After serving nearly four years in the United States Air Force, James Cephas went to work for the Postal Service for eight years. During that span, he realized that he liked playing the piano and entertaining so he formed a jazz band and started doing nightclub work, college gigs and cabarets. He became King James and his band was known as "King James & His Men Of Rhythm". In the beginning it was weekend work but the demand for this band became so great that in 1961, he was forced to resign from the post office so that he could travel with his band. In 1968, King James opened a record shop on 52nd Street in West Philadelphia. The idea was to have something constructive to do during the day time and also to supplement income. He used his stage name for his store, "KING JAMES RECORDS". The business did well so in 1971, he opened a second store on Girard Avenue in North Philadelphia. That store also did very well. King soon realized that he favored retail over playing on the road and decided to quit the stage to run his store full time.

He joined the NARM Organization and traveled to its conventions annually to obtain merchandising knowledge and meet other retailers from all across the country. In 1975, King won a sales increase contest from CBS Records that awarded him an all-expense paid trip to Acapulco for seven days. He joined The Black Music Association which also took him to many parts of the country. He later became Vice President of the Philadelphia Chapter of The BMA. King was twice awarded Retailer of the Year at the Black Radio Exclusive conference.

In 1980 James opened a third store in a West Philadelphia Strip Mall called Haddington Plaza. With an outstanding inventory, a lottery machine, a casino transport service and a concert ticket agency, this latest store has proven to be the most busy. King James has survived 25 years as a retailer. He has witnessed many changes in the industry, including configuration changes in product; policy changes, price changes and distribution changes. King believes that to survive in this business, you must always "pay attention".