S. S. Kresge S. S. Kresge 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. The discounter was renamed the Kmart Corporation in 1977 and evolved into today's Sears Holdings Corporation, parent of Kmart and Sears. Kresge was born near Allentown, Pennsylvania, the son of Sebastian Kresge and the former Catherine Kunkle. Living on the family farm in Kresgeville (named for his ancestors) until he was 21 years
Chase-Newark Chase-Newark Chase-Newark was a short lived, upper middle-market Department Store based in Newark, New Jersey. The company also operated 2 suburban stores during its three-year history. Chase-Newark was founded early in 1964 when David Chase purchased the Kresge-Newark Department stores from the Kresge Foundation, and leased back 5 floors of the downtown Newark location [1]. When Sebastian Kresge (the founder of Kresge-Newark) died a foundation was set up to run the stores that bore his name. David Chase could have used the Kresge name but instead re-branded the stores Chase-Newark, as he planned to refocus the stores to be (like