The Daily Mall Reader: Kresge & Kmart, Woolworth & Woolco, And Grant Too

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Strength in Variety"

TIME Magazine - Friday, Nov. 20, 1964

(Excerpt) S.S. Kresge is a man as well as a variety store, and, at 97, he was recently called out of retirement to address the annual meeting of the chain that he forged. While stockholders applauded, old S.S. (for Sebastian Spering) got up and exhorted them to make Kresge "an outstanding five-and-ten-cent syndicate."

That did not jibe with President Harry B. Cunningham's idea of his job, and he rose to his feet and said so. Smilingly, he reminded everyone that the nation's third largest variety chain (after F.W. Woolworth and W.T. Grant) has expanded far beyond its old dime-store stage and is, in fact, quite a different creature. This small semantic difference highlights a new philosophy that has set all the variety chains off on their biggest spree of change and expansion.

Read the full article here.

Miracle Mile Shopping Center (Monroeville, PA)

Monroeville, Pennsylvania - circa late '50s

The Monroeville Shopping Center (not to be confused with the later Monroeville Mall), is featured in this vintage postcard I purchased last year. Stores visible are J.C. Penney, W.T. Grant, and Thom McCann Shoes, among others I can't quite make out.

I don't know much about this shopping center, other than the fact that it appears to be an open-air strip mall, and was located in Monroeville, PA, dating back to the 1950s. I have no idea whether it's still around anymore, and if so, what the name of the center is now. Was this the basis site for Monroeville Mall years later in 1969? Not really sure. The back of this card simply says: "The beautiful Monroeville Shopping Center". Guess I'll just leave it at that, too.

Edit: Updated post title to reflect that this is the Miracle Mile Shopping Center.