America’s Favorite Department Store Beginnings Were in Missouri

There's a new king/queen at the top of the department store food chain and it's a brand that still has 20 locations in the state of Missouri and even owes its beginnings to the Show Me State.

I saw this brand new ranking just shared by USA Today of the 10 best department stores in America as voted by their audience. The brand that sits at #1 is an old school department store that is one of the oldest in the country and has managed to survive the onset of online shopping.

What is the #1 department store in America?

The USA Today readers say it's still JCPenney Department Stores which still have 20 locations open in Missouri according to their official website.

As Wikipedia says, James Cash Penney was born in Hamilton, Missouri on September 16, 1875. His home is now a museum in this tiny Missouri place.

While James Cash Penney was born in Missouri, he didn't get into the department store business until he had moved to the western United States and the first actual Penney store opened in Wyoming in 1907.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there are still 20 JC Penney stores open in Missouri as I feared that online shopping would have made them go away by now. Let's hope this old school department store whose creator was literally born in Missouri can hang in there for awhile longer.