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
Kresge-Newark lines that ran along Broad Street. Kresge changed with the times by opening a branch in Summit in 1946, and in 1959 when B. Altman & Company moved its store from East Orange to Short Hills, Kresge-Newark took over the East Orange store as its location. The Summit Branch (and it was marketed under this name) initially offered home furnishings, appliances and the like, but was enlarged in the 1950s to carry a full line of merchandise. Kresge also saw the type of business lines that discount stores were fast becoming dominant in (lawn supplies, hardware, and the like), and