McCrory Stores his last name so he would not have to pay for extra letters on his store signs. McCrory died in 1923 having built McCrory Stores Corporation into a success. However, in 1933 the company declared bankruptcy and was dissolved, but it was eventually re-established as McCrory Stores and resumed operations. One of the early investors was Sebastian Spering Kresge, who later founded the S.S. Kresge chain, which became Kmart. In 1899, Kresge traded his interest in the McCrory's Memphis, Tennessee store for McCrory's interest in the Detroit, Michigan, store, giving him control there. In 1987, the Kmart Corporation sold its
Kresge-Newark and its Breakfast With Santa sold out early each season. In the 1940s the firm opened a multi-story parking garage, 1 block from its store. The garage located at the corner of Raymond Blvd, and Central Avenue was the only structure of its type in downtown Newark that was run by a department store. Bamberger's and Hahne's offered small surface lots next to their stores. With the opening of the garage, Kresge-Newark used the motto, "easiest to reach, pleasantness to shop in". This motto was related to not only the parking garage, but its (2) subway entrances, and numerous bus