Farewell

The Eckerd arc, from Oesterreicher's acquisition announcement in 1996 to Albright's reports , also follows and accents the overall decline of JCPenney's performance and market value along with a steady rise of confusion and panic in the ranks. Only the appearance of the real Wanda Wonder in mid-1999 and then shimmering Allen Questrom's arrival in late 2000 kept the situation from deteriorating into utter hopelessness.

Another thing the Eckerd arc described was the practical end of the traditional J. C. Penney operation. And one of the casualties was the lamentable disappearance of The Penney Idea as a companywide doctrine and discipline ” especially the last and most quoted precept:

To test our every policy, method, and act in this wise:
"Does it square with what is right and just?"

Gale Duff-Bloom, who had fought so hard to square company employment policy with what was right and just, would particularly feel the sting of this loss.