Kress Stores
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Kress Stores are part of a chain of five and dime outlets that are found in many places in the United States of America. The chain is named after the founder, Karl J. Kress, a German immigrant who came to America in 1898 during the war between America and Spain. The first Kress Store was started in Illinois in 1933, selling cheap goods made by poor German immigrants to Americans who were made poor by the Depression. This was so popular that Kress stores were opened in many other places in the country.
Today Kress Stores still sell cheap goods but primarily Chinese goods instead of immigrant Germans. Karl J. Kress made a lot of money from this company, but after he retired, his son sold the business for a pittance to live out his dream of being a Broadway actor. Karl died of pneumonia in an inner city Chicago public hospital on July 5, 1948.