JC Penny Makeover

Background on U.S. Department Stores and Background on J.C. Penney

Dr. Robert Tamilia (Marketing professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal) explains that the department store in America not only "…revolutionized the retail store," and the shopping experience, and the available of products and promotional techniques, the department store contributed in a major way to the evolution of "...hiring practices and inventory control procedures" (Tamilia, 2002, p. 3). Moreover, Tamilia writes that the department store was one of society's more "democratic institutions" and besides offering customer services that had previously been unheard of (restaurants, restrooms and reading rooms) the department store in America "…liberated women and gave women their rightful place in society."

In fact, the author continues, because of department stores, jobs became available for women that "opened career opportunities" in various professional fields and department stores "…changed society's values in accepting that women could...
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