dog eared

Northgate Mall

While sitting outside a JCPenney this afternoon, I was regarding the lovely Helvetica and thinking about the Christmas catalogs I would dog ear when I was a kid. Things I never saw on the shelves when the family would make a special trip to the department and discount stores…

Places in these parts called Pogues, McAlpins, Van Leunens, Gold Circle, Shillitos, (and subsequently Shillito-Rikes then Lazarus)… How I’ve scoured Google for glimpses of these storefronts only to realize there was a time before all this ‘lectronic tomfoolery.

A time when I couldn’t find out (easily) that JCPenney began in 1902 by James Cash Penney as a dry goods and clothing store in Kemmerer, Wyoming under the banner “The Golden Rule.”

My mind wanders…

I realize I’m quick to point out what I consider bad evolutions of identities: fast food restaurants, UPS, and other corporations. But there have been some good ones.

Kmart, for example.

Their move in 1990 to the red K with angled script “mart” was a step in a right direction, and the subsequent migration to a san serif type below the K hit the mark.

There have been some missteps. The Big K branding extension was a bust. Right up there with the tackiness that is Sam’s Club. Thanks to the wikipedia I found there was also a lime green logo used at five prototype stores. As much as I enjoy Martha Stewart green, I’m not sold on the variation.

So there’s that.

It’s all much less interesting than wishing over the Christmas catalog. Peculiar still, my parents knew exactly what to get me even though I never dog eared it:

Yep, this logo hasn’t changed much. Just like I remember it from this set..