- Great American Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century
Harry B. Cunningham
S. S. Kresge Company/K Mart
1959 - 1972
Retail
b. 1907
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Born-Died | 1907 - 1992 |
| Birthplace | Pennsylvania (PA) |
| Race | White |
Cunningham took over S. S. Kresge with a vision to convert the retail chain into a discounter. Cunningham opened the first K-Mart discount store in a Detroit suburb in 1962. When Cunningham embarked on his mission, company sales were $483 million, less than half of Woolworth’s. In just a few years, K-Mart had overtaken Woolworth. Cunningham opened K-Mart stores at a pace of about 150 per year during his tenure. By 1980, S.S. Kresge, now renamed K-Mart Corporation, had sales of nearly $13 billion.