SS Kresge’s was a competitor of Woolworth’s 5 and Dimes. They were smart enough to shift to K-Mart stores in the Sixties and avoid the fate of Woolworth’s, Kress’s and Green’s. JC Penney made the same switch to big suburban stores with big parking lots and survived. Now both of them are bankrupt and not likely to last long.
I think what was a small fish in the cheap stuff store, the Ben Franklin 5 and Dimes were a pretty big fish at one point. Geez there were so many shopping options back in the day.