Harry Cunningham to design a discount store. Walton added that Cunningham should be remembered as one of the leading retailers of all time. Cunningham and Walton both visited, and were impressed by, the early and innovative discounter Ann & Hope in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Harry Cunningham Harry B. Cunningham (1907 in Pennsylvania – November 11, 1992 in North Palm Beach, Florida) was an American businessman and retailer who founded Kmart in 1962, along with S. S. Kresge. Cunningham had a vision to convert the retail chain into a discounter. At the time, Cunningham was sharply criticized by some, including Kresge shareholders, as
Kresge-Newark floors of the Newark flagship were leased to the Two Guys chain. The two branch stores were closed at this time and the downtown Newark location reopened as a Two Guys unit in the fall of 1967. Kresge-Newark Kresge-Newark was an upper-middle market department store based in Newark, New Jersey. The firm was started in the 1920s when its founder Sebastian Kresge purchased the L.S. Plaut Department store in downtown Newark and rebranded the business Kresge-Newark. This store had no management connection to the S.S. Kresge 5 & 10 chain based in Detroit, Michigan. In 1926, Kresge replaced the original