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Nov 24, 2023

JCPenney Launches Inclusive Beauty Concept in 73 Stores Nationwide

Send your company’s latest business news to Ben Swanger at [email protected]

Send your company's latest business news to Ben Swanger at [email protected]

Plano-based retail giant JCPenney launched its new inclusive beauty concept, JCPenney Beauty, in 73 stores nationwide, celebrating the concept's ribbon cutting at Stonebriar Center in Frisco. "There was no place that was really taking a stand on allowing entrepreneurs and founders to actually have shelf space and sell their incredible products," said executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for JCPenney, Michelle Wlazlo.

The in-store concept was born from a partnership with Thirteen Lune, an inclusive beauty e-commerce platform. "We started imagining it, and literally built it from scratch," Wlazo said, adding that studies with customers revealed demand for discovery of smaller brands and increased salon services. Together, JCPenney and Thirteen Lune launched 10 pilot shops inside stores in 2021. Now, the concept is planned to launch permanently inside 600 JCPenney stores by spring of 2023.

The display showcases more than 250 beauty brands, including established and indie players. "Indie brands will become established brands," Wlazlo said. The assortment includes 100 brands that are new for JCPenney, more than 60 of which are BIPOC and/or female-founded. One example is Las Cruces-based Prados Beauty, founded by Cece Meadows. "She's the first indigenous beauty brand founder who's ever had shelf space anywhere," Wlazlo said.

Many of JCPenney's salons were also recently redone to coincide with the launch of the new display. The new beauty concept will incorporate 3,000 beauty specialists and 6,000 stylists in salons nationwide.

The launch follows JCPenney's reorganization after filing bankruptcy in 2020. The brand has since welcomed a new CEO, Marc Rosen, and even more recently, a new chief marketing officer, John Aylward. "We have emerged from bankruptcy very financially sound," Wlazlo says. "We have had great success. We are actually doing quite well, and it is because we got grounded back to our customers."

Dallas-based MoneyGram International—a global leader in digital person-to-person non-bank payments—is the new title sponsor of the Haas F1 Team, the lone American team competing in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. This sponsorship infuses enough capital to take the Haas team to the $135 million limit for the first time in 2023.

This deal is MoneyGram's third in the sports realm. The company also has partnerships with ICC Cricket and FC Dallas.

"MoneyGram is a different company than it was even five years ago," said Alex Holmes, MoneyGram chairman and CEO. "We’ve reinvented ourselves into a global leader in the evolution of cross-border payments with our fast-growing digital business and strong culture of fintech innovation—and we’re just getting started. We will continue to disrupt ourselves to meet the ever-changing financial needs of consumers, and we’re determined to make sure the world knows it. That's why we’re hitting the accelerator by making our debut into the world of F1 and teaming up with [team founder] Gene [Haas] and Haas F1 Team."

The Dallas Foundation awarded $1.4 million to 27 Dallas-area nonprofits in its latest Community Impact funding cycle. Through this latest initiative, The Dallas Foundation has awarded more than $56 million in impact grants this year.

The latest funding was given to nonprofits that: ensure a strong and healthy start in life; strengthen community and economic resilience; advance equity and inclusion; or enhance the nonprofit ecosystem.

"Each of these Community Impact Grants demonstrates an investment in some of our community's most critical needs," Matthew Randazzo, president and CEO of The Dallas Foundation said. "The Dallas Foundation is thrilled to support and spotlight these recipients, whose missions align with The Dallas Foundation's strategic priorities and, ultimately, provide children and families with a brighter and more equitable community to live in."

This year's recipients are:

The Fort Worth-based ear care company Eosera has launched its inaugural EmpowHERment Pitch Competition, which will award $10,000 to one woman-owned business, and has announced three finalists: Boozy Bites, Heralogie, and PWR WMN.

EmpowHERment came about when Esora CEO Elyse Stoltz Dickerson, who got her start in a pitch competition, decided to launch her own. "When EOSERA won their pitch competition, it propelled our company forward and took us to the next level. I’m glad to do something similar for another woman-led company," Dickerson says.

The three finalists will pitch to a live audience November 17 at the University of North Texas Health Science Center Next Offices in Fort Worth. Three judges will select the winner.

Boozy Bites is the world's first vegan edible cocktail using premium spirits. Heralogie manufactuers tree-based, breathable period panties that mold to bodies. PWR WMN produces feminine blazers with pockets.

"The competition was fierce, and our semifinalist judges had their work cut out for them," Dickerson adds.