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 College S. S. Kresge department store at the entrance to the college, but this idea met too much resistance. Kresge College is currently home to several co-ops (Music Co-Op, Natural Foods Co-op, Photo Co-op, Garden Co-op) as well as the social justice organization, Common Grounds. Residential housing themes include the Writer's House and the Eco-Village. One of the alumni of Kresge, Marti Noxon, went on to produce "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and managed to sneak in-joke references to Kresge as well as Santa Cruz into many of the scripts, most recently in the "Angel" spin-off where a supporting character (Eve) is