Kmart Once Had Over 2,000 Stores. Now It’s Closing Its Last Full-Sized Store in the U.S.
Kmart had difficulty competing with Walmart and Target.
Key Takeaways
- Kmart’s last full-sized store in the mainland U.S. will close its doors on October 20.
- According to an analysis, although Kmart initially grew faster than its competitors, the company’s lack of technology investments hindered its growth.
- Kmart’s market position trapped between the trendier Target and the more price-competitive Walmart led to the company being unable to define who its customers were.
Attention, Kmart shoppers: On October 20, Kmart’s last full-sized location in the mainland U.S., a store in Bridgehampton, New York, .
That leaves just in Miami and three stores in the U.S. Virgin Islands as the only locations left — a far cry from the over 2,300 stores Kmart operated in its prime in the 1990s.
Related: Tupperware Unable to Keep Its Sales Strategy Fresh — Company Files for Bankruptcy
“Kmart was part of America,” U.S. retail history author Michael Lisicky told . “Everybody went to Kmart, whether you liked it or not.”
What happened? According to , Kmart had a promising start. It opened its first store in 1962, the same year as Walmart and Target. By 1966, sales surpassed $1 billion.
However, in January 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and failed sales and marketing campaigns. At the time, Kmart and laid off 57,000 employees.
Related: Christmas Tree Shops to Close All 70 Locations: ‘I Wish Someone Could Save These Stores’
According to , although Kmart initially grew faster than its competitors, the company’s lack of technology investments hindered its growth. Its market position trapped between the trendier Target and the more price-competitive Walmart didn’t help either, because Kmart wasn’t able to define who its customers were.
Kmart from Chapter 11 in May 2003 and about two years later for $11 billion. Meanwhile, sales continued to drop, falling from $37 billion in 2000 in 2014. The acquisition didn’t pan out either: Sears in October 2018, emerging from it in 2022, and now has only open in the U.S.
“Sears should have never gone away; Kmart was in worse shape, but not fatally so,” Mark Cohen, former CEO of Sears Canada and at Columbia Business School, told . “And now they’re both gone.”
Related: Music Retailer Sam Ash to Shut Down After 100 Years in Business
Key Takeaways
- Kmart’s last full-sized store in the mainland U.S. will close its doors on October 20.
- According to an analysis, although Kmart initially grew faster than its competitors, the company’s lack of technology investments hindered its growth.
- Kmart’s market position trapped between the trendier Target and the more price-competitive Walmart led to the company being unable to define who its customers were.
Attention, Kmart shoppers: On October 20, Kmart’s last full-sized location in the mainland U.S., a store in Bridgehampton, New York, .
That leaves just in Miami and three stores in the U.S. Virgin Islands as the only locations left — a far cry from the over 2,300 stores Kmart operated in its prime in the 1990s.
Related: Tupperware Unable to Keep Its Sales Strategy Fresh — Company Files for Bankruptcy
