Loved seeing this. Makes you wonder, who actually had the presence of mind to succinctly film people just boringly shopping so, 51 years later, we can look back in time.
Anyone remember your parents dragging you through these places….used to play games with my sister…hiding in the racks….then that moment you look and realize you can’t find your parents so you go tot he courtesy booth and they’d call your parents over the loud speaker….
This video is very nostalgic and a time when JC Penny's was popular for school clothes, shoes, sportswear and just about anything. I grew up on Southern California and mom frequently took me to Penny's in the early to mid-70's. There was a older gentleman who worked there, I believe he was a floor manager that had a striking resemblance to Humphrey Bogart. He was very polite to all customers and made sure they got what they needed; he always wore a white long sleeve shirt and tie. To me, he was the symbol of "old school" values and respect for the customer. It's too bad those days are long gone.
I'm prob the same age as you. I hope the older man had a happy life. I make sure to treat my customers well, b/c I may be the only positive interaction they have that day.
I remember the belt that worn out on me and my brother was always bought at jc penny that thick cowhide made it hurt more that what kids got in the seventies none of this woke or time out crap
I remember JC penny's looking exactly like this in 1973...right down to the "screech" of the plastic hangers on the metal rods when looking through clothes lol...to think the kids in this would be close to 60 now and the 2-year-old in the stroller would be what? 51 or 52 now
I was born in 73. From what my parents told me, our local JCPenney’s was downtown at that time. It wouldn’t be moved to our local mall until the late 80’s. So fun to see what fashion was like back then. Thank you for sharing!🥰🥰🥰
I can't believe the kind of high end fashion JCP sold back then and the exuberant prices it fetched. Dropping $180 on a coat today is crazy, in 1973 it was absurd.
That was a handmade wool coat with a real fur collar you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. That same coat would cost you $2,000. It just goes to show how young you are because you will not find a coat of that value in any retail setting today. I worked at JCPenney's in the 80s and yes things are much higher quality than. My parents paid $500 for a set of solid brass lamps that they still have. They didn't use cheap alloys and those lamps still look pristine. You won't find anything of that quality nowadays it'll tarnish and turn to garbage in a few years, and you'll still pay $3-400. I went into office design and sold furniture and I can tell you the materials used in the 80s and the 90s compared to what they use now there's no comparison.
@@moemanley2579i think you left your reading comprehension skills back in the 70s too because no one said it WASN’T high quality LOL, it was just stated that it was surprising how JCPenny was considered super high-end luxury boutique to be selling coats at that price in the 70s.
@@Her.Serene.Feline.Cuteness.oh yes, I have photos to prove... it was either snooze fest preppy boring or over the top ugly/weird. I'd rather wear browns flares, avocado green fly collar shirt than.... pastels and shoulder pads with multi pleated pants and a mullet. In other words, I'd rather look like 7os Superfly than some 8os Synthpop band....all IMHO...😀🪩
The quality of that coat was top notch. Inflation was also sky high in the 70's. I was a kid then. Even as a kid I remember thinking how much I disliked the styles, furniture, buildings, cars and colors of the 70's. It definitely didn't "jive" with me. More than once I would complain to my mom about how ugly things were. And the smell of the inside of cars back then...ugh....and my moms cars were always spotless. They just had a bad smell. The feel of the fabrics makes me uncomfortable just remembering the clothes, furniture etc.
You could tell that the couple at the register were proud grandparents. They saw that they were being filmed and immediately lifted the top of the stroller so that the grandbaby could be seen, too. So cute!!!
I wasn't born for another 4 years! Both of my parents are gone now, but I remember shopping in the early 80's. I miss the old malls and my parents. Most of these people in the video, except the kids, are most likely gone. Crazy how none of these people would have even imagined that someone not even born yet would be watching this day in their life on a hand held phone with a "TV 📺" built in, 50 years later! I wonder if anyone will find videos of me in 50 years from now when I'm gone? Hmmmmmmm 🤔 Also, I wonder if they ever did get ahold of Dorothy Hamilton? lol
All the Moms dress like Carol Brady. 😊This was the best time to grow up, Reaganomics was right around the corner, and those coat prices would eventually come down without opening the doors to Chinese manufacturing.
Bill Clinton is far more responsible for shipping millions of good paying factory jobs over to Asia because he normalized trade status with a certain Asian country. Reagan didn't do that. On the contrary, he took measures to reduce the millions of imported cars and motorcycles from another asian country, Japan.. in order to protect American jobs. And reaganomics also created many millions of jobs thruout the 1980's. You can also attribute much of the 1990s prosperity and job creation to Reagan, because he unleashed the shackles on the American economy so that the free enterprise system wasn't weighed down by unnecessary regulations and confiscatory taxes that only sapped personal initiative (the motivation to work hard and get ahead in life) and reduced the capital that could be reinvested into the private economy.. which incidentally is how wealth is created and how new jobs are produced.. jobs that are paid for with returns on investment, rather than by redistributing other people's earnings to support more government jobs that often serve no useful purpose. When government takes too large a share of the wealth that the private economy CREATES, you largely end up with more waste, fraud, and abuse of the citizen, along with a reduction in individual freedom and economic freedom. So with that in mind, reaganomics was one of the best things that ever happened to the U.S. in the post ww2 era. It would have continued to do so with far greater effect if nearly every subsequent president hadn't neglected to take on china with trade restrictions or sky high tariffs or outright bans. Unfortunately that's not about to change as the current prez is literally on the payroll of the see see pe. Unfortunately, we will have to wait for trump ( with his proven track record) to get back into office to fix that. But it's ok.. 625 days will go by fast.
Sorry, I read your comment a little too fast.. usually when someone mentions reaganomics, they are left leaning in their perspective and are shting on his legacy.. as though Reagan's policies were responsible for all that ails America.. so I'm always eager to trigger them with facts. 😂
No that was a real handmade wool coat with a fur collar. The prices on those didn't go down and by the way I worked at Penney's in the mid 80's into the early 90's. Our prices didn't go down but it's cute you think you know more than somebody who actually worked there. We had high-quality goods and they were priced as such. The furniture in the furniture department was made from real wood and a sofa could cost you 4 or 5k. After I left that job I went into furniture design and dealt with a lot of company CEOs and every one of them hated Reagan because of what he did to the economy. It's funny every time the Republicans held office the economy went right in the crapper and then Democrats get in office and there's a surplus of money money lol. Those pesky facts. When Bush was in office I had to be escorted to my car by security because desert Storm broke out and people were protesting outside our store. Yup, great times!! 😂
Wow! This is great! Every time I see footage like this, I'm furiously banging all 10 million of my fists on the windows of a time machine and screaming, "LET ME IN!!!" I WISH THAT I COULD GO BACK IN TIME!!! THANK YOU FOR UPLOADING THIS!!! 😭💔⏳️🩹😭💔⏳️🩹😭💔⏳️🩹
I've worked at JCP for the last 3 years. It's much more "boutique " looking and the prices are more than fair, especially if you catch the sales. It's been my favorite job and I've had a LOT. I'm 60.
I definitely remember how stores werevin the 70s,the old Hudsons department store in downtown Detroit was amazing to go to,especially during the Christmas season
Love the look of the fluffy fur luxury coats from back then here! I now call fur coats like this "fuzzy porcupine" coats because to me they look like a porcupine the way the fur sticks up while nice and soft and fluffy at the same time.
I didn't know Penny's sold real leather and fur coats back then. I thought only the higher end department stores (Meier & Frank, Lipmann Wolfe, Liberty House and Frederick & Nelson) sold merchandise like that.
I too was surprised JC Penney sold fur trimmed coats. I thought they were only sold in Macy's, Lord & Taylor and A&S. Coats for adults were expensive back then, but very well made and you'd only buy a new one every 5 years or so.
I’m convinced that Vampire Robot actually owns a time machine and goes way back as a hobby. Love these vids! And if it’s time travel… take some of us with you 😃
3:06 I would've loved that #44 jersey in 1973. All 10-year old boys wore these back then. Nowadays you have to spend $200+ and get your fully licensed NFL grade Mahomes jersey at Dick's in order to fit in. I don't envy the kids today. I'll take this 1973 era a hundred times over.
Thank you for posting this. I've worked at JC Penney (3 different locations) for over 10 years, and have heard a few times that Jcpenney peaked in the 70s. So I've been curious on how it was back then vs now. It's completely unrecognizable. It definitely doesn't look anything like Jcpenney now. And definitely surprised at the higher prices back then vs now. Costumers want everything dirt cheap now of days (I don't blame them, I do too, but just surprised at the higher prices in this video)
It's because those high paying factory jobs that made those high quality goods went poof a few decades ago.. we are now addicted to low prices, and we accept far lower quality in return.. because the purchasing power of tens of millions of Americans went poof along with those jobs. Sad but true.. 😢
That was a real fur and wool handmade in the USA coat for $179 that would cost you over $2000 now easy. I worked at JCPenney's in the 80s so only about 12 years after this was made and we had a furniture department with high-end $4- $5,000 sofas, it took up the entire half of the bottom part of the store. Sales associates head to wear dresses and suits and we had to know all the merchandise. Does furniture department displayed high-end home decor with figurines and statues made by actual artists of the day. We got 33% off our clothes that we were required to wear to work. We also got a discount on anything else in the store. High priced goods like furniture and jewelry we got a certain percentage above cost. Even for the 80s I had a $1000 wardrobe being middle class. Boy things went downhill
Thanks for posting this video. I worked for JC Penney from 1975-78 while in High School and I wish I had taken some pictures of the store and all the colors of the 1970's. This video took me on a time trip back to my youth and my first job experience.
This would have been the year I started first grade. Lol!!! I remember my parents shopping for my school clothes at the JC Penney store in Roebuck at the same shopping center Pizitz was located. The layout looks very familiar. Funny how I remember this stuff 50 years later but cannot remember whether I took my morning BP medicine. Lol!!!
Wow look at all the orange and yellow! Absolutely how the 70s looked! I even remeber those type of pointed edge clothes racks. Omg I hated shopping for clothes as a child then.... still hate it. I see all the children are well behaved though...they arent running around, grabbing stuff and screaming like i see a lot do these days. Here's what i wish....i wish i had some of those nice thick 100% cotton socks i saw the people pass. Socks back then were SO much better.
The work you're putting up should seriously be preserved by the Library of Congress at some point. This whole channel gives unparalleled glimpses into average daily lives of each decade. Even period movies and TV shows skim over things for entertainment value, but this is pure time travel. Does anyone know by chance why the store lighting was so dim? Was it different lights they used at that time or just the camera?
I was 6 and yes I remember having a pair of white and blue plaid long pants. My older sister regards the early 70s as the "Period of the Uglies" when it comes to fashion and everyone's general appearance.
The mom with the 2 kids at the beginning of the video has the same type of short sleeve pant suit that I remember my Kindergarten teacher wearing. (She's not my Kindergarten teacher. LOL)
Where is the camera? Video cameras in 1973 were huge ....is this sort of pre edit news or local interest stories? Doesn't look like film( no grain) unless it's been cleaned up. Yeah, that looks like 1973... Halloween colors year round. There was a JC Penny's in the mall closest to us....JC Penny's was a couple notches up from K-Mart, and sold mostly women's clothing, as I recall..
A friend in high school bought a Holly high performance four barrel carburetor at JC Pennys late ‘70’s, funny thing was it was in stock…not even special ordered.
50 years later, you will find these types of clothing at a thrift store for practically the same price it was in 1973. The 70's was an interesting decade with fashion.
People might complain about the prices, but if you looked at the rage and materials; you would understand why. That's cheap considering the material is leather. Notice, not once piece of clothing was using synthetic material.
I was born in 73. Cool looking back 50 years later going on 51 this year. Proud to be a part of the Watergate Generation as I call us, too young to be Boomers and too old to be Gen X. If your parents were from the Silent Generation instead of Boomers then your a Watergate baby born during the time of Watergate. My parents were from the Silent Generation 41 same year as Pearl Harbor. So don't Gen X me thankyou very much, my parents weren't boomers. Born to the youngest members of the silent generation.
Do you own this footage? I'm working on a documentary that briefly discusses the glory days of department stores and I would love to be able to use this kind of footage.
I was three then. My brothers were six and seven. My parents are still alive and well. My mom is 76 and my dad is almost 81. They still plant a garden and can their food. Mind you it's not as big as when I was a child, but they still do it. As well as mow and weedeat their yard, and other things around the house. Slower, but still doing it.
