On March 20, 1897, Kresge began working for James G. McCrory (founder of J.G. McCrory's) at a five and ten cent store in Memphis, Tennessee. He continued there for two years. In 1899, he founded his company, with Charles J. Wilson, with an $8,000 investment in two five-and-ten-cent stores; one was in downtown Detroit, Michigan (for which he traded ownership in McCrory's).
In 1912, he incorporated the S.S. Kresge Company with 85 stores. The company was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange on May 23, 1918. During World War I, Kresge experimented with raising the limit on prices in his stores to $1.
By 1924, Kresge was worth approximately $375,000,000 ($5,000,000,000 in 2009 dollars[2]) and owned real estate of the approximate value of $100,000,000.
...and, then, Kresge's became K-Mart.
The first Kmart opened in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan. Kresge died in 1966. In 1977, the S. S. Kresge Corporation changed its name to the Kmart Corporation. In 2005 Sears Holdings Corporation became the parent of Kmart and Sears, after Kmart bought Sears, and formed the new parent.
...and, now, under the "leadership" of a hedge-fund manager, without retail experience, both Sears and K-Mart (...barely running on fumes, now...) are on life support. Too bad... My memories of both chains, with the flagship Sears Roebuck store on Main St. in Hackensack, and the giant K-Mart on Rte. 17 in Paramus, will never fade, even if the stores themselves, do.
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