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JCPenney has been a major shopping destination for America’s diverse, working families for more than 120 years. JCPenney offers a broad portfolio of fashion, apparel, home, beauty and jewelry from national and private brands and provides personal services including portrait, optical and salon. Yes, that’s right, JCPenney has a salon — offering a comprehensive list of services at over 600 locations — employing thousands of stylists across the country.
With paid education classes and some of the highest commission rates in the industry, JCPenney Beauty + Salon has the resources to help take salon professional careers to the next level. No other salon in the industry offers the volume of perks that stylists can find at JCPenney.
The Tease had the pleasure of connecting with JCPenney Mount Juliet, Tennessee location Master Stylists Marcie Venard, Tracey Dabney and Shelley Stewart, who’s also the Salon Manager, about JCPenney’s culture, the community they’ve built and opportunities they have taken advantage of during their careers. Read on for more!
The Tease: What do you enjoy most about working at JCPenney Salon?
Marcie Venard: I enjoy working at JCPenney Salon with the teamwork, the constant education – the whole store has great morale.
Tracey Dabney: What I enjoy most about working at JCPenney Salon is the freedom. As an independent stylist or a salon owner, you’re tied to your work a lot of times. Even when you’re not working, you are still working on the business. And when you’re not working on the business, you work in the business. But with JCPenney Salon, I get time and freedom because I get to take home up to 70% of my commission. When I was independent, the most I ever retained was about 25 to 30%. So the fact that I have the potential to earn much more — that’s the biggest benefit of working at JCPenney Salon.
Shelley Stewart: I love all the people that I work with at JCPenney. It’s just like we have a family, and we also have great benefits that really keep us on our toes and [the education] keeps us up with all the new trends going on.
What do your clients say about JCPenney Salon?
Marcie Venard: Most of my clients are surprised that there is a salon in JCPenney, and once they get back here, they’re pleasantly surprised with the quality of the work, quality of the products, and the availability of scheduling.
Can you describe the work culture?
Marcie Venard: The work culture at JCPenney Salon is very broad-minded, very open. We have a wide variety of stylists that work here. JCPenney Salon keeps us inspired by constant education, constant promotions and new products.
Shelley Stewart: The work culture at JCPenney is really great. We’re like a family and we have anybody and everybody who works here. We have stylists from California, Saint Louis, just here in Tennessee. Also, we come from all over and we’re just a really great group here at JCPenney.
How does the salon support your professional growth and development?
Tracey Dabney: What I love about JCPenney Salon is the training and education within the company, and that it’s free education. When I was independent, I allotted $10,000 annually between travel, classes, investing in new color lines, new equipment, and new tools. Tools matter, good products matter. Nice capes that are not ripped and torn and have bleach spots on them – those things matter when you want to offer an upscale experience, and JCPenney Salon allows you to be able to do that [without extra costs].
What kind of training or continuing education opportunities are offered?
Marcie Venard: JCPenney Salon is very supportive of my career and my advancements. We have virtual classes. We have our educators. Any time you want to take a class? It’s available online. We have in-person training. Hands-on training. It’s all great!
What benefits and perks do you receive as an employee of this salon?
Shelley Stewart: We have a lot of perks and discounts that we get. We get discounts in the store or products or anything else that JCPenney Salon offers. We have continuing education. We have a 401K. We have dental and vision [insurance] – and that’s just for part-time. And then for full time we have life, death, medical [insurance] and anything in between.
How do you help new stylists in the salon?
Shelley Stewart: As a salon manager, I try to help all the new stylists that come in with education because not all of them have the same color lines and products that they had in school that they have here.
How does JCPenney work to be a texture destination to all textures?
Tracey Dabney: JCPenney Salon helps contribute to being texture-inclusive because they have a wide variety of products. Personally, I choose to use clean products, non-toxic, and they have quite a few selections and I get to play with them before I actually invest my own money.
Because JCPenney has a world-class back bar, so that’s also how they make it all-inclusive, by just having a lot of retail products to choose from for each person’s individual needs.
What would your best advice to a new stylist be?
Marcie Venard: Work hard. My best advice for a new stylist is to come to work. Show up – ready to work. Show them what you’re made of!
Tracey Dabney: Listen, I tell any new stylists – which I wish a veteran stylist really stressed [to me] — the importance of going to a commission-based structure salon first versus going independent or solo or suite rental. There’s so much foundational information you miss [as an independent] because you’re trying to make more money. You only can make more money if you have the skill set that matches the quality of the service. If you come out the gate, charging too much money and the services don’t match the quality of the work, then you lose that potential client.
At JCPenney Salon, you get the foundation of education plus you can experiment with a world-class back bar. It’s thousands of products that you can try and not have to spend your own money to do so.
Shelley Stewart: My best advice for a new stylist would be don’t give up.
Why should ‘every’ stylist find their local JCPenney and apply?
Shelley Stewart: Every stylist should come work at JCPenney because of the great benefits, the discounts, and all of our further education that we get.
If you’re inspired by these Master Stylists and interested in starting a career with JCPenney, be sure to visit jobs.jcp.com! And for even more, follow JCPenney on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
