Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain with 647 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalyst Brands portfolio alongside other apparel retailers such as Brooks Brothers and Eddie Bauer.

Its departments include men's, women's and children's apparel, cosmetics, jewelry, and home furnishings along with leased departments managed by Shearshare, US Vision and Lifetouch. The chain focuses on lifestyle products for middle class households.

JCPenney was founded in 1902 as a group of dry goods stores that James Cash Penney managed as part of the Golden Rule chain and incorporated under his own name in 1913. The stores were initially located in downtown areas but shifted to shopping malls during the 1960s.

The chain struggled in the early 21st century amid the rise of internet retail and the decline of mall traffic, and stay-home measures during the COVID-19 pandemic forced it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020. It emerged from bankruptcy under the joint ownership of mall operators Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties, later joined by Authentic Brands Group as a minority owner.

In January 2025, JCPenney was combined with SPARC Group — Simon and Authentic's portfolio of legacy retail brands — to form Catalyst Brands.

James Cash Penney was born in Hamilton, Missouri. After graduating from high school, Penney worked for a local retailer. He relocated to Colorado at the advice of a doctor, hoping that a better climate would improve his health. In 1898, Penney went to work for Thomas Callahan and Guy Johnson, who owned dry goods stores called Golden Rule stores in Colorado and Wyoming. In 1899, Callahan sent Penney to Evanston, Wyoming, to work with Johnson in another Golden Rule store. Callahan and Johnson asked Penney to join them in opening a new Golden Rule store. Using money from savings and a loan, Penney joined the partnership and moved with his wife and infant son to Kemmerer, Wyoming, to start his own store. Penney opened the store on April 14, 1902. He participated in the creation of two more stores and purchased full interest in all three locations when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907. In 1909, Penney moved his company headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, to be closer to banks and railroads. By 1912, Penney had 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States.

In 1913, the company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company, with William Henry McManus as a co-founder. In 1914, the headquarters was moved to New York City to simplify buying, financing, and transportation of goods. By 1917, the company operated 175 stores in 22 states in the United States. J. C. Penney acquired The Crescent Corset Company in 1920, the company's first wholly owned subsidiary. In 1922, the company's oldest active private brand, Big Mac work clothes, was launched. The company opened its 500th store in 1924 in Hamilton, Missouri, James Cash Penney's hometown. By the opening of the 1,000th store in 1928, gross business had reached $190 million (equivalent to $3.48 billion in 2024).

In 1940, Sam Walton began working at a J. C. Penney in Des Moines, Iowa. Walton subsequently founded retailer Walmart in 1962. By 1941, J. C. Penney operated 1,600 stores in all 48 states. In 1956, J. C. Penney started national advertising with a series of advertisements in Life magazine. J. C. Penney credit cards were first issued in 1959.