McCrory’s: The Dayton Arcade Building That’s Already Been Redeveloped

Update: Since this article was written in 2018, the McCrory’s Building is fully renovated and occupied and is being used by the Hub while the ground floor houses the UD-run coffee shop Startup Grounds. Read on for the history of this interesting building.

With all the recent buzz surrounding the Dayton Arcade, one of the buildings involved in the proposed redevelopment has a unique story. Unlike the rest of the complex which has been vacant since the 1990s or earlier, this building has a current tenant and actually already went through its own major redevelopment a decade ago.

And before that, its interesting history stretches back to the early decades of the 1900s. Let’s take a closer look at the McCrory Building.

Dayton’s Five and Dime History: McCrory’s and Later Uses

In 1924, a three-story building with a white terra cotta facade was erected next to the much taller Lindsey Building in the heart of Dayton’s Main Street. The following year, the McCrory chain of five and dime stores opened its first Dayton location in the new structure. The building provided access to the Arcade from Main Street, and McCrory’s also had a separate 4th Street entrance (the sign is still there today).

Prominent retailer John Graham McCrorey had opened his first store in Scottsdale, PA in 1882. His brand, as well as the general concept of the “five and dime,” which offered a wide variety of personal and household items at low prices, quickly grew in popularity. It was a hit in Dayton too, becoming a major downtown destination to buy just about anything, ranging from books and records to personal beauty products. McCrory’s fresh popped caramel corn was also a major hit and for many shoppers one of their fondest memories. One longtime visitor shared his recollections with the Dayton Daily News:

I had fond memories of McCrory’s: the wonderful caramel corn they made in that big vat, the jewelry counter to buy my mom earrings at Christmastime for 15 cents, the best shortcut off Main Street to the Arcade, (and) the small cedar chests filled with candy bars to send to our servicemen during WWII.

The disparity in the spelling of the store name comes from John McCrorey’s insistence on omitting the “e” on his store signs in order to save money, and he actually changed his own name later on in life to avoid confusion.

In recent Dayton Arcade coverage, some media outlets reported that the McCrory building “has been vacant for more than 20 years.” But this would be surprising news to Robert and Nancy Shiffler, as well as to Suney England. In 1997, after years of decline, McCrory’s downtown store finally closed.

But in 2008, local entrepreneurs Robert and Nancy Shiffler embarked on a major redevelopment project. It was a daunting task, as by then the building “had mushrooms sprouting from moldridden floors.” They salvaged many of the building’s Art Deco features including crown molding, columns, and wood flooring, and utilized period-appropriate elements when restoration was impossible.

Suney’s Beauty and More, owned by Suney England who had operated a business in the very same building some 20 years earlier, became the first tenant. The upper two floors were to become offices.

McCrory’s wasn’t the only downtown project undertaken by the Shifflers, as they completed a renovation of the Kuhns Building just before starting their work on the McCrory Building. The Shifflers also had plans to renovate other nearby buildings that didn’t pan out, including the Schwind Building (demolished during the Student Suites/DDN building debacle) and even the Arcade itself at one point.

Today, Suney’s Beauty and More still survives in the ground floor space, but the rest of the McCrory Building is vacant. Arcade developers are now eying another use for the building: the Innovation Hub, a partnership between UD and the Entrepreneurs Center that will provide collaborative office space and resources for entrepreneurs, and startups.

Sources

James Lloyd, MCCRORY’S IS GONE, BUT MEMORIES LIVE ON – Readers recall the glory days of downtown’s five-and-dime, Dayton Daily News, April 2, 2002.

Image credit: Dayton Metro Library