S S Kresge Co

K mart, which rose from its five-and-dime store beginnings 88 years ago to become the nation's second largest retailer, will part company with its variety store roots and sell the last of its Kresge and Jupiter domestic outlets. McCrory Corp. of York, Pa., tentatively agreed on Friday to acquire 76 Kresge and Jupiter stores. Analysts said the purchase would make McCrory the largest domestic operator of variety stores, surpassing F. W. Woolworth Co.

K mart, which rose from its five-and-dime store beginnings 88 years ago to become the nation's second largest retailer, will part company with its variety store roots and sell the last of its Kresge and Jupiter domestic outlets. McCrory Corp. of York, Pa., tentatively agreed on Friday to acquire 76 Kresge and Jupiter stores. Analysts said the purchase would make McCrory the largest domestic operator of variety stores, surpassing F. W. Woolworth Co.

Harry Cunningham, 85, founder of the K mart Corp., which spearheaded discount mass merchandising. Cunningham began his career with S.S. Kresge Co., a variety store chain. He was named vice president in 1957 and president in 1959. Cunningham created the first K mart discount department store in 1962. When profits of K mart exceeded those of the Kresge dime stores, the two chains merged into K mart Corp. Cunningham served as chairman and chief executive officer from 1967 until 1972.

Harry Richard Landis, who enlisted in the Army in 1918 and was one of only two known surviving U.S. veterans of World War I, has died in Florida. He was 108. Landis, who lived at a Sun City Center nursing home, died Monday, according to Donna Riley, his caregiver for the last five years. He had recently been hospitalized with a fever and low blood pressure, she said. The remaining U.S. veteran is Frank Buckles, 107, of Charles Town, W.Va., according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Kmart Corp. edged closer to Bankruptcy Court on Monday after its sole supplier of groceries halted critical shipments to the nation's second-largest discount retailer. Fleming Cos. said it took the action because Kmart failed to pay about $70 million that was due Friday. Fleming's move could prompt other Kmart vendors to follow suit, and, analysts said, it sharply increases the likelihood that Kmart will file for bankruptcy protection.

Kmart Corp. has big hopes for Big K, redesigned discount stores touted in splashy commercials by Rosie O'Donnell, Bob Hope and Big Bird. The retailer is betting that Big K stores--with their large grocery sections and broad, easy-to-navigate aisles--will turn occasional customers into regular shoppers. Kmart is trying to catch up to swifter competitors. Dayton Hudson's Target, which describes itself as an upscale discounter, is considered the smartest apparel merchandiser.

K mart Corp. is looking for a little respect. By using celebrities to sell its goods and by expanding into a wide array of specialty stores from Waldenbooks to Builders Square do-it-yourself stores, the retailing giant is trying to move beyond its blue-light specials and blue-collar shoppers. "My goal is to make K mart the most respected dominant retailer in America," says Joseph E. Antonini, who this week assumes the chairmanship of the nation's second-largest retailer.

Before he was a poet, before he had written any of the works that made his reputation, James Merrill was the son of Charles Edward Merrill, one of the most influential and inventive stockbrokers of all time, a man who predicted the stock market crash of 1929. Merrill's relationship with his famous father -- and everything represented by him -- animates much of the material in "Collected Novels and Plays," the second volume in a series edited by J.D. McClatchy and Stephen Yenser.