A Shopping Experience to Remember at JCPenney

Well Christmas came a little early to my house this year!  I’m not sure how I got to be so lucky, but I was chosen to receive a $300 JCPenney gift card from JCPenney and BlogHer. That’s right, 300 bucks for me to go spend on whatever I wanted at JCPenney!!  And the catch?  Well, there wasn’t much of a catch.  They just wanted me to write about my shopping experience.

Now that I can do!

JCPenney and I go way back.  When I was young, JCPenney was one of the stores lining the main street of my hometown. I can remember going to Penney’s with my mom and my sister and making jokes because my sister is also named Penny.  We did a lot of shopping there when I was young, but the big downtown store eventually moved, and at some point, JCPenney and I grew apart.

During my early teenage years, it became uncool to shop at JCPenney, and for years, the only time I would visit was when I was walking through on the way to other stores in the mall.  And nowadays, I generally try to avoid malls because of the crowds so I end up doing the majority of my shopping online.  So this recent trip to JCPenney was, for me, a new introduction to the store.

And, since it seemed fitting, I invited my sister Penny along for the shopping trip!  Before the big day, I did a little reconnaissance online and figured out what my biggest purchase would be.  I have always wanted a countertop oven.  Not just a wimpy little toaster oven, but something I can actually bake in.  I have never owned a toaster oven because I’ve just never had the counter space.  And to tell you the truth, I still don’t have the counter space.  But I decided I wanted to purchase one anyway.  I picked out this KitchenAid Countertop Oven online, so when we got to the actual store, we headed straight for the housewares department!

Luckily, they had the one I wanted in stock!  And look, I even found a place to put it!

After securing the KitchenAid oven, I moved on to the next item on my wish list: a pressure cooker!  I’ve never owned a pressure cooker, but I’ve wanted one for quite a while.  It just so happened that JCPenney had several sizes of pressure cookers on sale that day.  I decided on the four quart size and I can’t wait to try it out!

Penny and I realized at this point that it would be best to purchase the oven and pressure cooker and take the boxes to the car before continuing the shopping spree.  Although the store was a bit busy with early Christmas shoppers, we didn’t have to wait in line at all!  In fact, I noticed that any time a line would form, someone would open a new register.  Now that’s something I don’t see very often!

After filling the trunk with the two big boxes, we headed back into the store to spend the rest of my gift card.  I’m not going to write about the Christmas gifts I purchased (the recipients might be reading this!), but I will say that they had a great selection of gift items to fit any budget.

Now back to what I bought for myself!

Ok, so it might seem a bit selfish that I spent the majority of the gift card on myself considering it’s so close to Christmas. But the fact is, we purchased our very first home over the summer and since then, money has been rather tight around our household.  Between unexpected household repairs and unexpected car repairs, we just haven’t had any extra money to buy fun things for the house.  So I just couldn’t resist splurging a bit!

First, I decided to treat myself to some new bathroom rugs.  JCPenney had a HUGE selection of towels and rugs so it took me quite a while to decide on some rugs.  I loved the Chris Madden Hotel Collection and picked out some super thick cotton reversible rugs.  They feel so good under my feet!  Someday I’d like to buy a set of the towels, as well!

For the other bathroom, I picked out a Chris Madden Hotel scented candle and some Bliss bath products.  Now that the weather is finally cooling off down in San Diego, I can finally take advantage of the huge bathtub that we have in our second bathroom.  The candle and Blood Orange White Pepper bath gel were a special treat just for me!

And speaking of special treats, check out this cute Dr. Pepper lip gloss I found in the Sephora section:

I loved that JCPenney had a miniature Sephora inside the store!  Am I the only one who didn’t know about this??

I enjoy shopping at Sephora, but the regular store in the mall is always so crowded that browsing in there is never a comfortable experience.  The Sephora in JCPenney was set up in a way that was nice and open and my sister and I had lots of fun testing out several different products.  I absolutely fell in love with the Bliss Blood Orange and White Pepper line of bath products!  Bliss is expensive, but I was able to find a gift set that included a small bottle of bath gel and a small bottle of body butter and decided to splurge (once again)!  I think out of everything, the Bliss products were my favorite purchase!

The last thing I decided to search for was a new set of cotton sheets.  Once again, they had a huge selection so it took me a while to make the decision.  It was my sister who finally convinced me to get the 300 thread count Linden Street sheet set because they were made from Egyptian cotton.  And for only $39.99 (for a queen size set), they were a great price!  After washing them and sleeping on them for a few nights, I really believe they get softer each time I crawl into bed.

All in all, it was a great shopping trip!  I was very surprised at how much JCPenney has changed over the years.  With the great new home collections, and the ability to shop at Sephora without even leaving the store, JCPenney has a lot more to offer than I realized.  I was also impressed with the customer service and the fact that we didn’t have to wait in line (although that might be very different now that we are so close to Christmas)!  But the best part about shopping at JCPenney was the prices.  I felt like I got great quality merchandise for much less than I would have paid at one of the higher end department stores.

My only complaint was that the housewares department was kind of unorganized and I wish they had a better selection of cookware and utensils.  However, they did have a great selection of small appliances including several products by KitchenAid and Cuisinart.  And seeing the way the rest of the store is improving, I have high hopes that the housewares/kitchen department will continue to improve as well.

I still can’t believe how lucky I am to have been given this opportunity!  Not only did I get to outfit my new home with some things I would not have been able to purchase otherwise, I also got to spend a wonderful afternoon shopping with my sister!  And now that I’ve been re-introduced to JCPenney, I know I’ll be shopping there again.

Thank you, BlogHer and JCPenney!!

And now here’s your chance to win your own shopping spree at JCPenney.  BlogHer and JCPenney are giving away a $300 gift card each week this month (ending Dec. 30). Visit BlogHer for the details and good luck!

Happy shopping, everyone!

Tagged as: bath, bedroom, christmas, holiday, jcpenney, kitchen, shopping