wal-Mart, and J.C. Penney.

Losing Penney's was just like the death of an old friend.

JC Penney , Sears , Kmart are all gone but not forgotten in memory in our minds & hearts we will miss the good times shopping in these establishments , Christmas was always the funnest time to go shopping & looking for just the right gifts for everyone !!! 😞😘🤧

In the 1970’s we visited Penny’s almost every Friday evening. They had everything my growing family needed. At the other end of the mall was Sears the major competition.

I loved going into our downtown JC Penney’s with it’s wooden floors, and two stories!

I had an Aunt that worked in one for 14 years , I got many childhood memories shopping in them in the 90's !

One problem is that most JCPenney stores are at malls and people don't go to malls as much as they used to thanks to online shopping

The Golden Rule is a key to life

As a kid in the 70s/80s, I fondly remember the thick catalogs my mom kept from Sears, JC Penney, and Wards... What was not in the store, she would order. We did not have a lot of money, so this was one place she would take us for clothes. Locally, we lost our JC Penney in about the mid 90s. The old 50s style building remains relatively unchanged, but is a furniture store now. In the early 80s, the older stand alone JC Penney and Sears mega stores were shut down in some locations of San Diego and Los Angeles as the malls became the new centers of shopping.

Waupun Wisconsin had a small J.C Pennies. When Visiting my Grandparents their I got my tube socks at the store, mid 1970s.

Oh I miss the good old days. At the 7:03 mark. That's chapel hill mall in akron. Ohio. Below the mural an oval fountain was built. Today in 2021. April 18th. Fountain was shut off. Tha mall finally closed it's doors. Great .memories of these good old stores. Thanks to online shopping, killed the simple stores. Thank you for the footage.

There was a really enjoyable JC Penney in San Jose where I grew up that was fun to shop in when an older family member could drive me there! In their candy department I actually tried cinnamon bears for the first time. Those being the predecessors to Gummies! By the time I moved to San Francisco in 1990 there were no Penney's locations up here anymore.

Cool to see the ad for the Missoula, MT store. I walk by that old location all the time.

I miss the large catalogs that used to come in the mail. Penny's, Sears, and Montgomery Ward, especially their Christmas ones! I know, all the large stores, and even small ones do everything on line.

There's a Pennys still operating in Plainfield Indiana. The exterior reflects popular architectural design of the 80s but once you enter the store it's like stepping back in time. It reminds me of the way department stores used to look. It's a beautiful store and I hope it remains open.

Sears and Pennys christmas catalogs where my childhood dreams were ,I would spend hours and hours looking and dreaming

I was at J,C, Penney today bought 3 pair of shorts for Summer, I buy all things, briefs, undergarments, one stop, Riverside CA.

I live in Detroit, Michigan and I remember J.C.Penney. When, the Eastland Mall being enclosed, and J.C.Penney was added as an anchor Department Store. I would do my shopping at J.C.Penney and I would also have my hair done at the J.C.Penney Beauty Shop in J.C.Penney when perms were popular for men. I would also order clothing from the J.C.Penney Catalog. I also remember when J.C.Penney closed the store permanently. Then, the J.C.Penney building became a Sear's store and Sear's closed the store permanently. To this very day the J.C.Penney/Sear's building remains abandoned. I used to work at Hudson's at Eastland Mall. Hudson's is now Macy's and Macy's closed the Eastland Mall store permanently. The Macy's building is also abandoned, and the Eastland Mall is a ghost mall. Even the city busses don't stop at Eastland Mall. P.S., The Eastland Mall was enclosed in 1975, and the Northland Mall was enclosed in 1974 and J.C.Penney was also an Department Store anchor for the Northland Mall. From, what I heard is a church owns the Northland Mall J.C.Penney and the Hudson's Northland Mall store has also became Macy's and Macy's has closed the Northland Mall store permanently.

Interesting info on JCP here, great video, as always. Bought my first set of custom wheels for my 1983 Pontiac Firebird at the JCP auto center Edison Mall location in Fort Myers Florida back in 1986. Great memories! Years later in the early 2000’s we had a stand alone JCP in of all places Hiram GA about 30 miles NW of Atlanta. Great store. Thinking it’s closed now unfortunately..

It’s sad to me that JCPenney closed.

We had a J C Penny at Springfield Mall ,Springfield, Pa. Definitely my go to store for clothes. I was partial to the lines of clothes they carried.

We used to go to JCP as children for all our clothes shopping. I’m 63 and remember ‘Jackie’ who helped my mom outfit all of us. Sometimes she had set things aside for us in anticipation. I thought she was a bit of a Mary Poppins! Say you like a color and she knew it’s companions. I wore boys pants because they were cheaper, it meant I could get an extra blouse! I always try to buy JCP first from that same loyalty Jackie gave us many years ago. Her level of service is long gone sadly and THAT is why stores lose business. If you don’t have a Jackie, you might as well shop online. How I hate to JCP go downhill. 😢

JC Penney is where my mom took us for school clothes back in the 50's and 60's. I continued to shop there as an adult. The last time I shopped there was approx. 2010, I bought an overcoat. Penney's has become a victim of internet shopping as have Sears, K-Mart, Mervyn's and many other dept. stores of the past. It's hard to get into the car, drive to the mall and walk around for an hour to buy a pair of jeans and sneakers when you can sit at your computer for 5 minutes and get whatever you want, delivered to your front door within 2 days. Times change. But it was great back in the day.

The store’s first name was society’s virtuous inspiration 120-years ago, now contrasting with the present day’s divisiveness. It was well taken to, back then. I aspire to being civil while on “Eternity Road”. Life goes on. 🕊

Always great informative videos.

We had it so well back then.Thats the sad part is for those of approaching senior status or already there this was reality and our everyday world we took for granted.People back then had fought ww2 Korea and Vietnam and were more responsible and respectful and were thus respected.You did the right things because it was the way you were raised.We went to church and were spanked or... worse when we broke the rules.Now look....😔

This was so interesting! Thank you!

In the 80s, Orange Park Mall (Orange Park, FL) had a J.C. Pennies anchor store. I bought most clothes there. A specialty clothing store in Orange Park for most shirts. Pennies, like most big names retails of 70s -80s, had really helpful and friendly workers.

My family moved to Santa Ana in 1964 and there was a JCPenney store downtown on Main Street. That's where we always got our t-shirts, underwear and socks. We didn't like to go to Sears for that because the name of their clothing line for that kind of stuff was Boyville, and in fact the Penney's goods were more durable. The Towncraft t-shirts in particular were considered to be the kind among all social classes, especially the pocket tees. Both the Anglo and the Chuko boys wore them. It was a two-story building with an elevator, and there was a huge oil type portrait of JCPenney on the wall of the second floor.

He would be rolling over if he knew how his chain is so woke now

Great video! Thanks for sharing.

Got my first training bra at JC Penny... It was a small two story brick store on our main street. #olddays #smalltowns

We have a J.C. Penny here in Santa Rosa at Coddingtown mall

Why? Didn't store's like Sears, Penny's and Words make that old paper catalog a online one in the 1990's. They all had the all had the opportunity but no one stepped up! ( look kids are old paper books just don't cut it anymore! Come join us and visit are online catalog. Theres so much more!)

I would like to see one about Jewel-Osco stores.

I've been binge watching these videos. You have new subscriber! 👍

J.C.Penney's was my mothers favorite clothing store and became mine. Whether it was in Wheeling, WV, PA, Ohio, or NC.

There is still a JCPenney in Chesterfield Michigan and one at Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights Michigan.

I grew up in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The “Mother Store” is a cool place. JCPenney’e home is also a museum there.

All of your videos are awesome, thank you! I hope to see videos about Gambles hardware and Gimbles departments stores :)

J. M. Fields would be a good one to remember! Love your vids!

I know of the one where I live and go there a lot. I love JC Penney. I hope they don't close any more

We couldn't afford Levi's 501's so mom always got us Tuffskins jeans...with the reinforced knees.

I used to love the matching holiday dresses for Mom and Daughter in JCPenney's catalog! I would buy one for me and one each for my daughters! We always got lots of compliments when we dressed alike!

I only go to the mall to try on shoes or try on jewelry. I can't really trust the internet for those items. It's too personal.

I know someone who really loves his JCP "Forever Battery" warranty. It was "warranted for as long as you own your car". I am sure that he has gone through a few on his (now-vintage) '72 Mustang. They tried to buy him out, but he declined.

J C Penney (and family) had a home here in Westport Connecticut along Beachside Ave. Headquarters was originally in NYC

I still have JC Penny sockets and wrenches. I've only cracked one socket (improperly used with an impact driver) but everything else has hung in there for decades. Very beefy and similar to old Craftsman tools.

The last time I was at a Penney was 2 years ago and the service was pathetic! The people working there looked like teenagers, untrained, unprofessional and took no pride in anything. I made no purchase and vowed to never go back. Then I heard a few months later the store was closing!😜 This is what happens when you allow fools to run your shop along with selling overpriced foreign made products. Definatly was not the same store most of us grew up with. Hell not even the same country most of us grew up in.

Most of my clothes are from JCP, and our mall store is always busy when I go there. I do miss the catalogs of the day from JCP, Sears and Montgomery Ward.

One J.C. Penney store here in New Port Richey closed three Years ago and has since turned into A part apartment complex. It was a mall and is still a mostly mall complex.It was owned by Simon Malls. It is still open despite its descent into failure.

J C Penny is still open in our local mall. It will be a sad day when they finally close.

Just purchased a suit at JC Penney here in Little Rock a couple of weeks ago. I suppose because of Covid, there were no salesclerks at any registers in their departments. My brother and I were literally walking throughout the store shouting "Hello" until someone said that you had to go to customer service to pay. BTW, after sales price and discounts, my suit that was well over $200.00 costed me around $140.00. I guess I'm old school, but I love bargains!

Former Associate of Store #308-7 Enfield, CT

JC Penney was my favorite store for years. I would order from the catalogs. Loved to go to the mall, and would head right to Penney's.