JCPenney opened its doors in Cape Girardeau at 33 N. Main St. in 1924, 22 years after James Cash Penney opened his first department store in Kemmerer, Wyo., where frontier miners and farmers went for blue jeans and other work clothes, shoes, fabrics and sewing needs.

For the next week, JCPenney's -- which has since moved to William Street and then to Westfield Shoppingtown West Park -- will be celebrating 100 years of retailing in the U.S.

"You look at Ward's going out of business, Sears and Penney's are the only two left," said Cape Girardeau's Penney's store manager Gary McDowell. "It's quite an accomplishment."

The celebration runs from April 13-20 locally, with expanded hours and sales, McDowell said. Nationwide, the store is giving away 10 Chevy Suburbans, 100 carnival cruises and 100 gift cards. Customers can register at the store until April 21.

McDowell said that reaching the centennial mark is especially impressive in a business where fashions and consumers change taste overnight. McDowell said that the celebration of a century in retailing is an affirmation of its ability to change and adapt with the times and tastes of its consumers.

Humble beginnings

The company started out small, but today is the country's 43rd largest corporation. JCPenney Co., Inc., is one of America's largest department stores, employing roughly 270,000 associates. The company operates about 1,080 stores in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Started in Utah

Penney called his first store The Golden Rule originally. In 1913, his growing chain of stores was incorporated in Utah as the J.C. Penney Co. Inc., and the Golden Rule name was phased out. In 1914, the company moved its headquarters from Salt Lake City to New York City to be closer to its major sources of merchandise.

After World War II, Penney's followed its customers into the new suburbs that sprang up around major cities, and later into regional shopping malls.

The JCPenney Catalog made its debut in 1963 and has become the largest catalog in America, processing more than 2 million orders per week.

According to Southeast Missourian archives, the Penney's store opened on a Saturday, Aug. 9, in 1924. The store occupied the former Sherman building on Main Street, which at the time was considered one of the best mercantile buildings in the city.

J.B. Carpenter, who came here from Salt Lake where he was connected with a Penney's, was the store's first manager. The store later moved to another site on Main Street and then to 2103 William where Du'Shell Furniture is now. Later it moved to the mall.

"Mr. Penney had the attitude that when you take good care of customers, profits take good care of themselves," said Allen Questrom, chairman of the company that is now based in Plano, Texas. "And our history bears him out."