General Manager Kevin Daigler took the first 20 or so of 125 new employees on a tour of the new Hammond J.C. Penney store Thursday morning, pointing out amenities like flat-screen TVs in the fitting rooms.

"What's your favorite TV network?" he asked, offering to get whatever cable channels they requested.

Letha James, Annie Collier, Chantell Harvey, all of Hammond, and Debra Tucker from Springfield responded variously Lifetime or Home Shopping Network.

"ESPN it is!" he said.

Daigler spent the first two hours in a classroom, going over company policy. The tour elicited the most questions.

Department supervisors, also new hires, sat at computers waiting to help those going through the orientation process. All had conducted interviews during the job fair and chose employees for each department.

Dori Young, set execution supervisor, has been a stay-at-home mom a few years getting back into the workplace. Her first job while she was still in high school was at the former Hammond J.C. Penney. "Penney's stays in your heart," she said.

Catalog Supervisor Karen Stratton, Pricing team Supervisor Nicole Oubre and Shipping and receiving Supervisor Lisa Faber were hired from the

See EMPLOYEES, 2A

Covington J.C. Penney and have been commuting from Hammond. The three said they had just been waiting for the opportunity to work in the new Hammond store.

New store Assistant Manager Julie Brown, a graduate of Amite High School, has returned to Hammond after a 13-year stay in California where she worked for GAP and Sears. She started to think about coming back to Louisiana after losing a family member in Katrina. She's living in Independence.

"I'm so glad to be back, to be part of the rebuilding of the North Shore," she said. "Hammond deserves a Penney's."

Brown said she was impressed with the growth of Southeastern Louisiana University and joined North Cypress Fitness' new facility on South Magnolia, which is like spalike facilities in California. She met Hammond Mayor Mayson Foster who told her he is a former J.C. Penney employee. The mayor worked at the downtown store for two years while in college and even entered the management program.

Hired at the corporate home office in Plano, Texas, Brown said she met Daigler and learned that the Hammond store is a Prototype 5, a new design which focuses on elegance and convenience. Store registers are unobtrusively located in front of the store but out of the flow of traffic. The fitting room for intimate apparel has lush purple drapes and large mirrors, much like the Victoria's Secret stores. The styling salon has its own entrance.

Areaka Barnett, training supervisor, relocated to Hammond after Hurricane Katrina and has 13 years retail experience. She's a single mom with a 10-year-old daughter.

"I'm excited about growing with J.C. Penney," she said. "I love Hammond. It's so quiet and paceful."