The Treasury
The Treasure Island name was used into 1969, when it was announced in mid-May that the chain was to expand westward to Orange County, California. It was in July of the same year, however, while announcing an impending entry into the south Florida market that its new name, The Treasury, was divulged. This was, according to Jack F. Behrendt, then-vice president of the stores under J.C. Penney, to shift the chain's image and better express its personality. Stores in the Milwaukee and Atlanta markets, in which the Treasure Island name was already well established, were not renamed.
Despite having been announced before the name change, the first locations to use the Treasury name opened in Torrance, Buena Park, and Orange, California, on October 29, 1970. The two long-awaited south Florida stores opened in Hialeah and Hollywood on March 4, 1971, and three stores in the Memphis, Tennessee, area that had been announced in September 1969 were opened on July 29, 1971.
Some stores also sold food and fuel, like the Wal-Mart Supercenters of today. However, the recessions of the 1970s and early 1980s were too much to bear for J.C. Penney, and the discount division started losing money. The Treasury stores were eventually closed in 1981.[5] However, the mail order business, which was the main reason for J.C. Penney's acquisition of Treasure Island, remained a thriving endeavor.
With the company struggling by 1979, it began to close stores and lease them to other tenants The Home Depot chain leased its first four stores in these former Treasure Island storefronts around the Atlanta area.[6] The chain closed in 1982.[2]
