In 1902, James Cash Penney opened a dry-goods store named The Golden Rule in of Kemmerer, Wyoming, and lived above it with his wife. Penney stocked quality products at fair prices for mining and farm families. By seven years later, that little store in Kemmerer grew to be a chain of stores with headquarters in Salt Lake City and in 1913, the name was changed to J.C. Penney. Last week, it was announced the little original store in Kemmerer is to be sold at auction in mid-September. The company documents refer to it as the “Mother Store” or “Store Number 1.” Visitors to the store in more recent years have discovered it to be part store, part museum. It has become as much of a tourist destination as a retail destination. The anticipated closure will now erase a part of American retail history as well as some of the community’s local identity.
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