McCrory Stores
J.G. McCrory's or
McCrory Stores was a chain of
five and dime stores in the
United States based in
York, Pennsylvania. The stores typically sold
shoes,
clothing,
housewares,
fabrics,
penny candy,
toys,
cosmetics, and often possessed a
lunch counter or
snack bar.
John Graham McCrorey opened his first store in
Scottdale, Pennsylvania, in
1882. By
1885, the chain had five stores in the Pennsylvania. Born with the last name "McCrorey", the owner legally changed his name, dropping the
e, to save money by not paying the cost of the extra letter in store signs.
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 store for McCrory's interest in the
Detroit, Michigan store, giving him control there.
At its height, McCrory's operated 1,300 stores under its own name as well as
TG&Y,
McLellan (merged in
1958),
H.L. Green,
G.C. Murphy and
J.J. Newberry which it had acquired through the years. McCrory's parent
Rapid-American also owned
Lerner Stores and
National Shirt (acquired by McCrory's in
1960).
Meshulam Riklis (later husband to
Pia Zadora) purchased McCrory's in
1960, and moved its headquarters to
Springettsbury Township, Pennsylvania in
1963. At the time it was the fourth largest retailer in the
United States. Riklis controlled McCrory's through the
Rapid-American holding company, which was managed by
Samuel Neaman.
In
1987 it purchased the 76 remaining
Kresge (and
Jupiter) stores from
Kmart, reuniting the companies.
It was at this time controlled by
E-II Holdings Inc., which also owned Silver, Elmore, Britts, and Kittinger and
Bargain Time.
As of
1989 they had some 1300 stores. In
1991 they closed 229 of 1000 remaining stores. The chain filed for
bankruptcy in
1992. In
1997 it closed 300 of 460 remaining stores.
In the late
1990s, it converted some stores to the
Dollar Zone format of
dollar store, but these ultimately closed as well in
2001.
*
S.S. Kresge (now KMart),
*
S.H. Kress*
F.W. Woolworth & Company*
Ben Franklin Stores*
W.T. Grant*
Oriole Records*
History of G.C. Murphy storesIsadore Barmash (1976)
For the Good of the Company: The History of the McCrory Corporation ISBN 1587982153
