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
L.A. Joe Department Store were paid 40%. L.A. Joe Department Store L.A. Joe Department Store was a chain of Charleston, West Virginia based discount department stores that existed until June, 1992. L.A. Joe was the retail brand name of Retail Acquisition Corporation which at its peak owned 70 discount department stores throughout West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Retail Acquisition Corp/L.A. Joe purchased the struggling Heck's Department Store chain in 1990. The company experienced $19.5 billion in losses between 1990 and 1991, and in 1991 liquidated 22 of its stores under Chapter 11. By June 1992, the remainder of the stores had