From humble beginnings in Memphis, S.H. Kress variety stores eventually operated in thirty states.

Photo from S.H. Kress & Company Annual Report 1946

Samuel Henry Kress (1863-1965) hailed from the Allentown, Pennsylvania area. With his founding of the S.H. Kress & Company, in 1896, he amassed a substantial fortune that grew exponentially from this first 5 & 10 unit, in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania.  

Photo from S.H. Kress & Company Annual Report 1955

Kress & Company's Manhattan store was located at 5th Avenue and 39th Street.

Graphic from the Boston Public Library

A full-page spread covering a newly-opened store in Roswell, New Mexico.  

Photos from S.H. Kress & Company Annual Report 1952

A brand new Kress & Company store opened -in Chattanooga, Tennessee- in the mid-1950s.

Photo from S.H. Kress & Company Annual Report 1954

A vintage view inside the Chattanooga Kress store.
Photo from S.H. Kress & Company Annual Report 1954

An ultra-modern Kress & Company store opened for business -in Oklahoma City- in November 1960. 

Photo from National Building Museum Collection / S. H. Kress & Company Collection

The standard Kress Stores trademark of the early-to-mid 1950s. 

Graphic from S.H. Kress & Company 

The corporate trademark of the late 1950s. The chain was sold to Genesco, Incorporated in October 1964. In January 1981, Kress stores became a division of the J.G. McCrory Company. 

Graphic from S.H. Kress & Company Annual Report 1958

A new Kress store prototype -known as Variety Fair- was introduced in 1965. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina unit is shown above. As the signage attests, the store includes the "whirly Q luncheonette."

Photo from Genesco, Incorporated Annual Report 1965