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Sebastian Spering Kresge (July 31, 1867 – October 18, 1966) was an American businessman. He created and owned two chains of department stores, the S. S. Kresge Company, one of the 20th century's largest discount retail organizations, and the Kresge-Newark traditional department store chain.
S.S. Kresge Company. Before discount stores, there were variety “dime stores,” called so because products sold for either a dime or a nickel. Kresge, founded in 1899, was a Detroit-born dime store where shoppers could find daily needs such as housewares, linens, clothing, school supplies, and toys.
S. S. Kresge, the founder of the company that would become Kmart, met variety-store pioneer Frank Winfield Woolworth while working as a traveling salesman and selling to all 19 of Woolworth's stores at the time. In 1897, Kresge invested $6,700 saved from his job into a five-and-dime store in Memphis, Tennessee.
Mar 20, 2024 · S.S. Kresge was an American merchant who established a chain of nearly 1,000 variety and discount stores throughout the United States. Kresge worked as a traveling salesman before going into business with one of his customers, John G. McCrory, the owner of several department and five-and-ten-cent.
With a simple but profound directive, “To promote the well-being of mankind,” The Kresge Foundation was established in 1924 by Detroit retail magnate Sebastian Spering Kresge (1867-1966) as he built one of America’s largest retail enterprises, the S.S. Kresge Company, and used his wealth to contribute to the general benefit and welfare of ...
The company was founded by Sebastian S. Kresge, a traveling hardware salesman, and John G. McCrory, owner of eight general merchandise stores in the eastern United States and one of Kresge’s customers.
In this period the downtown Detroit store was called Kresge & Wilson. By 1912, when the company was incorporated in Delaware as the S.S. Kresge Company, Sebastian Kresge owned 85 stores with sales of over $10 million. Kresge retired as president in 1925 but continued as chairman of the company.
