Entrepreneur. He was the founder of the S.S. Kresge Company, a chain of dime stores, which developed into full-fledged variety stores. At first, he became the partner with J.G. McCrory, owner of a Five-and-Dime store chain. In 1912, he incorporated the S.S. Kresge Company with 85 stores. With the 1962 opening of the first K-Mart, these Dime stores were developed into larger stores, which were renamed Kmart Corporation in 1977, becoming one of America's first big-box stores and dealing with mass discounts. In the mid-1920s, he opened Kresge-Newark, an upper-middle market department store based in Newark, New Jersey, which had no management connection to the dime-store. This store was sold in 1964. Born on a farm in the rural community of Kresgeville, he was educated in local schools before attending the Fairview Academy and Eastman Business College in New York, from which he graduated in March of 1889. With an agreement, he repaid his father the cost of his college education. He was known for being penny-pinching. Married and divorced at least twice by 1928, he married a total of three times. A strongly committed prohibitionist, he organized the National Vigilance Committee for Prohibition enforcement and also, for a time, heavily supported the Anti-Saloon League financially. In 1924 he developed the multi-million-dollar foundation, The Kresage Foundation, "to promote the well-being of mankind." At the time of his retirement, his chain had almost 600 United States stores, a Canadian subsidiary, and an annual sale of $156 million. The last S.S. Kresge was sold to McCrory in 1987 with Kmart being the main business venture. Though at its peak in 1994, Kmart operated 2,486 stores globally, yet the store met financial problems in the 21st century. Unlike their competitors, the company failed to expand to online shopping, and in a failed attempt to keep prices low, the overall quality of the merchandise decreased . On January 22, 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company would merge over the years into several companies. From 2005 through 2019, the company was part of Sears Holdings, but On December 27, 2011, after a disastrous holiday sales season, Sears Holdings announced that 100 to 120 of Sears and Kmart stores would close. Eventually, a second Chapter 11 was filed. Kmart Stores were being sold to pay debts, and as of April 16, 2022, only 9 stores remain open, three of them being in the United States, thus ending his empire.
Entrepreneur. He was the founder of the S.S. Kresge Company, a chain of dime stores, which developed into full-fledged variety stores. At first, he became the partner with J.G. McCrory, owner of a Five-and-Dime store chain. In 1912, he incorporated the S.S. Kresge Company with 85 stores. With the 1962 opening of the first K-Mart, these Dime stores were developed into larger stores, which were renamed Kmart Corporation in 1977, becoming one of America's first big-box stores and dealing with mass discounts. In the mid-1920s, he opened Kresge-Newark, an upper-middle market department store based in Newark, New Jersey, which had no management connection to the dime-store. This store was sold in 1964. Born on a farm in the rural community of Kresgeville, he was educated in local schools before attending the Fairview Academy and Eastman Business College in New York, from which he graduated in March of 1889. With an agreement, he repaid his father the cost of his college education. He was known for being penny-pinching. Married and divorced at least twice by 1928, he married a total of three times. A strongly committed prohibitionist, he organized the National Vigilance Committee for Prohibition enforcement and also, for a time, heavily supported the Anti-Saloon League financially. In 1924 he developed the multi-million-dollar foundation, The Kresage Foundation, "to promote the well-being of mankind." At the time of his retirement, his chain had almost 600 United States stores, a Canadian subsidiary, and an annual sale of $156 million. The last S.S. Kresge was sold to McCrory in 1987 with Kmart being the main business venture. Though at its peak in 1994, Kmart operated 2,486 stores globally, yet the store met financial problems in the 21st century. Unlike their competitors, the company failed to expand to online shopping, and in a failed attempt to keep prices low, the overall quality of the merchandise decreased . On January 22, 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company would merge over the years into several companies. From 2005 through 2019, the company was part of Sears Holdings, but On December 27, 2011, after a disastrous holiday sales season, Sears Holdings announced that 100 to 120 of Sears and Kmart stores would close. Eventually, a second Chapter 11 was filed. Kmart Stores were being sold to pay debts, and as of April 16, 2022, only 9 stores remain open, three of them being in the United States, thus ending his empire.
Bio by: John Sheets
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