S.S. Kresge Corporation
Kresge Building in Detroit, Michigan

Kmart Corporation
3100 West Big Beaver Road, Troy, Michigan 48084 (1978)

The S. S. Kresge Company was founded 1899 by Sebastian S. Kresge. It was located in the Kresge Building in Detroit, Michigan.

In the 1920's they sold OK and Van Dyke brand tubes (see Listed on pages 359 and 364 of Tyne's "Saga of the Vacuum Tube").

Kresge sold radios under the Kres-Tone brand in the period after WWII until about the early 1960's.

Kresge renamed to Kmart Corporation - also styled as K-mart - in 1962. They run discount department stores in many cities in the US plus internationally.

In 2004, Kmart merged with Sears.

In 1899, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened a " five-and-dime" store in Detroit, selling everything for either 5 or 10 cents.  By 1912, the number of S.S. Kresge company stores had increased to 85.

In 1959, Harry B. Cunningham became S.S. Kresge President, who developed a different strategy for maintaining the leadship in the growing retail market.  This strategy was put in place in 1962 when he opened 18 new discount department stores under the new name "Kmart".  In 1966, there was 162 Kmart stores and 753 Kresge stores.

In 1977, about 95% of the S.S. Kresge Company sales were generated by Kmart stores and so the company officially changed its name to the "Kmart Corporation". In 1987, Kmart sold the remaining Kresge stores to fully concentrate on discount merchandising under the Kmart name.

In 2002, Kmart filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In 2003,  Kmart completed its reorganization and emerged from Chapter 11 as the Kmart Holding Corporation.

In 2004,  Kmart Holding Corporation merge with Sears, Roebuck and Co., with the new company named Sears Holdings Corporation.

One product sold by the company from as early as 1924 was radios. the 1924 Kresge's Radio Catalogue and Buyers Guide runs to 31 pages and shows that the company offered complete set and many radio parts. Tubes were not listed. the 1929 32 page catalogue lists all types of parts but few complete sets. Tubes were offered with the brand names Ok, Van Dyke and Volutron. Thirty five tubes are listed. As home assembled sets were phased out generally, Kresge's sold only complete sets. with the modernization of radio from 1930 and the advent of television, the company offered these.