As a general rule Brad, department store cards have more downside and less upside than bank credit cards (such as Visa, Mastercard, Discovercard, or American Express). One reason is that department store limits tend to be much lower than bankcard limits. As a result, when your account reports a balance on them (even if you pay off that balance before the "due date), that report shows a correspondingly higher "utilization" than would be the case if you'd posted the same charge on a higher limit bank card. Now if you are careful, you can usually use the store card without having it report a balance to the credit bureaus by simply paying off the card to zero before its billing cycle closes. We sometimes get large discounts on certain store cards (JC Penny, Macy's come to mind), and this is the technique we use to capture these discounts without denting our credit scores.

Some scoring methods also single out department store cards from other "revolving credit lines" (think credit cards, overdraft protection lines, or personal lines of credit). It CAN benefit you slightly to have one active department store account, since some scoring forumulae give you points for a "mix" of credit. But after the first one, any effect will probably be a slight negative.

BOTTOM LINE: a department store card at the store (or two) you frequently shop at should be just fine, provided that take care to avoid reporting high utilization.