Looking At JCPenney

Retail_247

In this blog we will be looking at JCPenney locations of past and present.

101 W Water St, Decorah, IA 52101

The store was open for over 90 years before closing in 2017

212 E 2nd St, The Dalles, OR 97058

This store originally opened in 1914, making it 103 years old before it closed

This store also closed in 2017

225 Main Ave N, Thief River Falls, MN 56701

The infamous JCPenney "Funky P"

This store was also a victim of the 2017 store closures

Funny enough even though this JCPenney is in the middle of downtown, it still has to compete with Sears (Hometown Store franchise)

Sears outlasted Penney's

But both have since been repurposed

124 S Main St, Pendleton, OR 97801

This store was opened in 1911 and operated for 106 before closing

It was another victim of the 2017 store closures

201 S Main St, Bishop, CA 93514

Like all of the other locations so far, store was closed by 2017

Building has since converted into a Family Dollar store

321 Main St, Fort Morgan, CO 80701
This store opened way back in 1914 and was open for 103 years

Store was closed in 2017

1500 Kansas Ave, Great Bend, KS 67530

This location originally opened in 1966 and was open for 51 years before closing

The signs on this store are so tiny lol

This store closed in 2017

The JCPenney brand name still lingers on this location

Let's take a break from the older, downtown locations for a bit.

100 Broadway St, Sterling, CO 80751

This location also closed in 2017

Huh

1904 E 9th Ave, Winfield, KS 67156

This store (of course) closed in 2017. The first time I did research on this location, I couldn't even tell where JCPenney was

Doesn't this look out of place? This has to be the smallest Penney's that I've ever seen

This store reminds me of an 80's RadioShack

Before

After

1858 Service Dr, Winona, MN 55987

Immediately coming across this location, something felt... off...

Whats this huge building next to Penney's?

How old is this sign? And what's with the the sign above it?

After doing some quick research, I found my answers.

Winona Daily News, 1975
Image via www.newspapers.com (original link to ad)

As it turns out, this store was originally a JCPenney Family Store & Supermarket. 

Yes, you read that right, JCPenney supermarket. Believe it or not, this wasn't the only one either. They had several of them (less than 10 I believe? but I could be wrong). They were all closed in 1977.

This gargantuan building next to JCPenney was originally part of Penney's. This whole building used to be one store, until they downgraded to a smaller location.

Keep in mind not only was this a Family Store & Supermarket, but it was also a JCPenney in the 70's. Up until 1983, they sold Large Appliances, Electronics, Tools, Auto Supplies & more (Basically think of it as a poor mans Sears). So, the stores back then were probably much larger in size than the later stores built after '83.

Back to the sign, I can't make out exactly what it says, but it says something "foods", so I'm assuming that a local food store took over the old JCPenney Supermarket space

Going back to 2008, it would appear that quite literally nothing has changed, that food place must've been abandoned for a while...

Like I said, they downgraded to a smaller location

I thought these parking lot lights were kind of interesting (reminds me of the one that Two Guys used to have)

Once again, another store that closed during the 2017 round of closures

That road sign was eventually removed

117 E Main St, Sidney, MT 59270

This store originally opened in 1927 and was open for 90 years before closing in 2017

Check out that vintage Penney's sign...

...which was never removed

413 Dakota Ave, Wahpeton, ND 58075

One store, 3 signs, 3 separate entrances

I'd have to assume that JCPenney expanded into the surrounding spaces, resulting in what basically looks like 3 separate versions of the same store right next to each other

Photo of the store in 2013

if it weren't for that little JCPenney logo banner, I'd just assume that the store closed for good. At first I thought the store was going through a remodel...

...But the store would undergo a closure in 2017 and still looked the same...

The building is currently taken up by a place called... The Golden Rule?

Reminds me another chain that also by the name name of "The Golden Rule". They were a chain of department stores that originally opened in 1902, but in 1913 they changed their name... to JCPenney.

I wonder if whoever is running this store was aware of this, or if it's just some sort of weird coincidence.

201-209 W C St, McCook, NE 69001

Closed 2017

1343 Commercial St, Astoria, OR 97103

The store was closed in 2017

However, the original JCPenney sign was never taken down, even after a new tenant moved into the  building

1309 Adams Ave, La Grande, OR 97850

This store was open for a little over 100 years before closing in 2017

324 E San Antonio Ave, El Paso, TX 79901

Closed 2017

234 N Main St, Sheridan, WY 82801

Closed 2017

300 S Main St, McAllen, TX 78501

Closed 2017

621 Main St, Alamosa, CO 81101

Store was closed in 2019

137 Basin St NW, Ephrata, WA 98823

This store closed sometime in the early 2000's and has been abandoned ever since

403 Main St, Williston, ND 58801

This store originally opened in 1916 and is over 100 years old

Even after over 100 years, this store is still currently open and operating

401 Main St W, Ashland, WI 54806

Store closed in 2011

78 E Main St, Price, UT 84501

The store was over 100 years old before closing in 2016

Even after closing, after all those years, all of these original signs still remain on the building

6420 Pacific Blvd, Huntington Park, CA 90255

This store (which is still open) originally opened in 1949 and is currently 73 years old

1140 San Fernando Rd, San Fernando, CA 91340

(Photo from 2011)

This store originally opened in 1953 and was open for 59 years before closure

Even after closing in 2012, all of the original signs are still on the building to this day

315 E 2nd St, Calexico, CA 92231

This location originally opened in 1929

It closed in 2018

1228 Main St, Delano, CA 93215

The store was closed in 2020

318 E Fairmount Ave, Lakewood, NY 14750

The way the store looks isn't what makes it interesting, it's more or less the story behind it.

JCPenney originally opened with the Chautauqua Mall in 1971 (Photo source)

In 1986, JCPenney would close their store at the mall

The space would later be taken up by discounter Jamesway (Photo source)

Jamesway would close in 1993 (2 years before the whole chain went under)

After Jamesway left, the space was later taken up by... JCPenney? Again?

Yeah... they left the mall, than they came back...

JCPenney discontinued their catalog in 2009

They're still at the mall to this day

In between the JCPenney and an alternate entrance to the mall there's (what I'm assuming is) the former Penney's auto center?

722 J C Penney Dr, Kemmerer, WY 83101

This is the first and original JCPenney store. This location originally opened in 1902 and is currently 120 years old. This store is still open and operating to this day.

5886 MO-100, Washington, MO 63090

This building here was originally the home of Walmart's first ever Supercenter

Not sure if this was the entrance to their Garden Center or their Auto Center

Maybe the Auto Center was behind the Garden Center

Walmart moved to a new location up the street

1201 S Dirksen Pkwy, Springfield, IL 62703

This store opened in 1971 as a relocation from an older, downtown, location.

Former Garden Center & Auto Center bays

JCPenney closed all of their remining auto centers in 1983

I made a separate post about this location (which contains a few more photos)

140 NY-104 Ste A, Oswego, NY 13126

Former W.T. Grant

The store would've looked something like this as Grant's

It was announced on June 4th, 2020 that this store was set to permanently close. On June 23rd (a little over 2 weeks later), JCPenney went back on that decision and it was announced that the store would not close. Three years went by, and in January of 2023 another, newer, announcement came out that this store, would in fact, be closing.

The store would get a slight remodel in 2019, however, the original Grant's building design is still in place

1386 E Court St Seguin TX 78155

This quaint little JCPenney building here was originally a Kmart, which was closed in 1990

Speaking of closed, this store was closed in 2017 and was later converted into a Bealls, which has also since closed

2300 E Jackson, Macomb, IL 61455

Another former Walmart

The store was closed in 2017 and has since been converted into a lumber store

Walmart moved to a new supercenter literally right next door

135 Bockman Dr, Fort Collins, CO 80525

This building here originally started out as a Shopko

Shopko store in Houghton, MI for reference

Shopko closed this location in 2005

JCPenney closed this location in 2020

They never took down any of their signs after closure for some reason

259 Indian Mound Dr, Mt Sterling, KY 40353

Another former (older) Walmart location

As per usual for Walmart, they just moved to a new supercenter down the road

1718 E Blvd, Kokomo, IN 46902

This was one of the very few stores to have this all lowercase logo, which was used for only a few months during 2013. This location was closed in 2020 and has since been turned into a Gabe's store.

7171 N Davis Hwy and, FL-10, Pensacola, FL 32504

This is, as far as I know, the only other store to use this logo

100 S County Center Way, St. Louis, MO 63129

This store has a design on the front of it...

Can you tell what it is? (I couldn't at first)

It's the "Funky P"! from the older JCPenney logo

This store has 3 entrances (2 side entrances and a main entrance)

Both of the side entrances still proudly sport the Funky P symbol, but the main entrance doesn't

But it used to

This location includes an Optical department and a portrait studio, which is pretty typical. Most, if not all, JCPenney stores have both.

What's not typical, however, is both of those departments being in a completely separate building, outside of the store

I'm pretty sure this is the former Auto Center, too

That's one way to reuse the building, I guess...

I'm not sure if they didn't take up the entire building, or if the windows are simply blocked by something

1050 E 23rd St, Fremont, NE 68025

Former Auto Center

This store had not 1, but 2 vintage Penneys signs on the back of the building

This store closed in 2017
(Why did JCPenney close most of their more interesting locations in that year specifically?)

The store has since been turned into Dunham's Sports (the local auto shop has also since closed)

Even with Dunham's operating out of the building, the spirit of Penneys still remains with a labelscar all the way in the back of the building (although, it's kind of hard to make out in this photo)

1600 S Azusa Ave, City of Industry, CA 91748

This former JCPenney location closed in 1996, so what's interesting and notable about it?

Well, it's the JCPenney from Back To The Future

This store was located at the Puente Hills Mall

Twin Peaks Mall

W 151st St Harvey, IL 60426

Speaking of JCPenney in movies, have you ever seen the movie Blues Brothers? JCPenney was there too, but like Back To The Future, it was filmed at an actual mall. That mall being the Dixie Square Mall.

The mall officially closed in 1978, with Penney's closing a year later.

A few months after JCPenney closed, Universal Studios temporarily rented out the mall for filming.

Here's the fake JCPenney store from the movie. The actual store never got that updated logo, it had the Penney's "Funky P" logo up until closure.

The store, along with the entire mall, has since been demolished and is currently an empty lot

504 N Adams St, Carroll, IA 51401

This downtown location closed in 2020

None of the signs were taken off of the building for some reason

4481 S White Mountain Rd Ste 5, Show Low, AZ 85901

Unique looking entrance

...Or, Entrances, plural

It almost looks likes there's 2 separate JCPenney stores right next to each other

I don't know why it's set up like this, maybe they expanded into an abandoned space next door and didn't feel like remodeling

5100 Kings Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11234

We've seen how long a JCPenney can last, with a good handful of their older downtown locations lasting 90 to over 100 years old, but what about when the opposite happens?

Welcome to the King's Mall

The mall originally opened in 1970 with Alexander's being one of the main anchors. Alexander's went out of business in 1992 after being open for 22 years. Sears would take the space space in 1997

Sears would close their store at the mall in 2016, after operating for 19 years

JCPenney would have their grand opening in 2018

Alexander's lasted 22 years, and Sears was open for 19 years, 

JCPenney was only open for 2.

Out of all the JCPenney stores that came and went over the years, this one has to be shortest lasting store in their entire history. (I don't know how else to word it but you know what I mean)

1101 Melbourne Rd Ste 5000, Hurst, TX 76053

The is the first (and as far as I know, the only) store to get the "Penney's" concept remodel, which was introduced in 2019.

The store used to look like this

Before

After

640 Niblack Blvd, Vincennes, IN 47591

Former W.T. Grant

Store closed in 2020

1409 W Ehringhaus St, Elizabeth City, NC 27909

Former W.T. Grant

Closed 2015

Former Grant's Auto Center, which was never used by JCPenney

The entire building has since been torn down

1224 E Tipton St, Seymour, IN 47274

Heres another former W.T. Grant

JCPenney changed nothing that was left over from the days of Grants

The store would've looked something like this

Possibly the former Grants restaurant entrance?

408 E Mitchell St, Petoskey, MI 49770

This store opened in 1926 and was open for 94 years before closing in 2020

406 W 5th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501

This store opened in 1962 and is currently the only JCPenney store in the state of Alaska

Throughout the companies entire history, they only had 3 stores in Alaska

610 Cushman St, Fairbanks, AK 99701

This was the other full line store, it closed in 1998

3202 Arctic Blvd Anchorage, AK 99503

Their 3rd Alaskan location wasn't your typical JCPenney department store, rather it was a JCPenney Furniture... Gallery? (are they trying to be like Macy's or something?)

The store was closed in 2019

Ubicada en el sector norte del mall Alto, Av. Pdte. Kennedy 9001, 7550000 Las Condes, Región Metropolitana, Chile

This was JCPenney's first any only location in the country of Chile. It opened in 1995 and was closed in 1999.

125 S Meridian #5917, Puyallup, WA 98371

I'm not sure when this store originally closed

But even after all of these years serving as an antique store, there's an original JCPenney Co. sign on the back of the building. Maybe the owners of the building consider the sign to be an antique so they kept it around.

222 5th Ave, Des Moines, IA 50309

Sam Walton, Yes, the founder of Walmart, worked at this store for 18 moths starting in 1940.

JCPenney moved to a new location in 1971

137 Spotsylvania Mall Dr, Fredericksburg, VA 22407

This store is part of the Spotsylvania Towne Centre, a mall with 2 JCPenney locations

Here's the main JCPenney store / JCPenney #1

And heres JCPenney #2

The main store was built from the ground up and opened in the early 80's. The 2nd store opened in the late 90s, originally started out as an FW Woolworth, doesn't have an exterior entrance, and serves as a "Men's & Home Store"

That's common for Macy's, but I've never seen it with JCPenney

Image via https://mallseeker.com/

Here's an image of the mall's map, which prominently features 2 JCPenney stores (also that Sears location is long gone)

67 Lakewood Ctr Mall, Lakewood, CA 90712

Look at how monumental this building is

once again, Another store that's sporting the "Funky P" design out front

925 Washington Ave, Detroit Lakes, MN 56501

Another older, downtown, location which is currently still operating

Update: This store will 2023, after being open for a grand total of 97 years, originally opening way back in 1921

This location has a weird side entrance which is behind another building

I doubt that anyone uses this entrance

224 N Logan Blvd, Burnham, PA 17009

This was originally an old Town & Country discount store location, which was later converted into a Kmart, which than closed in late 1981

175 Yorktown S C, Lombard, IL 60148

This store has basically been untouched since it opened

Funky P and all

4273 Westland Mall Columbus, OH 43228

JCPenney opened with the Westland Mall in 1969

The store moved to a new location in 1997 and has remained vacant ever since, with the mall closing in 2012

Possible vintage Penneys labelscar?

Seems possible considering the front of the store is decked out with this these symbols, each of them being made with 4 funky P's

Classic old school department store architecture

Former Auto Center

JCPenney sold most of their remaining Auto Center locations to Firestone, I guess this was one of them

4300 Tuscarawas St W, Canton, OH 44708

Before I show the store, I just need to point out the shopping center that it's in, for comparison reasons

For starters, you have this Walmart, which is repainted and remodeled up to their modern standards

Next to that is the Canton Centre, a former shopping mall which has since been converted into a commons center / power center (they basically turned the indoor mall into an outdoor plaza)

The commons center is updated to modern standards

Everything in this center is updated and doesn't have an outdated look to it

...Except for the JCPenney which looks like it hasn't changed since it opened

I felt like I had to compare how modern everything else in the shopping center is when compared to this store, which is still trudging along, by the way.

It just looks so out of place lol

Next to the old Penneys is all thats left of the Canton Center mall

Including this old Kaufmann's / Macy's, which is being turned into a storage facility so it might be remodeled as well, meaning that JCPenney will stick out even more than it already does

In between those two buildings is this, which look like, garage bays?

and no, this wasn't the JCPenney Auto Center

This was

7207 N, 7207 Grape Rd, Granger, IN 46530

JCPenney had stand alone Home Stores, all of which have since closed. Not sure when, or why.

This location in particular was an old Children's Palace toy store

It would also appear that this Home Store didn't technically close, rather, it moved to a new location

5532 Springdale Ave Pleasanton, CA 94588

This location originally started out as a BEST Catalog Showroom store

Unique looking architecture they got going on here, which is what BEST was known for, having weird and quirky looking stores.

The entire plaza has this look too

It's not even a full line JCPenney store and they named the plaza after it... Also, notice the sign on the actual store in the background (It's kind of hard to make out but its above the first "A" in "Plaza")

Notice how the sign on the building is gone, yet the plaza name hasn't been removed or changed. That was in December of 2020

Here's a photo from April of 2021, the store has been gone for months yet it's still called "JCPenney Plaza"

I don't know why JCPenney decided to dedicate a Home Store right here specifically

Did they not have enough room in their full line store that's literally in the mall across the street?

(It would also appear that the entire Home Store plaza was torn down)

732 Freeman Ln, Grass Valley, CA 95949

This isn't like the Show Low (AZ) store where it's one building with 2 entrances, no. It's more like the Fredericksburg (MD) location where it's 2 separate stores, with 2 separate purposes

To the left, we have the JCPenney Mens, Childrens & Home store.

Next to that is a former Mattress store & Payless shoes

Followed by JCPenney store #2, the Women's & Sephora store (this was before Sephora jumped ship over to Kohl's.) This actually used to the the Women's & Home store before Sephora moved in.

685 Contra Costa Blvd, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

Here's another Home Store

This location is also a former Best Catalog Showroom location, although this was a concept store with a stronger focus on electronics

After closure

Again, I don't know why JCPenney decided to have an entire separate Home Store when they could've probably just used their regular full line store across the street instead.

Speaking of which,

484 Sun Valley Mall, Concord, CA 94520

There was nothing particularly interesting about the Pleasanton location (which was also across from a former Home Store), but I did notice something about the Concord store. 

I intended to take a quick look at this store when something caught my eye

Hmm...

7601 E Frontage Rd, Overland Park, KS 66204

This store has been operating as an outlet location since it opened in the early 1970's.

The building originally started out as a G.E.M. store

The store was rebranded as JC's 5 Star Outlet before JCPenney announced that they were closing all of their outlet stores in 2013

The building stayed abandoned for several years before eventually becoming Floor & Decor

17610 East 39th St S, Independence, MO 64055

This store originally started out as Garden Ridge, a chain of home decor stores that would later change their name to At Home

This store closed in 2020

The original orange Paint from Garden Ridge seems to be shining through

312 W Prien Lake Rd, Lake Charles, LA 70601

This was another store that featured a JCPenney supermarket

(Image of Newspaper ad for the supermarket via Facebook)

The store apparently downsized

With TJ Maxx & HomeGoods taking the remaining space

The HomeGoods portion looks to be in the former Auto Center

Looking towards the back of the building

The store has some old and faded out signage

5500 Frontage Rd, Forest Park, GA 30297

There's a lot to unpack here

Let's start off with the Furniture Outlet

Interesting building design

The Funky P carved in stone

I believe that this was originally a regular, full line JCPenney store that was later downgraded into a furniture outlet store

It's a pretty large store too

Here's a fantastic video touring the inside of the store from 2018

At one point before it was a furniture store, the building served as a regular outlet store

Even though there was already one in the parking lot?

The building was eventually rebranded as JC's 5 Star Outlet before it closed and reopened as a Furniture Outlet, which has also since closed

So to summarize, in a nutshell, the history for that specific building in chronological order was; 

JCPenney / Outlet store / JC's 5 Star Outlet / Furniture Outlet / Closed

Here's the outlet store, which is located in a separate building in the parking lot, or should I say, the other outlet store

The build appears to be for sale in 2012, one year before all of the outlet stores were closed

Vintage looking sign

What's with these overhang things above the entrances? Reminds me of JCPenney's old Auto Centers

Were these garage bays? Maybe this was an old Auto Center...

The building currently looks to be abandoned

"Catalog Associate"
"Outlet Store"
"Catalog Personnel"

I guess this was a Catalog office / store as well

Odd design for a road sign

Vintage light fixtures

And last, but not least, for this location

The Furniture Outlet might be closed, and the regular Outlet store is long gone, but the distribution center (as of writing this) seems to be doing well and is still operating to this day

190 E Glendale Ave, Sparks, NV 89431

Another Outlet Store location

There's not much to say about this store other than how small it is

The building has since been turned into a thrift store

5555 Scarborough Blvd, Columbus, OH 43232

This Outlet Store location closed with all of the other ones in 2013

I don't think any other retailer will be moving into this property considering that even though the store is closed JCPenney still owns the building

Mainly due to the fact that this location was also connected to another one of their distribution centers, which is still open and operating

1051 Green Acres Mall, Valley Stream, NY 11581

Odd looking building, no? The first time I saw this store I thought that it was originally something else

But no, they're an original anchor to the mall

None of the other stores at the mall look like this either

This store closed in 2020 and has sine been subdivided

9500 SW Washington Square Rd, Portland, OR 97223

The store has a unique design to it

But the main reason why I point is out is because of this small furniture store in the parking lot

Appliances don't count as furniture, though

The store has since closed

20700 Avalon Blvd, Carson, CA 90746

Interesting architecture

2200 N Maple Ave Ste 2204, Rapid City, SD 57701

These 2 photos are from 2011, before the store went through a remodel

When JCPenney was remodeling their store, they weren't able to operate out of it. Fortunately for them, they found a space to inhabit

...In the old Target location on the other side of the mall

Target closed this location in 2008

This was only temporary for JCPenney, however,

As they would eventually move back into their original space after a few years with the old Target location later being converted into an At Home store

Most of the remodel was done on the inside of the building with the only thing changing on the outside was a newer sign

The original Auto Center is even still in place

8 days after posting this blog, I found some more contenders.

150 Pearl Nix Pkwy, Gainesville, GA 30501

This store closed in 2020, yet the sign was never taken down

More Funky P symbols

The sign for the mall uses the short lived alternate logo
(Also that Sears has been closed since 2019)

1501 Ward Blvd #300, Wilson, NC 27893

This store was part of the Wilson Mall, which closed in 2013 and has been mostly abandoned ever since. JCPenney closed 2 years later in 2015

Like the last location, none of the signs were taken down after the store closed for some reason

I'm assuming that this former Firestone close by was originally the JCPenney auto center

3405 E State St, Hermitage, PA 16148

You might be wondering when this store closed, well...

...It didn't (at the time)

As of posting this, this store is still open and operating
I originally posted this blog in November of 2022, with the announcement of this store closing being made in January of 2024.

I have no idea what this space was used for

Why is there a random picnic bench here? Kind of a weird place to sit, no?

This tiny sign to the right of the entrance is the only sign on the entire building

Maybe this was their former auto center? Weird considering it's near the front of the mall while the store is all the way in the back

This is the other JCPenney sign, which is next to the main entrance of the mall

118 E Main St, Cut Bank, MT 59427

Thism store opened in 1955 and was 59 years before it closed

The store was closed in 2014

This store was closed in 2012

The old JCPenney store was eventually converted into a Burlington

The new store right next to the old one seemed to be doing just fine

This building was originally built as Boscov's but for one reason or another they never actually opened

This store was closed in 2020

50 Hampton Village Plaza, St. Louis, MO 63109

This store (apparently) opened all the way back in 1949!

Looking at all of the other stores in the plaza, you wouldn't even be able to tell how old that store actually is

Unfortunately for this store, it met its end in 2017 after being open for 68 years

The building has since been converted into a Ross Dress For Less store

The subsidiaries of Penney's

The "looking at [store]" series on my blog never goes this in-depth (And it rarely will in the future) but I feel that it's important to mention in this case. JCPenney was more experimental than one would think.

In this section, we'll be taking a look at chains that JCPenney operated, that weren't, well, JCPenney.

JCPenney supermarkets

Former JCPenney Family Store & Supermarket
(Already featured)

As I've previously mentioned, JCPenney did test out their own supermarket concept, which was shut down by 1977. Here's some locations that I've gathered:

Family Store & Supermarket:

1858 Service Dr, Winona, MN 55987

Was part of JCP, became local food store (closed), JCP closed in 2017

Supermarket:

496 W Prien Lake Rd, Lake Charles, LA 70601

JCP is currently still open and operating at this location

Supermrket:

301 Mexico Blvd, Brownsville, TX 78520

Former Amigoland Mall

Globe Discount City Supermarkets:

555 E Grant Rd, Tucson, AZ 85705

5255 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85711

The last 2 locations weren't part of JCPenney, rather, they were part of Globe Shoppers City, a former, regional discount dept. store chain. However, both of the Globe supermarkets were operated by Supermarkets Interstate, which was owned by JCPenney. So, the grocery stores, while not part of JCPenney, were actually ran by Penney's themselves under their Supermarkets Interstate division.

The Treasury Discount Department Store

Former Treasury Store

3130 Lamar Ave, Memphis, TN 38114

The Treasury was a chain of discount department stores that were originally founded in 1962. The chain would exist for less than a year before it was acquired by JCPenney as their entry into the Discount store industry.

The stores were known for their unique squiggly roof design.

(Image via Google Earth)

JCPenney didn't see enough profit from The Treasury, shutting the chain down, and closing all of their remaining locations in 1981.

Possible Treasury Auto Center?

Former Treasury store

11000 S Cicero Ave, Oak Lawn, IL 60453

This Treasury location was later a Kmart, who for some reason didn't remodel anything, including the original roof. This building has since been torn down.

Former treasury Store

3120 Lamar Ave, Memphis, TN 38114

Most former Treasury store buildings have since been remodeled or completely torn down, but there's still a few squiggle roof buildings if you know where to look

Treasure Island Discount Department Store

Treasure Island was The Treasury under a different name, due to copyright reasons. Funny thing is, The Treasury went out of business in 1981, but Treasure Island (assumingly not under JCPenney ownership), lasted up until the late 90's, and even the early 2000's Wikipedia claims that they lasted up until 2008. However, by that far in the chains history, they weren't a discount department store and their stores had a much smaller footprint.

Here's some of the original discount department store locations

Former treasure island store

3850 Jonesboro Rd, Atlanta, GA 30354

Former Treasure Island store
1901 Terrell Mill Rd, Marietta, GA 30067

The plaza is still currently known as "Treasure Island Shopping Center"

Even after becoming Value City, then Burlington, the original squiggly roof still remains, on the inside and outside of the store

Former Treasure Island store
12575 W Capitol Dr, Brookfield, WI 53005

Eventually, Treasure Island would ditch the infamous squiggly roof design, and switch to this wood panel design

This location in particular has since been remodeled

Former Treasure Island store

2625 S 108th St, West Allis, WI 53227

Former Treasure Island store

3701 S 27th St, Milwaukee, WI 53221

Former Treasure Island store
9040 N Green Bay Rd, Brown Deer, WI 53209

Former Treasure Island store

5600 Buford Hwy NE Ste 1, Doraville, GA 30340

Former Treasure Island store

4380 Memorial Dr, Decatur, GA 30032

These 2 former Treasure Island locations expanded and let another retailer open next to their main store. In these two cases, that retailer was a brand new chain of hardware stores, known as "The Home Depot". Both of those new stores had the same squiggly roof on the inside and out.

So in some sort of weird way, The Home Depot kind of got help started via Treasure Island

1308 Rte 202, NJ-23, Wayne, NJ 07470

Here's an example showing one of the newer stores, which were still open by the early 2000's

Image via an archive of their old website from 2001

By this point, the discounting days of the chain were long gone, and I guess that they we're trying to do something similar to Pier 1 Imports

510 NJ-18, East Brunswick, NJ 08816

Image from 2007

Drug Stores

Former Treasury Drug store

249 Scenic Hwy S, Lawrenceville, GA 30045

But the story with The Treasury stores doesn't end there, they also had their own stand alone drug stores, which were all closed and converted to Eckerd by 1997.

Former Thrift Drug store

200 Greater Butler Mart, Butler, PA 16001

Thrift Drug originally started in 1935, was acquired by JCPenney in 1968, and closed in 1997 when all of the remaining locations were converted into Eckerd.

Former Fay's drug store location
1222 Arsenal St, Watertown, NY 13601

Fay's was another chain of drug stores. They originally opened in 1958 and were acquired by JCPenney in 1996, with the remainder of the chain closing a year later in 1997 after all of the remaining locations were converted into Eckerd.

Former Genovese location
541 W 235th St, The Bronx, NY 10463

Genovese was yet another chain of drug stores. They were originally established in 1924, acquired by JCPenney in 1998, became part of Eckerd in 2000, and finally went out of business in 2003 after all remaining locations were converted into Eckerd locations.

Notice how all of these former JCPenney-owned drug store chains became Eckerd?

Well, there's a reason for that

Former Eckerd location
810 Sunset Rd, Burlington, NJ 08016

Eckerd is one of the more well known former drug store chains. They started in 1898, with JCPenney acquiring them in 1996. The company was spun off in 2004. They would later merge with the Brooks Pharmacy chain of New England

Former Brooks Pharmacy location

10 Concourse W, Waterville, ME 04901

The merger would create Brooks/Eckerd Corp. Both chains would operate simultaneously as they both had stores in different markets. Both Eckerd & Brooks would meet their end as the entire company was acquired by Rite Aid in 2006, and by 2007, all stores would be converted to the Rite Aid banner.

And last,

Former Kerr Drug store
1106 Kingold Blvd, Snow Hill, NC 28580

This chain ended up differently from all of the other ones. The Kerr Drug store chain was founded in 1951 and was acquired by JCPenney in 1995. That acquisition didn't last long as they would spin off the company in 1997, thereby escaping Eckerd's grasp.

Kerr Drug was able to hold out all the way until 2013, when it was acquired by Walgreens, in which all stores were converted into the Walgreens banner. (This location in particular has since closed.)

Well, That's the end of this post.

This blog is longer than what I usually post, in fact, this is the longest blog post that I've ever made this far (it's even longer than my Dayton Ohio post!) so if you made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading. If you didn't look through the entire post, thanks for reading it anyway.

None of these photos are mine. All of these images are from Google street view / Google Maps unless stated otherwise. All creidt goes to them and all of the other respective sources.