J.C. Penney marks 50 years at Chillicothe Mall

CHILLICOTHE - When J.C. Penney opened its doors to holiday shoppers Thanksgiving Day, it marked the start of the 50th holiday season the clothing chain has launched in the Chillicothe Mall on North Bridge Street.

When the store made the move on Oct. 6, 1965, from its original location on Paint Street — a location it had occupied since its original opening in October of 1923 — to its current home, the "season's new dresses" cost between $10.90 and $24.75 and the newest fall coats for women came in around $30. It was an age long before online shopping, where newspaper advertising and catalogs were king for drawing people into the store.

Even today, when customers can get online access to everything in the store chain's inventory, current store general manager Doyd Wycinski said he is reminded of the popularity of those original promotional products.

"It's incredible how many people still ask for the J.C. Penney Big Book," Wycinski said.

Wycinski has been with the retail chain for 20 years, but has been in charge of the Chillicothe store for the past four. Since the store's move to the Chillicothe Mall, there have been plenty of changes in retail — prices, customer service and payment options, online shopping. Wycinski said the biggest change for the chain is still developing. What J.C. Penney terms an Omnichannel seamless shopping center for customers involves creating an experience in which what a customer sees in the brick-and-mortar stores is complemented by what he or she sees on jcpenney.com and what can be found on mobile devices.

"It's that total experience of what J.C. Penney has to offer," Wycinski said.

He added that the retail environment in the Chillicothe Mall and all along North Bridge Street has contributed to the long-term success of establishments like J.C. Penney, Recent development such as that in the nearby recently opened Guernsey Crossing are a testament to that environment.

In its 92-year history in Chillicothe, the store chain has had 14 general managers. The longest-serving was Ellsworth Jach, from 1947 to 1965, followed by William Reitz from 1972 to 1987.

The store chain entered the Black Friday sales weekend with the top ranking in personal finance website WalletHub's look at Black Friday deals. The website surveyed 8,000 deals from 30 of the biggest retailers to show which retailers offer the largest advertised discounts for each product category, and J.C. Penney took the top spot. Other stores with a Chillicothe presence placing in the top 10 were Kohl's at No. 2 and Kmart at No. 7.

While there are no immediate plans to make changes to the Chillicothe store, Wycinski said the company is constantly looking to the future in terms of market opportunities and market share access at locations across the country.