THE SAMUEL H. KRESS FOUNDATION

The most distinctive and best remembered Kress stores are a group of fifty or more Art Deco buildings dating from 1929 - 1944 that were all designed by Edward F. Sibbert (1899-1982), the company's longtime chief architect. Sibbert's buildings streamlined the Kress image with a sleek buff modernity, the lavish use of terracotta ornament, and strong verticals supporting the golden letters 'Kress'. Curved glass display windows led the shopper through heavy bronze doors into an interior of rich marbles, fine woods, and large customized counters set crosswise down a long sales floor. Well-positioned hanging lamps created a bright atmosphere (notably more so than other variety stores) for an endless array of inexpensive items (there were 4,275 different articles in 1934) serviced by salesladies in tan and ivory uniforms that blended with the pale walls. Everything, from the constantly restocked merchandise to the gracious retiring rooms and popular soda fountain in the basement, encouraged customers to linger. Like the great movie houses of the day, the dime store – and ‘Kress’s’ in particular -- was a popular escape from the drabness of the economic depression.