May 7 – Golden Rule Stores
In 1902, a young man moved from Missouri to Wyoming to open a dry goods store in a town that had 21 saloons and not much else. He opened three more of these over the next few years, hired a salesman who quickly became a store manager and between the two of these men had 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain states by 1912. There were 120 stores by 1920 and 1400 stores by 1929.
He operated his business based on lessons learned from his father, a Baptist preacher. He was dedicated to the Golden Rule, also believing that “unselfishness pays because it engenders unselfishness.” The stores were called “Golden Rule Stores” until unscrupulous business owners tried to cash in on the same name. He incorporated into his own name and that is the company name we recognize today.
James Cash Penney maintained the growth of his stores, but lost his personal finances in the Great Depression. The term not only described the signs of the time, but his personal battle in his life. He ended up in Battle Creek, Michigan in an asylum as he attempted to get his life back together following an emotional breakdown.
One day he went into the chapel and heard an old hymn being sung – one that he remembered from his youth: “Be not dismayed whate'er betide, God will take care of you. All you need he will provide, God will take care of you.” As he listened, heard the verse “Come unto me, all ye who are laden and I will give you rest.” His heart lightened, he recognized that he had spent all of his life working hard and never allowing God to bring peace to him. That moment changed his life. He asked God to take care of him and said that he felt as if he were passing out of the darkness into the light.
This change of life occurred in 1942 and he went back to the business world a changed man, trusting God to be in charge of his life rather than success. Over the next years, his fortune grew and he thrust himself into philanthropy, assisting many organizations ministering in the United States and throughout the world.
“The assumption was that business is secular, and service is religious. I have never been able to accept that line of arbitrary demarcation. . . . Is not service part and parcel of business? It seems to me so; business is therefore as much religious as it is secular. If we follow the admonition to love God, and our neighbors as ourselves, it will lead us to understand that, first of all, success is a matter of the spirit.” --J. C. Penney
In 1902, a young man moved from Missouri to Wyoming to open a dry goods store in a town that had 21 saloons and not much else. He opened three more of these over the next few years, hired a salesman who quickly became a store manager and between the two of these men had 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain states by 1912. There were 120 stores by 1920 and 1400 stores by 1929.
He operated his business based on lessons learned from his father, a Baptist preacher. He was dedicated to the Golden Rule, also believing that “unselfishness pays because it engenders unselfishness.” The stores were called “Golden Rule Stores” until unscrupulous business owners tried to cash in on the same name. He incorporated into his own name and that is the company name we recognize today.
James Cash Penney maintained the growth of his stores, but lost his personal finances in the Great Depression. The term not only described the signs of the time, but his personal battle in his life. He ended up in Battle Creek, Michigan in an asylum as he attempted to get his life back together following an emotional breakdown.
One day he went into the chapel and heard an old hymn being sung – one that he remembered from his youth: “Be not dismayed whate'er betide, God will take care of you. All you need he will provide, God will take care of you.” As he listened, heard the verse “Come unto me, all ye who are laden and I will give you rest.” His heart lightened, he recognized that he had spent all of his life working hard and never allowing God to bring peace to him. That moment changed his life. He asked God to take care of him and said that he felt as if he were passing out of the darkness into the light.
This change of life occurred in 1942 and he went back to the business world a changed man, trusting God to be in charge of his life rather than success. Over the next years, his fortune grew and he thrust himself into philanthropy, assisting many organizations ministering in the United States and throughout the world.
“The assumption was that business is secular, and service is religious. I have never been able to accept that line of arbitrary demarcation. . . . Is not service part and parcel of business? It seems to me so; business is therefore as much religious as it is secular. If we follow the admonition to love God, and our neighbors as ourselves, it will lead us to understand that, first of all, success is a matter of the spirit.” --J. C. Penney
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