Small-town style hits the Big Apple

Yet another small-town girl has moved to the big city with bright-eyed aspirations -- and her name is JC Penney.

The 107-year-old store opened its first New York City outpost today, just a stone's throw from that most storied of department stores, Macy's Herald Square.

From where Penney executives are sitting, now -- a time when city-slicker fashionistas might not have the funds to match their fashion taste -- is the perfect time to take Manhattan.

Can a store that has recently spent most of its big ad dollars on trumpeting basics in red, white and blue find a place in the jaded hearts of New York shoppers? Because of its reputation for a catch-all, vanilla approach to fashion, I think it has its work cut out it. And JC Penney won't impress anyone with those in-store Sephora boutiques -- the cosmetics superstore is New York's Starbucks of makeup, with 12 locations on the island.