Kresge-Newark was an upper-middle market

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

based in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Sebastian Kresge Sebastian Spering Kresge (July 31, 1867 – October 18, 1966) was an American businessman. He created and owned two chains of department stores, the S. S. Kresge Company, one of the 20th century's largest discount retail organizations, and the K ...

purchased the L.S. Plaut Department store "S. S. Kresge Enters New Enterprise— Twenty-five-Million-Dollar Corporation to Finance Big Deal", ''Los Angeles Times'', August 2, 1923, p. 10 in downtown Newark and rebranded the business Kresge-Newark. This store had no management connection to the

S.S. Kresge Sebastian Spering Kresge (July 31, 1867 – October 18, 1966) was an American businessman. He created and owned two chains of department stores, the S. S. Kresge Company, one of the 20th century's largest discount retail organizations, and the ...

5 & 10 chain based in Detroit, Michigan.Kresge's New Chain
''Time'', August 13, 1923 In 1926, Kresge replaced the original Plaut store, nicknamed "The Bee Hive," which had been built in 1891, with a larger flagship store that occupied the entire city block, between Broad and Halsey streets, and Cedar Street and Raymond Boulevard. It contained more than {{convert, 600000, sqft, m2 of selling space on ten levels (nine stories plus a basement store). Such was the store's prominence in the city that in 1927 it arranged to have an underground streetcar platform opened at its basement level, allowing customers to come in directly from streetcars; the only access was through the Kresge store on one side of the platform and McCrory’s on the other side. The firm positioned itself between its popular priced rival,

Bamberger's Bamberger's was a department store chain with branches primarily in New Jersey and other locations in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. The chain was headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. History 1892–1912 Newark was known for ma ...

, and its more upscale competitor, Hahne & Company. Kresge was the last of Newark's department stores to remain independent, and its customer loyalty was fierce. During the Christmas selling season, Kresge's operated a monorail ride around its toy department, and its Breakfast With Santa sold out early each season.Kresge Department Store
Old Newark Web Group In the 1940s the firm opened a multi-story parking garage, one block from its store. The garage located at the corner of Raymond Blvd.& University 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 the store’s underground streetcar platform entrance, and numerous bus lines that ran along Broad Street. Kresge changed with the times by opening a branch in

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

in 1946, and in 1959 when B. Altman & Company moved its store from

East Orange East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...

to Short Hills, Kresge-Newark took over the East Orange store as its location.DEPARTMENT STORE BRANCHES, 1910–1960
/ref> The Summit Branch (and it was marketed under this name) initially offered home furnishings, appliances and the like, but was enlarged in the 1950s to carry a full line of merchandise. Kresge also saw the type of business lines that

discount stores A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down cost ...

were fast becoming dominant in (lawn supplies, hardware, and the like), and in turn leased the top two floors of its flagship store to the

Western Electric Company The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...

for use as office space.Louis Schlesinger Company v. The Kresge Foundation
388 F.2d 208 Kresge-Newark also took a lead in many civic improvements and was active in the early planning of the Gateway Center (which opened long after the store's demise). The store also formed an alliance with

Asbury Park Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188

-based Steinbach. In 1964, with it clear that his heirs had no desire to take over the department store business, the Kresge Foundation sold the stores to David Chase, and they were rebranded Chase-Newark. In 1967 Chase-Newark announced it was closing, and four selling floors of the Newark flagship were leased to the

Two Guys Two Guys from Harrison (later shortened to Two Guys) is a former discount store chain founded in 1946 by brothers Herbert and Sidney Hubschman in Harrison, New Jersey, originally selling major appliances such as televisions. The chain acquired ...

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.

References

Companies based in Newark, New Jersey Defunct department stores based in New Jersey Defunct companies based in New Jersey

Further reading

References