• Wall Street Journal, Friday, April 3, 2009 11 AM

I heard a JC Penney commercial last night, and although I can't tell you if it was on the radio or TV, I fleetingly thought to myself, "Oh, they're still around? That's nice. They're good people." Penney's has always had an aura of friendly Midwestern earnestness about it, like the kid who'd do anything for you in high school but you haven't seen since graduation.

This morning Rachel Dodes brings the news that the Cindy Crawford Style home-décor collection will make its debut at Penney's new Manhattan store when it opens in July, and the moderately priced tableware, window treatments, furniture and bedding line will move into the chain's other 1,100 locations in September.

Home products account for 20% of Penney's revenue, but were one of its weakest categories last year. Jeffrey Allison, Penney's evp and general-merchandise manager for home, says Crawford's line "will be our broadest private brand" in the about $4 billion-a-year home-decor department.

"I've been able to experience amazing things in my life," says the 43-year-old Crawford. "But I am also just a girl from Illinois with two sisters" -- sisters who, like most people, can't afford private trainers, Parisian facialists and celebrity interior decorators, she says.

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »