Kmart

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Kmart (sometimes stylized as K-Mart) was an American company. Its headquarters were in Illinois. The company purchased Sears in 2005. It formed a new corporation under the name Sears Holdings Corporation. Today, Transformco operates both Kmart and Sears after Sears Holdings went bankrupt in 2019.

Kmart is a Discount department store chain founded in Garden City, Michigan in 1962. It was founded by Sebastian S. Kresge as a counterpart to his Kresge dime store chain. While Kresge ceased operations in 1987, Kmart has maintained thousands of stores in the United States. The chain used to operate in Canada, Mexico, and Czechoslovakia (later the Czech and Slovak Republics), but pulled out of those markets in the 1990s. An Australian division, which also included locations in New Zealand; was also spun off in the 1990s and, though still under the Kmart name, is no longer affiliated. Kmart also planned to open stores in The United Kingdom Including Leeds, London, Manchester & Reading, Ireland was also planned to get locations around the same time as well but was halted before the plan went further into development. In 2005, Kmart merged with Sears.

History[]

Kresge formed the Kresge Five-and-Dime stores in the early 1900s. He had worked at Woolworth's Five-and-Dime. After that, in 1912, he formed the S. S. Kresge Company. In 1962, the first Kmart opened. Kresge died four years later. Kmart became really popular in the 70s. After that, it fell because of competition with Walmart and Target. In 1990, Little Caesars Pizza Station opened its first in-store Kmart restaurant in Rochester, Michigan. So in the 90s, they bought Borders, Payless Drug, OfficeMax and the Sports Authority. This did not prove successful, so everything was spun off. In July 2000, Kmart closed 72 underperforming stores due to poor sales, and the company announced a planned major restructuring, in which Kmart would invest in new customer check-out and new inventory management technology and other related systems as well.

In 2001, Kmart opened several new Super Kmart Center stores as part of Kmart's plan to expand their Super Kmart Center store portfolio, along with Kmart trying to make groceries available at stores as well. However, due to Kmart filing for bankruptcy in January 2002, Kmart was unable to open any more new Super Kmart Center stores, and any of the Super Kmart Center stores that were under construction during Kmart's 2002 bankruptcy were halted, no matter how close the stores were to completion. Sears merged with Kmart in 2005, after Kmart went bankrupt. After the merger, Kmart was part of Sears Holdings Corporation until 2019.

In 2019, Sears Holdings went bankrupt and ended operations. Transformco was incorporated and purchased most Kmart and Sears locations. Transformco continues to run both Kmart and Sears today.

Kmart's End[]

After Kmart's' 2002 bankruptcy, Kmart began to close many of their stores. After they went bankrupt again in 2018, they closed the majority of their remaining stores. On October 20th, 2024, the Bridgehampton Kmart closed, which makes the Miami location the last mainland Kmart in the United States.

Outside of mainland United States, there are 4 Kmart locations in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Store Concepts[]

Exterior Of A Kmart In Bridgeview, Illinois — Exterior of a Kmart in Bridgeview, Illinois

Current[]

Kmart- discount chain. The first Kmart opened in Garden City, Michigan in 1962, which closed in 2017. Uses an original logo and a newer logo on some stores.

Exterior Of A Big Kmart On West Lake Street In Minneapolis, Minnesota — Exterior of a Big Kmart on West Lake Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Former[]

Big Kmart - discount chain that offers more products, such as a small grocery department, home fashions, children's apparel, and consumables. Similar to Target Greatland Concepts. Entrance is similar to regular Kmart stores. The first Big Kmart opened in Chicago, Illinois on April 23, 1997. In 1998, Kmart acquired 45 former Venture stores and converted them into Big Kmart stores. By the end of 1998, 62% of Kmart's stores were Big Kmart stores. Kmart later converted nearly 1,900 of their regular Kmart stores into Big Kmart stores in 1999. The last Big Kmart operating, in Marshall, Michigan, closed on November 18, 2021, and was also the last Kmart operating in the state.

Exterior Of A Super Kmart In Mentor, Ohio, Which Opened In 1994 And Closed In 2016 — Exterior of a Super Kmart in Mentor, Ohio, which opened in 1994 and closed in 2016

Kmart Supercenter - hypermarket chain with full grocery department, two entrances and a food court. The first Super Kmart opened in Medina, Ohio in 1991, which closed in 2012. The second ground-up Super Kmart Center opened in Montrose, Ohio in 1992, featuring an in-store video rental center, and an in-store carryout Chinese restaurant, but closed in 2009. The Last Super Kmart Center in Warren, Ohio, closed on April 8, 2018.

Main article: Kmart Supercenter

Exterior of the main prototype Kmart in Peoria, Illinois with the rare green logo. The city of the location would be displayed alongside or below the logo as seen here. This format was used at only five locations.

KDollar- dollar store
K-Café - in-store restaurant
Kwash - attached to store laundromat
Kmart Express - chain of gas stations/convenience stores. Another concept with the same name was tested in Puerto Rico as a mall pickup location.
American Fare - hypermarket chain (the name would remain as Kmart's store brand)
Builders Square - home improvement store
Borders Books - bookstore chain
Jupiter Discount - deep discount store
Kmart Food Stores - supermarket chain
Kmart Chef- restaurant
Kresge's Five-and-Dime - variety chain
Makro - warehouse club chain
OfficeMax - office supplies store
Office Square - office supplies store
PACE Membership Warehouse - warehouse club
PayLess Drugs - pharmacy
Sports Authority - sporting goods store
Variety Outlet - closeout chain
Waldenbooks - bookstore chain

Countries Operated[]

Australia/New Zealand - Kmart Australia, now a separate company
Canada - Kmart Canada, acquired by Zellers in 1998
Czechoslovakia - Entered the market in 1992, left in 1996
United States - Continues to operate
Mexico - Entered the market in 1994, left in 1997
Singapore - Entered the market in 1994, left in 1996

Countries Planned[]

Ireland - Never came to fruition
United Kingdom - Never came to fruition
Caribbean - The construction of stores were halted because of the 2002 bankruptcy

Locations[]

Main article: Kmart/Locations

Kmart

Contents