Looking back to 1951 Expanded Penney's Store big news for Superior

October 17,1951, was a big day in Superior. Both the Crest Theatre and the new J.C. Penney store were having grand openings. The J.C. Penney Company arrived in Superior in 1929. The store was moving to a new downtown location and expanding its inventory. The community was thrilled to know James Cash Penney, the founder of the company, was going to make an appearance in Superior.

J.C. Penney and three partners opened their first Golden Rule store in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyo. Mr. Penney's idea was to apply the Golden Rule philosophy to business, a radical idea at the time. He invested $500 for one-third interest. The first year the Kemmerer store sold $28,898.11 worth of merchandise. Penney believed if he sold merchandise for cash, he could sell for less and customers would not have to haggle pricing.

A Golden Rule store preceded the Penney's store in Superior and for several years the two stores were Superior competitors.

On March 9, 1918, the Golden Rule Store opened in Superior. Members of the Golden Rule Buyers' Association were able to offer quality goods at low prices. Like the Penney store that operated in competition with it, the Golden Rule store stocked read-to-wear clothing, furnishings, dry goods and notions.

When the Golden Rule store was located at 327 Central, Ray Ruth, a longtime Superior men's clothing merchant was courting Arlene Parks. He was working at the Ben Hill Clothing store and Arlene was working at the nearby Golden Rule store. Several times a day Ray was observed visiting the Golden Rule store. Ray and Arlene were married on Oct. 31, 1937. For many years, they were to work together operating a men's store at Fourth and Central.

On Feb. 28, 1929, the J. B. Byars company which operated as Golden Rule stores and the J. C. Penney Company merged. Dee Brumley, the former manager of the Byars store at Red Cloud, came to Superior to manage the new J. C. Penney Store.

In 1949, the J.C. Penney Company had more than three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of business and stores in every state of the union. A J.C. Penney store could be found in towns across the United States with populations of about 2,000 or more. Mr. Penney wanted his place to be a "hometown" store. The stores offered pre-season merchandise such as blankets in July, back to school clothes, Christmas gifts, layettes and infant furniture. Lay-a-way and no interest on carrying charges made it convenient for customers to plan ahead for gift giving and essential seasonal items.

When the new J.C. Penney store opened in Superior at 436 Central Ave., it was one of 52 stores in Nebraska. The building had the latest developments in store design, construction, fixtures and equipment. The store was twice as large as the old store. It had fluorescent lighting throughout the building. Headers naming the areas of the store were large wooden cutout letters with lighted background and helped customers quickly find what department they were looking for.

The manager of the Superior store was G.L. Parker who had been with the company since 1927. He had managed the Superior store since July 1944. Mrs. Berniece Naugle was the oldest employee in service at Superior. She had been with the Superior store since 1935. The 10 employees of the Superior J.C. Penney store represented 50 years of sales service with the company.

Prior to the opening of the new store in 1951, the company's smaller store at Fourth and Central was in a location with an interesting history.

In his book series, "The First 100 Years" Stan Sheets recorded some of that history.

Early in 1908 Ralph E. Oliver purchased the site at 358 N. Central Avenue which had been the location for Superior's first hotel, The Valley House. By 1908 the Valley House was gone and so was the railroad car that served as a photo studio that occupied the location after the hotel. Oliver built a one-story brick building 25 by 100 feet for his general merchandise and grocery store. The following year the building was sold to Laura and William Buck but Oliver continued his business. Elizabeth Sanford (Mrs. Carl Schaer) was in charge of the millinery department.

In February of 1913, Mr. Mohrbacker succeeded Mr. Oliver as owner and operator of the store.

In 1919 the Golden Rule Store was renting the building and the Bucks added to the building, extending it to the alley, making it 135 feet deep. In 1929 the building was leased to the J. C. Penney Company and the Golden Rule Store moved to 321 N. Central Avenue. In 1936 a new front was installed on the Penney store.

The first Penney's store here had a centralized cashier located in a loft at the rear of the store. A pneumatic system whisked the payment and details of the transaction from the checkout counter to the treasurer and back. The new store had cash registers in various locations throughout the store.

The store closed in 1985 as the company tried unsuccessfully to transition to more fashionable, larger stores in bigger cities. The company did for a few years maintain a catalog store in Superior after the department store closed. The main street building was last occupied by Dollar General.

The opening highlight for many people of the expanded J.C. Penney Store was the appearance of James Cash Penney. He visited the new store and waited on customers as he did in his early days as a store keeper. Mr. Penney was a guest of honor and speaker at the Superior Kiwanis Club during his Superior visit.

The new Penney's store was located in an almost new building. It had been built three years earlier by Frank Jones to house his furniture store. Frank and Irma Jones had purchased on June 10, 1948, the site of a former Conoco service station that had at one time been operated by W. A. Blauvelt. On that site, they erected a building 50 by 135 feet for the Jones Furniture Company. A warehouse 25 by 65 feet was attached to the south. Marvin Heflin and Preston Slusher were employed by the Jones store.