The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1928-02-10
J. c. PENNEY co. TO
OPEN THOUSANDTH
STORE IN BELOIT, KAN.

Inc y. Z. Penney Company has an
nounced that Store Number One
Thousand will be open in Beloit, Nit
chell county, Kansas, about April
first.
Adomantic interest attaches itself
to this simple announcement and one
that proves even a business as large
as this one is not devoid of sentiment
and human interest.
The j. C. Penney Company has pur-
chased the stock and goodwill of w.
j. Reyes, local clothing and shoe mer-
chant. 1t was in Mr.. Keyes' store
that Mr.. Sans, the President of the
Company, as we'll as several of the
other executives and managers, re-
celved their early mercantile expert
ence.
Out of friendship for Mr.. Keyes. the
j.. Z. Penney Company has refrained
from opening a competing store in
Beloit. When Mr.. Reyes recently ex-
pressed wish to retire, however, the
Company offered to buy his stock and
dispose of it, and then open under
their own name in a nearby location.
The lease has been signed signed and
the store building is now in operation
and will be completed in time for the
opening in the early part of April.
Mr.. E. G. Sans, the President of the
j: Z. Penney Company, was born in
Simpson, about IL miles from Beloit.
After finishing grade school in Simp-
son, he attended High School in Be
lott. On Saturdays and after school
hours, Mr.. Sans worked behind the
counter in the Keyes store. When he
left High School, he went to Simpson
and opened small store by the name
of "Shanks and Sans, owned by his
father and the Shanks brothers who
were interested to a great extent in
farming and milling This business
did not prove to be a success, so Mr..
Sans father sold his interest and Mr.
Sans went to Colorado City, Colo.
There he worked in a general store
owned by Mr.. G. W.. OFT, uncle of the
two OFT brothers now in the Compa-
ny. He stayed one year in Colorado
City, and then returned to Simpson
and assumed the managership of the
Shanks Brothers Store. This store
had moved into a new building and
Mr.. Sans was permitted to use his
own Judgment in its equipment. He
purchased fixtures that would do cred.
1t to a metropolitan store and in q
snort while this store had the reputa.
ton of being one of the finest in the
country. In spite of his success will
the Shanks store, Mr.. Sans felt hi;
opportunities were limited in a towr
so small as Simpson and made appIi
cation for another position throuol
Denver Employment Agency.
g Mr.: j. c. Penney had, at this time
established the mother store of the
j. c. Penney Company in Kemmerer
wyoming, and was, besides, operating
, two other stores-one in Cumberland
and the other in Rock Springs. Wvo
> He was In need of a salesman for th,
hemmerre store and had communicat
I ed with this Denver Emplovnen.
e Agency, who put him in touch wifi
r Mr.. Sans. After considerable CORES
I pondence, covering several months
\ Mr.. Sans decided to go out to Wvom
I ing for a personal interview with MI,
I Penney. While there he accepted tn
position, and then returned to hi
e home IN Simpson where he resi0ne,
a the managership of the Shanks store
{ In l9Of, ne moved to Kemmerer wifi
e his family and thus started his ca~as 40
n with the J. c. Penney Company. at III
e age of twenty-three. a. III
f Ten years later he had rose to III
:, position of President of the Penn ~
t Co., which had one hundred SEVENTY
: seven stores in operation at that finn,
l. Store numbered five hundred II
: Gated in Hamilton, Missouri. IS ;der
n titled as the birthplace of the founde
lie of the Company, Mr.. J. G. Penna,
just as store number one-thousand
identified as the early home of ~
=, President, Mr.. E. G. Sans. There y,
= at present 954 stores in operation :
;" of them being in Kansas. From .
e indications there will be over ON,
. thousand by the end of 1928.