August 12, 2010

U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Division of Corporation Finance

100 F Street, N.E.

Washington, DC 20549

ATTN:  Mr. Scott M. Anderegg, Staff Attorney

Re:      J. C. Penney Company, Inc.

Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended January 30, 2010

Filed March 30, 2010

Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A

Filed March 30, 2010

File No. 001-15274

Dear Mr. Anderegg:

We are in receipt of the letter dated August 9, 2010 from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) regarding the above-referenced filings for J. C. Penney Company, Inc.  The Company hereby requests an additional ten business days to respond to the comments of the Commission staff.  Accordingly, the Company intends to submit its response on or before September 6, 2010.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at (972) 431-2410 or Salil Virkar at (972) 431-1211 if you have any questions.

Very truly yours,

 /s/  Jennifer L. McNamee

Jennifer L. McNamee

JLM/rs

cc:        Janet Dhillon

Salil R. Virkar