BEATRICE, Nebraska -- Store Kraft’s earliest beginnings can be traced to the innovative and creative thinking of one man -- the company’s founder, William B. Morton. In 1911, E.J. Hested invited Morton to move to Nebraska to start the Hested Stores Co., a variety chain which grew to more than 100 stores throughout the Midwest.
Morton became interested in scientific retailing early in the development of the Hested stores and he was well known for his ideas of display and design of display accessories for the best showing of merchandise.
One day, after leaving the Fairbury store for the 30-mile trek to Beatrice during a rainstorm which quickly turned into a blizzard, Morton became stranded in Jansen. Unable to travel for three days, he took this time to detail his thoughts regarding the proper display of candy, hosiery, and oilcloth. He borrowed some wrapping paper from the adjacent butcher shop on which to draw his plans for a new display fixture design that proved to be a vast improvement over previous methods of display.
In 1918, Hested opened a Beatrice store and Morton and his family moved to town. Morton’s designs were so popular that many requests for the construction of similar fixtures came from other merchants and friends. As a result of this demand for Morton's displays, Morton, Hested, and Jess Lee formed a small corporation in 1920 that came to be known as The Store Kraft Manufacturing Company.
The plant was located in a section of the first floor of the Lang Canning Co. building on Irving Street in Beatrice. Equipment consisted of a cut-off saw, a small planer and a belt sander. The three employees were Morton, L.H. Lang and Lawrence F. Beisner. The first product was a candy case. At first there was no intention of going into the manufacture of a full line of store fixtures, but on trips to sell the candy cases and other display items, Morton found merchants requesting other pieces of equipment as well. R.A. Nietzel of Falls City was the first businessman to buy a full set of fixtures.
As the company grew, more space was required and gradually the company occupied more of the Lang Canning Co. building until Store Kraft occupied the entire building. About 1926, a small building to house the glass department and general office was constructed on the south side of Irving Street near the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad.
During the Depression years of 1930-34, Store Kraft weathered many difficulties. There were manufacturing problems to overcome. Employees were often asked to hold their paychecks for awhile before presenting them to the bank for payment. Records show that 85 percent of the businesses that started in 1920 failed to survive the Depression, but Store Kraft did survive and continued to grow. The market for Store Kraft products also grew to cover more types of display cases and soon fixtures were being shipped to every state and some foreign countries as well.
The next major period in the development of Store Kraft came during World War II. The first contract for war materials came almost simultaneously with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Some of the items produced were drawing boards, tail sections for cargo gliders, turret seats for bombers, wing and tail assemblies for bomber pilot trainers, ammunition boxes, demountable buildings, and equipment cases for telephone and telegraph equipment.
Following the war, Store Kraft’s continued growth in store fixture design and manufacturing led to the purchase of Greenwood Fixture & Display in Greenwood, Arkansas, in 1983. This additional capacity and the added skills of the Greenwood Division personnel enabled Store Kraft to grow rapidly to record sales volume. The Greenwood facility was closed in the spring of 2003 when its operations were moved to the Beatrice facility.
Store Kraft started a new phase of its history with the addition of its 5Stat security access control product in 2004 and the opening of its Chinese subsidiary, Gaohuo, in Shanghai, China, in 2005. Both divisions add to the company’s abilities to proactively compete in the global market. Gaohuo brings import and export capabilities to Store Kraft that allow the company to handle ever larger and more complex projects.
The investment of millions of dollars in new equipment, along with the dedication of all employees, assures continued growth for Store Kraft well into the future.