J. C. Penney Company is a department-based retail store. The company sells family apparel, jewelry, shoes, accessories and home furnishings to customers through department stores, catalogs and the Internet. In addition, the store also offers a salon, optical, portrait studio and custom home decorating. Penney s operates more than 1,000 stores in numerous states and in Puerto Rico including its store in Lincoln, Neb. Most J. C. Penney stores are located at regional malls. The company began in 1902 when James Cash Penney opened his first retail store, called the Golden Rule Store, in the mining town of Kemmerer, Wyo.