KEMMERER, WYO. — James Cash Penney was 27 years old with a wife and child when he opened his soft goods store in this bustling coal-mining town. Like entrepreneurs since the dawn of time, he had a new plan. Instead of selling goods on credit and haggling with the customers over price — both entrenched business customs of the day — he would sell everything at the same price ("One price" he called it) and on strictly a cash basis ("Cash and carry" he called it).

Experts scoffed. People predicted he'd be out of business in a month. Coal miners bought virtually everything at the company store — where they could buy on credit. Even the saloons, all 14 of them, served drinks on a tab.

Undaunted, the new businessman in town set up shop, selling genuine Levi Strauss jeans for 58 cents, ladies shoes for 49 cents a pair and fine men's suits for $9.95.

The first day he was open he did an astonishing $466.59 worth of business.

That was on Monday, April 14, 1902.

J.C. Penney never looked back.


That original JC Penney store is still operational here in Kemmerer. There have been three different buildings since 1902, all within the same block, but business in the "Mother Store" has never ceased since J.C. got it started. He called it the "Golden Rule Store" at first, which is what he also called stores he opened in nearby Cumberland and Rock Springs. It wouldn't be until 1912 that the name would change to J.C. Penney. By that time there were 22 stores in the chain and James Cash had set up headquarters 125 miles west in Salt Lake City. (The name would be further streamlined to JC Penney in the 1970s, when the chain was nearing 2,000 stores.)

Utah's first Golden Rule/Penneys store was in Bingham Canyon in 1908; another soon followed in Eureka in 1909.

Not only do those stores no longer exist, neither do the boomtowns that supported them.

But in Kemmerer, both store and town are still going strong.

If you walk into the Kemmerer Penneys and squint, you can talk yourself into believing it's 1902 all over again. That's because of a renovation project in 1990 that returned the store to its early look, complete with original oak cabinetry and hardwood floors. Scattered throughout are relics from "the old days," including a 1910 cash register and a still-functioning "Lamson Message Delivery System," which transfers cash from the cashier's desk to the manager's office in the balcony.

Levi Strauss jeans are no longer 58 cents, however.


Keith Johnson is the current manager of "The Mother Store," and he reports there isn't a single thing planned for the store's 100th birthday on April 14.

That's because April 14 is on Sunday this year, and the store will be closed.

But Saturday, April 13, is a different story.

A cake-cutting is scheduled at the store at 2 p.m., after which tours of the nearby historical home of James Cash Penney will take place, along with formal dedications of the store's first two locations (No. 1 is now a parking lot, and No. 2 is an old building down the street from No. 3.)

On Saturday night an anniversary dinner is scheduled at Eagle's Hall. The world is invited (call 1-888-300-3413). Cost is $15 a plate.

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Last but not least, this weekend there will be a mother store of a sale. Everything in the historic old place drastically reduced.

Credit cards accepted.

Times change.


Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@axes to 801-237-2527.

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