As a consequence of America's move to the suburbs, and the resulting decline of the inner city, Troy, Michigan's S.S. Kresge Company was left holding leases of several declining downtown dime stores. To make better use of its cumbersome real estate, the company created a new division in 1961. Known as Jupiter, it would be a deep discount chain offering a limited selection of fast-moving merchandise, such as clothing, health & beauty aids and housewares.
The first Jupiter store opened in Redford Township, a northern Detroit suburb, in the fall of 1961. The conversion of shuttered Kresge stores to the Jupiter format was well underway by the end of the year, when six stores were in operation. By late 1962, there were forty stores. This number had grown to fifty-one by 1964 and 110 by 1966. Store numbers dwindled during the 1970s. By 1979, there were eighty Jupiter locations.
Wanting to focus on its rapidly-expanding Kmart division, the parent company sold its seventy-six remaining Kresge and Jupiter stores, to the McCrory Corporation, in April 1987. In June, said stores were rebannered under the McCrory nameplate.