Normie C starts this series with a bold claim: That JCPenney is the best department store ever. This raises a lot of questions. Questions like… Really? Has Norm been to other department stores? Also, really??

In Part 1, Norm loads us up with all the context we’ll ever need about James Cash Penney Jr. A poor farm boy from Missouri, Penney would eventually create a chain of department stores with more than 2,000 locations worldwide. (If you’re able, please listen to this episode while wearing your finest St. John's Bay polo.)

Currey, Mary Elizabeth. Creating an American Institution: The Merchandising Genius of J.C. Penney. Dissertations-G, 1993.

Kruger, David Delbert. J.C. Penney: The Man, the Store, and American Agriculture. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2017.

Penney, James Cash. Fifty Years with the Golden Rule. Harper and Brothers, 1950.

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