A vintage photo of the S.S. Kresge store on Dundas St. in downtown London on the morning of its opening in November 1948. The opening of the new store was quite the event and hundreds of Londoners gathered to catch an early glimpse of the new shopping experience.
This new store was 80ft by 180ft. Along one inside wall were located the popular bay lunch counters and the tea room with table service. The remainder of the store was filled with a broad range of merchandise ranging from kitchenware, hardware, records to clothing and more.
On opening day there were 350 employees on duty to serve the public.
In 1963 a Kmart, owned by the Kresge company, opened in London but the discount chain store was in north-east London in a growing mall. In 1998 the suburban stores closed. Although I could not determine when the S.S. Kresge store in the core closed, I did learn that the last remaining store in the once oh-so-successful Canadian branch of the U.S. chain closed for good in 1998.
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