It was founded in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1911 by John Josiah Newberry (1877–1954).

Over the years, the Newberry chain acquired other stores including Hested in Wyoming, Missouri, Ohio, North Dakota, Colorado, and Nebraska, and Lee Stores in South Dakota, Minnesota, Maine, and Iowa.

McCrory Stores continued to operate it under the Newberry banner as a separate division.

McCrory opened additional stores under the Newberry banner especially in the Northeast and California where the name had a strong presence.

[5] The remaining Newberry stores closed and the company was liquidated along with the whole McCrory's chain in February 2002.

Poet Donald Hall wrote a poem, "Beans and Franks", about the closing of a J. J. Newberry store in Franklin, New Hampshire.

During the Birmingham civil rights campaign, activists organized sit-ins at the segregated lunch counters in Britt's Department Stores, which led to the arrest of 20 protesters.