The Fair Store the store would be completed on that site in 1897. The Fair Store promoted itself as a Discount Department Store in the early 1900s. In 1915, a booklet published by the store stated "The Fair Store is still, as it always has been and undoubtedly always will be, the store of the people, the down-town shopping center for the Savers, the market place for the Thrifty." In 1925 the business was sold to a syndicate headed by S.S. Kresge (predecessor firm of Kmart). Under its management, branches were opened on Milwaukee Avenue (1929), in Oak Park, Illinois (1929), at the
Farmer Jack were converted into A&P's Food Basics format in an attempt to compete with discount chains such as Save-A-Lot. Less than a year later, nine were closed while the other—a new-build store in Dearborn Heights—was converted into a Farmer Jack. Simultaneously, the closure of 15 Farmer Jacks was announced; four more closures were announced later in the year. In early 2005, A&P placed Farmer Jack for sale, seeking an estimated $250M for 71 core stores; the remaining locations were offered individually. Later that year, workers approved wage cuts conditional on a sale to Spartan Stores—which was led by several former Farmer