According to the October 1958 Atlanta Constitution, the first Kresge in the Atlanta area was at Broadview Plaza, where Piedmont Road and Morosgo Drive met. The Broadview Plaza store had 14 checkout stations and a lunch counter. When I think of Broadview Plaza, I think of the Great Southeast Music Hall in the 1970s, but that is a subject for another time.
The article indicates two additional Kresge’s were under construction nearby. One of those would have been the Lenox Square store, which I recall shopping at as a child with my parents. Kresge’s and Lenox Square Shopping Center both opened in 1959. Lenox became an enclosed mall in 1972.
Kresge’s had a goal of adding 100 new stores in 1958 to the company’s existing 700 stores.
This overhead view of Lenox Square Shopping Center appeared in the August 3, 1959 Atlanta Constitution.
An ad for a 99 cent wastebasket in the July 1960 Atlanta Constitution lists Kresge’s locations as Broadview Plaza, Lenox Square, Suburban Plaza, and Moreland Center.
My favorite Kresge’s advertisement in the Atlanta newspapers is for a meet and greet with musician Brian Hyland at Lenox Square. Hyland’s most recent song at the time was titled “Tragedy.” His two biggest hits were “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” and “Sealed with a Kiss.” Hyland was available to autograph albums from 4 pm until 5 pm on Wednesday, April 16, 1969. The newspaper ad states, “…his list of top recordings have made him one of the finest young singers in the country.”
Founder of Kresge’s stores was Sebastian Kresge, born in 1867. His family owned a farm in Pennsylvania that failed after the end of the Civil War. Kresge worked as a teacher, beekeeper, insurance salesman and bookkeeper. Then he got a job selling merchandise for a Wilkes-Barre, PA company. He sold to many of the existing five and dime stores, including Woolworth’s, G. C. Murphy, S. H. Kress, J. J. Newberry and W. T. Grant.
Next, Kresge started his own five and dime store in Memphis, Tennessee along with John G. McCrory. Eventually, Kresge had his own store in Detroit, Michigan.
I learned from reading about the store’s history that K-Mart stores were started by the owners of Kresge’s. A new K-mart opened on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs in 1966. At the time, K-Mart was “the fastest growing family discount department store chain in the nation.”
The first Kresge’s store had a sign which read “Nothing over 10 cents in store,” according to the Atlanta Journal, Nov. 18, 1959 issue. The store evolved from a five and dime to carrying a wide range of clothing and household goods for $5, $10, and up to $30.