John Graham McCrorey

John Graham McCrorey (October 11, 1860 – November 20, 1923) was an American businessman [1] who made his fortune as a retailer. McCrorey was the founder of a chain of five and dime stores that bore his name, known as McCrory Stores. The company was so named because McCrorey did not want to pay for extra letters on his store signs, and he eventually changed his legal last name to "McCrory" so as to avoid confusion. The first McCrory store opened in Scottsdale, Pennsylvania in 1882.

McCrorey originally had a partnership with Sebastian Kresge, who later founded his own chain of stores after McCrorey dissolved their partnership. In addition to the Kresge stores, McCrorey competed with F.W. Woolworth's stores as well. The original company became insolvent during the Great Depression, but was reformed and eventually grew to include G.C. Murphy, TG&Y, and J.J. Newberry along with what was left of Kresge's chain, surviving all of its major competitors before succumbing to liquidation itself in 2002.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "A Kresge-McCrory Reunion". New York Times. April 4, 1987. Retrieved 2011-08-02. Born John Graham McCrorey, he was so thrifty he legally changed his name, dropping the "e," because he did not want to pay the cost of the extra initial in the gilt letters on his store signs.
  2. ↑ Biographical information, with photos of family mausoleum in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
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