S. H. Kress & Co.

S. H. Kress & Co.
Name	S. H. Kress & Co.
Type	Department store chain
Fate	Liquidation
Founded	1896
Founder	Samuel H. Kress
Defunct	1981
Headquarters	New York City, Philadelphia
Products	Dry goods, clothing, household goods, hardware

S. H. Kress & Co. was an American chain of "five and dime" department stores founded by Samuel H. Kress in 1896 that grew into a national retail presence noted for its architecture, merchandising, and participation in urban commercial life. The company intersected with figures and institutions such as Samuel H. Kress, the City of New York, the National Register of Historic Places, and philanthropic initiatives, shaping retail practice alongside contemporaries like F. W. Woolworth Company, Montgomery Ward, Sears, Roebuck and Company, and J. C. Penney. Kress stores became local landmarks in cities including Philadelphia, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami, and their fate tied into corporate consolidation, urban renewal, and preservation movements involving the National Trust for Historic Preservation and state historic preservation offices.

History

Samuel H. Kress founded the company after early retail experiences in Nanticoke and Bradford, aligning with retail trends set by Richard Sears, Alvah Roebuck, and Frank Winfield Woolworth; Kress expanded through cities such as New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New Orleans while contemporaries included Marshall Field, John Wanamaker, and A. T. Stewart. The chain's growth in the early 20th century paralleled urbanization in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, and St. Louis and intersected with transportation networks like the Pennsylvania Railroad, Southern Pacific Railroad, and New York Central Railroad that enabled regional merchandising. During the Great Depression and New Deal era the firm navigated market shifts alongside companies such as Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Gimbels while responding to regulatory environments touched by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Postwar suburbanization influenced Kress locations near developments by Levitt & Sons, shopping centers akin to Southdale Center, and automotive corridors in Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston, ultimately leading to corporate decisions culminating in the 1960s and 1970s retail consolidation trends exemplified by Allied Stores and Campeau Corporation.

Architecture and Store Design

Kress commissioned architects and designers influenced by contemporaries such as Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, John Wellborn Root, and Frank Lloyd Wright to create ornate façades, terra cotta ornamentation, and Beaux-Arts and Art Deco elements in urban cores like Broadway in Manhattan, Canal Street in New Orleans, and Ocean Drive in Miami Beach. Numerous stores employed terra cotta produced by firms such as Gladding, McBean & Co. and architectural firms comparable to Thompson, Holmes & Converse; aesthetic parallels can be drawn with buildings by Cass Gilbert, Paul Cret, and Julian Abele. Interior features included stamped tin ceilings, mosaic floors, display windows inspired by innovations at Selfridges, Harrods, and Bon Marché, and escalators and elevators similar to installations by Otis Elevator Company and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Preservationists and architectural historians from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Institute of Architects, and the Historic American Buildings Survey have documented Kress façades alongside landmarked properties such as the Rookery, the Wrigley Building, and the Bradbury Building.

Business Operations and Merchandise

Kress operated a centralized buying system reminiscent of strategies used by Montgomery Ward, Sears, and the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, sourcing goods from manufacturers in the Garment District and merchandise centers in New York City and Chicago. Product lines included notions, hosiery, hardware, kitchenware, millinery, and juvenile apparel comparable to offerings at Woolworth, Ben Franklin Stores, and Gimbels; seasonal promotions paralleled strategies employed by Woolworth and J. C. Penney. Marketing and catalog operations connected Kress to printing houses, advertising agencies similar to N. W. Ayer & Son, and media outlets such as The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times. The company navigated supply chains tied to ports like the Port of New York and New Orleans and wholesalers in Philadelphia and Boston while adapting pricing and credit systems influenced by installment practices seen at Sears and Montgomery Ward.

Labor, Segregation, and Social Impact

Kress stores were sites of employment and contested social practices that intersected with civil rights figures and events including activists in Birmingham, Greensboro sit-ins, and legal challenges under state courts and the United States Supreme Court; local protests occurred in cities such as Tallahassee, Birmingham, and Memphis. The chain’s policies reflected segregationist customs in the Jim Crow South that prompted sit-ins and legal actions connected to organizations like the NAACP, the Congress of Racial Equality, and student activists influenced by leaders associated with Howard University, Fisk University, and Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Labor relations involved clerks and retail unions such as the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and the American Federation of Labor; strikes and collective bargaining mirrored disputes seen at factories represented by the United Auto Workers and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.

Decline and Liquidation

By the 1960s and 1970s competition from suburban shopping malls developed by Victor Gruen and retail conglomerates like Federated Department Stores, Allied Stores, and Dayton-Hudson Company eroded downtown traffic in cities including Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis. Corporate restructuring, acquisition strategies used by conglomerates such as Genesco and Levine Leichtman, and retail shifts similar to those undergone by Woolco and E. J. Korvette culminated in sales and divestitures; Kress stores were sold, closed, or rebranded amid bankruptcy-era retail consolidation that also affected companies like Montgomery Ward and Alexander's. Liquidation in 1981 followed market pressures akin to those that closed regional chains such as W. T. Grant and S. S. Kresge, and properties were transferred to developers, municipalities, and preservation entities.

Legacy and Preservation

Kress buildings are studied by preservationists at the National Park Service, state historic preservation offices, and local historical societies in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Savannah; many have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places and repurposed for uses by universities such as Columbia University, Tulane University, and the University of Southern California. Adaptive reuse projects transformed former Kress stores into museums, lofts, restaurants, and cultural centers alongside projects at comparable landmarks like the Ponce City Market, the High Line, and the Old Post Office Pavilion. Collectors, curators at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art have documented Kress merchandising ephemera, while the Samuel H. Kress Foundation has contributed to art conservation and acquisitions at museums including the National Gallery of Art, the Frick Collection, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Notable Locations and Buildings

Noteworthy Kress properties include flagship and architecturally significant sites in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue and Broadway, the Canal Street building in New Orleans, the flagship in Philadelphia on Market Street, the art deco building on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, and the Ocean Drive store in Miami Beach. Other prominent locations occurred in Chicago on State Street, San Antonio on Houston Street, Savannah, Georgia on Broughton Street, Pueblo, Colorado, Asheville, North Carolina, and Wilmington, Delaware; several are listed as landmarks alongside works by architects such as Paul R. Williams, Henry Hobson Richardson, and Julia Morgan. Many former Kress buildings now stand near urban anchors and institutions like Union Station, City Hall, and university campuses, continuing to shape streetscapes in cities from Atlanta to Tucson.

Category:Defunct department stores of the United States