Penney’s Manager Expects Improved Holiday Sales
In his 42 years with J. C. Penney Co., Jim Word, manager of the retailing giant’s department store in Ventura’s Buenaventura Mall, has lived through a lot of good-news, bad-news scenarios. In the latest variation, the good news is that Christmas sales are already heating up and look like they’ll improve for the third holiday season in a row.
Word (his name rhymes with Ward) declines to predict how much business will increase, but says buying executives at Penney’s were “optimistic” in placing their orders with suppliers.
As for the bad news, it could potentially affect retailers throughout Ventura County. “Down the road, I expect that the influx of factory outlet stores is going to hurt somebody,” Word said. “There are just so many dollars to go around--probably not enough to allow for all these new outlets.”
Word, 57, is confident that Penney’s will survive this latest threat. He’s been through wars, booms, recessions and many a fad since first joining the company as a 14-year-old stock boy. That was in Oakdale, near Modesto, in 1952. The following year, his family moved to Ventura and he worked after school at the downtown Penney’s on Main Street. In later years, he held a variety of posts with the retailer in California, Arizona and New York. He returned to Ventura in 1982 as manager of the local store.
Through the years, Word has seen several major changes in Ventura County retailing. “Both parents in a family tend to work these days. They don’t have time to shop around. They come into a store knowing what they want.
“For another, Ventura and the rest of the county are much more a part of the Los Angeles market than they used to be. That market is price-conscious and very competitive.”
Penney’s has changed too. At one time, the company launched a chain of discount stores called The Treasury. The project was abandoned. Several years ago, perennially middle-class Penney’s tried to invade the high-fashion clothing field. That, too, was dropped.
While Word has misgivings about the county’s multiplying outlet stores, he feels little threat from the arrival in nearby Oxnard of Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer. “They do their thing and we do ours. We operate in different markets.”
As for the on-again, off-again expansion of Buenaventura Mall, Word, who plans to retire when he’s 60, isn’t sure that he’ll be around when the plan becomes reality.
“I’ve stopped making predictions,” he said. “They’re supposed to move our store to another part of the mall and give us more space. It looks as if it will be two or three years before that comes to pass.”
