J.C. Penney to End Sales Force Hide-N-Seek by Back-to-School

Best Buy Co.’s sales force wears blue shirts. Apple Inc. “specialists” are garbed in branded tees. J.C. Penney Co. associates can wear whatever they want.

The un-dress code is a legacy of ousted Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson, the former Apple retail chief who espoused a hipper, less formal vibe for J.C. Penney. The strategy has a flaw evident to anyone who has shopped at the department-store chain lately: You can’t tell the sales workers from everyone else. That made it hard to ask for assistance and pay for purchases because Johnson also removed many cash registers and put checkout devices in the hands of hard-to-find store workers.