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
Howard Brothers Discount Stores Howard Brothers Discount Stores Howard Brothers Discount Stores (informally known as Howard Brothers and Howard's) was a chain of discount stores in the Southeastern United States. The chain was founded in 1959 by Alton Hardy Howard and W. L. "Jack" Howard, a five-term mayor of Monroe, Louisiana. The Howards were an early franchisee of Gibson's Discount Center, but they later pulled out of the franchise agreement and opened stores under their own name. In 1969, the company became a publicly traded company. In 1978, the then 78-store chain was purchased by Gamble-Skogmo, which later merged with Wickes Companies. It had