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Show SI 600,000 FOR ONE ORDER OF SHOES Twenty years ago J. C. Penney opened a general store in Kemmerer a small Wyoming town. In the firs vear of its existance it did a business of nearly $29,000. This Spring. Bays th8 New York Times of July -.-ml. the J C Penney Company, or wine" Mr Penney is the founder and Cnau-ma'n Cnau-ma'n of the Board of directors issued a single check foi $1 671,693.51 in payment tor shoes it had bought, and this check covered only a part of the company's purchases pur-chases from a single manufacturing concern. Shoes were bought trom several other manufacturers as well Mention 1s made of the check referred to, the largest yet drawn by the company, because it typifies the growth of the business in the twenty years that have passed sineo the first store was opened. Otliei Indications of its rapid growth are that the company now owns and operates 313 stores, located in twenty-seven different States, and that steps are being taken to open fifty-eight additional establishments during 1922. The store that has so far been opened neartest to New York City is located at Amsterdam, N Y Last year the total business done by the company """" mately $46,642,000 and, according to an estimate made yesterday by Mr Penney, sales for 1922, with the fifty-eight new stores in opera-lion, opera-lion, will reach about $55,000 000. Sixty percent of the buying of the Penney Company is done for the B all season, and it is estimated thai the total business it will place this season will approximate $20,000,000. In addition, several million dollar worth of goods have already been bought for next Spring. Excepting for shoes, of which the company-makes company-makes quite a specialty, the great bulk of the merchandise it sells is purchased in New York City, where buying and general offices are maintained main-tained at 370 Seventh Avenue. The shoe buying i3 centered in St. Louis, and the volume of the purchases is indicated by the fact that the total shoe business which the company expects to do this year will reach abcut $11,000,000. The retail prices at which the men's shoes are sold j range from $2.98 to $8.90, the gen-j eral lines handled including everything every-thing down to infants' -goods. Up to a few years ago it was the custom of the company to bring its store managers to New York City in a group. Here they would be divided divid-ed into several parties and would comb the market thoroughly for the kinds of merchandise wanted. At night they would meet and compare notes, and a good deal of friendly competition developed as to who would discover the best "buys." The rapid growth of the business, however, soon made it necessary to concentrate the buying in the hands of a selected staff of specialists. This staff now consists of thirty-three buyers, of whom twenty-five are located in New York City, two in St. I Paul, Minn., and six at bt. .Louis. They work under the general super- , vision of J. M. McDonald, Second Vice-president and merchandise manager. Mr. McDonald, who at one time was a store manager himself, him-self, not only controls the purchases (made for all stores, but also the amount of stock each carries. Instead of the store managers coming to New York City, as formerly, former-ly, semi-annual conventions for them are now held at St. Louis, St. Paul, Salt Lake City and Portland, Ore. At these meetings samples of the season's purchases are shown to the managers and heads of the various buying departments, and the selling points of the merchandise and other important details arei discussed. 1 Ten buyers and three Directors visit the conventions, and the former are already making preparations to show Spring merchandise on rhe trip they will make early in September. While all the stores opened to date have been in cities and towns of 30,000 population or less, the amount of merchandise sold in the course of a year is very large. In 1921, for example, a good deal more than 4,000,000 yards of muslin and sheetings were sold, while sales of ginghams reached almost 3,7 5 0,-000 0,-000 yards. Patrons of the stores in the group also bought nearly 6,000 miles of percales, or enough to reach from New York City to San Francisco and back again to Pittsburg. Pitts-burg. .More than 9,000,000 pair of hosiery were sold last year, as well as abc(ut -2,100,000 handkerchSell's and over 3,100,000 knitted undergarments. under-garments. Sales of women's and children's ready-to-wear garments reached 747,499 pieces. Four hundred thousand handbags for women were bought by the stores' customers, as well as 1,600,000 hair nets and 4,000,000 spools of cotton thread. In the men's merchandise last ,year the stores in the group showed tnese sales: iou.uvu oeus, 7 38 pairs of shoes, well over 1,000,-i 1,000,-i 000 hats and caps, more than 57,-000 57,-000 suits, 146,972 pairs of trousers, about 11,000 overcoats, 1,945,980 I men's and boys' shirts, 1,467,900 I pairs of men's and boys' overalls,, I 72,734 boys' suits and 95.450 pairs I of boys' pants. Large quantities of j various other goods for general use were also disposed of. In addition to the merchandise department, the local offices of the I company also house the sales de-I de-I partment, the accounting department i the real estate and store quipment I department, the educational depart-I depart-I meut, and the advertising depart-j depart-j ment. The employment depart- ment is in St. Louis. The sales department is in charge of G. G. I Hoag, an officer and Director and .under his direction come matters pertaining to selling in all the stores in the group, as well as the welfare I ot the sales employes. Counting .those in the various offices, the coni-'pany coni-'pany now employs more than 4,00o ; persons. The accounting department, depart-ment, the duties of which are ohvi-jous, ohvi-jous, is in charge of George II. Bush- nell, the company's First Vw-o i ident and Controller. Th estate and store equipment a 'eal ment finds locations for and ieparl" and equips new stores. It is ,n'eases by Ueln G. White. R. l heads the advertising Uen ' , 'mai where all the advertising -tor the stores is prepared. JUw The educational department , directed by Dr. F. B. Short wL S assisted by Professor D. Walter i 'S ton and Dr. Thomas Tapper n endeavor ot this department' k , have a personal contact with ev ' employe of the company, iu 0riJ? assist in their personal develomnom and to inspire them in their wort-It wort-It publishes an attractive momhl house organ, and has produced course in business trainrng mat h ' passed the scrutiny of some of th best writers on business matters well as the practical tests of expe? euced business men. This course which is only for employes of th company, is furnished to every sule ' ' man and saleswoman without co t" It is given for the double purpose of helping them serve tne pubH. more intelligently and aiding them in advancing to higher positions with the company. The company does business on a strictly cash basis, both in selling 1 and buying, regardless of the sizt ot the order placed. Payments are made three times a month. n0 deliveries are made of goods purchased pur-chased by customers, which is a factor iu keeping down the alreadv low overhead ot the slures. One of the most distinctive features o tho company's selling policy, however, ij that no stuie in the group is permit, ted to hold special sales ot any kind. The first price at which the goods are oftered is the last price, and executives execu-tives of the company say that, due to the low cost of doing business, the first prices aie so low that no letiuciions would be required h move the goods, even if they were permitted. Under the novel co-operative system sys-tem by which the company does Its business, the manager of almost every store owns a third interest ij the store he manages. Very often the money with which to buy this interest is advanced by the company, and the manager is allowed also to own a third interest in as many stores as he has the ability to develop. de-velop. Large amounts of money are distributed annually among the salesmen. The business of the company, according to Mr. Penney, was founded on the Golden Rule, and for some lime the stores were known as Golden Rule stores. While this name is no longer used, he asserted as-serted the principles on which the business was founded will never be changed. |