Kmart

Kmart (sometimes stylized as K-Mart) is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. Kmart operates 2,486 stores globally with locations in Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the Caribbean, & some in Europe, including 2,323 discount stores and Super Kmart Center locations in the United States. It's main competitor is Walmart.

Kmart's global presence[]

Oceania - Australia and New Zealand[]

Main article: Kmart Australia

The first Kmart in Australia opened in 1969 in Burwood East, Victoria; the site was renovated in 2010 to be a shopping mall known as Burwood One.

Kmart Australia was born out of a joint venture between G.J. Coles & Coy Limited (Coles) and S.S. Kresge Company, with Kresge owning 51% of the common stock in the company. The first New Zealand store opened in Henderson in 1988. Kmart opened a test location in South Dunedin in early 2024.

Canada[]

Main Article: Kmart Canada

Kmart currently operates over 100 locations across the country as the third largest retailer in Canada. They formerly operated over 200 locations before going bankrupt in 1998 and selling half of their locations to Zellers.

Slogans[]

The Saving Place (1960s–1990, 2010-present)
Your Lowest Price is a Kmart Price 1990–1998
There's smart, then there's Kmart Smart (2008-2010)

Caribbean[]

In late 2000, Kmart quietly expanded into the Caribbean countries where other big-box retailers had no presence and succeeded.

Bahamas: 3
Barbados: 2
Curacao: 2
Dominican Republic: 5
Haiti: 2
Jamaica: 3
Puerto Rico: 16
Trinidad & Tobago: 4
Virgin Islands: 8

Europe[]

In 1992, Kmart purchased several communist-era department stores in Eastern Europe, including 13 in the former Czechoslovakia that were bought from the former Czechoslovak government. One of those stores was the old MÁJ department store on Národní Třída in Prague. Many of these outlets were quite profitable, with the Bratislava location setting a single-store sales record for the company. In March 1996, due to its success in the Czech Republic, Kmart has since expanded into other parts of Europe. Many Kmarts were later closed.

Ireland (since 1997)
Germany (since 1999)
France (since 2000)
United Kingdom (since 2003)
Spain (since 2005)

Mexico[]

In the 1990s, Kmart opened four stores in Mexico, in partnership with the Mexican retailer Liverpool. All were supercenters located in suburbs of Mexico City. About half of the store area was devoted to groceries, and this part of the stores resembled those in the US with some adjustments to the local market. These plus an unfinished store were sold in 1997 to the Mexican hypermarket chain Mega (part of Comercial Mexicana) and remain open under that name, except the store in Tlalnepantla, which was demolished in 2004 to build a Costco.

Singapore[]

In 1994, Kmart opened a 9,700-square-metre (104,000 sq ft) store in the Marina Square Shopping Center in a joint venture with Metro (Private) Limited.

Former Partnership with Sprint[]

In 1992, Sprint entered a partnership with Kmart to have exclusive phone plans. The partnership extended into the Big Kmart era but became very scarce around 1996 after Sprint sued Kmart for not paying them. The lawsuit was dropped by U.S. Court due to it going nowhere and Kmart not legally having to pay Sprint. In 2000, Sprint sued Kmart again for fraud & illegal transactions with AT&T. Nothing was proven and the lawsuit again was dropped. When Kmart was merged with Sears Holdings in 2005, Sprint ended the partnership. Even though the partnership ended, many Kmart's still have Sprint's logo on older stores that have yet to be remodeled.

Modern Big Kmart[]

On 2008's SearsFest, Sears Holdings announced the reboot of Big Kmart in a new way, unearthing the codename "Garden City". The newly-made stores would have a modern exterior/interior (open ceilings on the inside, with drop ceilings on the entrance and exit) with services such as a gas station (Kmart Express - depends on the location), a cafe/tenant (ex: KCafe/Little Caesars), an auto center (either Kmart, Penske, Sears, or Quaker State), and 2 extra services (photo center and optical). They also announced modern Super Kmart's as well with 5 or more services. The first modern Big Kmart opened in 2009. The first modern Super Kmart opened in October 2008, and closed in 2016. The photo center was soon replaced a couple of years later with the Kwash in-store laundromat concept proving to be a success. In 2018, Kmart opened new stores in former Shopko Hometown stores. The stores has 3 services (a KCafe, Kmart Optical and a laundromat) and has a Sears Auto Center on the parking lot. On January 26, 2023, they announced they would open 10 new Big Kmart's in major cities around the U.S.

Other Kmart Ventures[]

K-Café is an in-store restaurant that served a fairly standard menu of hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, grilled cheese sandwiches and Philly cheesesteak. They also offered a full breakfast menu of baked goods, bagels and egg platters with bacon or sausage and such snacks as nachos, pretzels, popcorn and ice cream. In addition to the café's menu, hot food items could also be purchased at the deli and eaten in the Deli Café at Super Kmart Center stores. However, K-Café has been discontinued in all of their stores. Most restaurants that were located at Super Kmart Center stores were instead known as Super K-Café. However, some Kmart stores have Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eateries and Little Caesars Pizza Stations instead of K-Cafés, like the Kmart store in Marshall, Michigan and another located in Guam.
KDollar (codename: Kresge) is a chain of discount stores/dollar stores that sold Kmart merchandise at a discount. The stores were often former Kmart or Big Kmart stores. Sears Brands filed for a trademark on the KDollar name on November 6, 2012. The first opened as a pop-up in a regular Kmart store in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 2013. A second KDollar store opened in Waukegan, Illinois.
Kmart Chef restaurants were a small chain of free-standing fast-food restaurants owned by Kmart, started in 1967 with the first location on the parking lot of a Kmart in Pontiac, Michigan. The "limited, high-turnover menu" (as Kmart founder S.S. Kresge put it) consisted of hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, and soft drinks. The Kmart Chef chain folded in 1974 after peaking at 11 locations.
Kmart Dental is an in-store dental office located in Kmart stores. There was only one such prototype in a Kmart store, in Miami, Florida. Despite the name, Kmart Dental was never technically owned by Kmart.
Kmart Express is a chain of gas stations/convenience stores located in out-parcels at some Kmart and Super Kmart stores, particularly in the West/Midwest.
Kmart Food Stores was a supermarket chain founded in 1962. Most Kmart Food locations were paired with Kmart stores, often operated by a local grocery chain but always branded as Kmart Food. The chain was discontinued in the early 1980's, but 20 exist today with a new modern logo. There used to be 22 but 2 were sold to Winn-Dixie & A&P.

Kwash (codename: Coldspot) is an attached-to-store laundromat launched in May 2010. Only one such prototype existed. It was in a former auto bay in Iowa City, Iowa. It featured a separate entrance, laundromat attendants and free wi-fi along with a limited selection of laundry goods available for purchase.

Kmart Buffet (codename: Warmhouse) is a chain of buffet restaurants only found inside of various Kmart's. The chain was developed to compete with Golden Corral. These chains became popular, but the brand has slowly started to die out as Kmart is partnering with brand-name restaurants to have in their stores, and now there are over 145 Kmart Buffets left, mainly in Super Kmart locations.

Kmart Salon is a chain of in-store hair salons with a limited selection of hair care products available for purchase.

Kmart Optical is a in-store eye clinic in Big Kmart's, but most are located in Super Kmart's. There are 10 standalone Kmart Opticals in malls.

Kmart Auto Center is a chain of auto centers that operate at most Big or Super Kmart locations. Some are attached to Kmart Express gas stations particularly in the West/Midwest

Kmart's Future[]

After a successful 2023 business year, Kmart announced plans to open around 84 new Kmarts across America, and expanding overseas with a test location in South Dunedin, New Zealand opening in early 2024.

External links[]

Kmart on Malls and Retail Wiki