Super Kmart Center or Super Kmart is a chain of hypermarkets that carry everything a regular Kmart carries, but also have a full grocery section that includes meat and poultry, baked goods plus a bakery, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, fresh produce, and fresh seafood. They also carry a garden center, a video rental store, a branch of a local bank, an arcade, a portrait studio, a Jackson Hewitt tax center, a pharmacy, a vision center, and usually a restaurant. Most Super Kmart stores from the past and the newer ones also have an auto care center which were called “Auto Service.” Most of them also have gas stations and some are open 24 hours a day. The first Super Kmart store opened in Medina, Ohio on July 25, 1991. Super Kmart stores range from 140,000 to 190,000 sq ft (13,000 to 18,000 m2). At 215,000 sq ft (19,974 m2), the Euclid, Ohio location is the largest Super Kmart in the chain, which was a former Twin-Valu Supermarket.
That same day, it was announced select normal Kmart stores would also convert into Super Kmart Center locations. Earlier that week, the Kmart location in Albuquerque, New Mexico would complete conversion from a Kmart to a Super Kmart Center.
By 2001, Kmart opened the first Puerto Rico store. Even if Puerto Rico is mainly a US territory while also being a Latin American country, Kmart made its Puerto Rican stores (normal, Big Kmart, and Super Kmart Center) similar to its US stores.
In 1993, to hopefully become more popular, Kmart Corporation announced they'd be opening a 305,000 sq ft Super Kmart Center store located on the outskirts of Orlando, in a massive empty area, witch would be part of a major development. The store while featuring it's normal items, would also have a large farmers market like section, where locals could sell their goods in the store, between the hours of 10 AM and 6 PM indoors and Kmart would not take any profit the sellers made. The store eventually opened in mid 1994, and was a massive success, so much so, that Kmart opened more of the same store concept, in Texas, Florida, & California. These stores surpassed the Euclid, Ohio location, which was the largest Super Kmart location, at 215,000 square feet, before the 305,000 square foot locations were opened. As of today, there are 9 of these concept stores in the US alone.
However, as of 2004, with the introduction of the new Kmart logo, the “Super Kmart" name has since been phased out, with these stores and all branding now simply referred to as "Kmart.” However, most Super Kmart stores still have either Super Kmart Center signage, or Super Kmart signage, while stores built in 2004 onward have normal Kmart signage. Canadian Kmart stores continue to use the name despite the new logo.
Popularity[]
Despite Walmart being more popular, Super Kmart Center has actually been proven better and the new model, introduced in 2013, has been making lots of money. Many modern locations have been described as a mix of Kroger & Sears.
International expansion[]
Super Kmart (Centre) Canada[]
In 1995, to compete with Canadian Tire, a popular Canadian superstore, Kmart started opening supercenters in Canada under the name Super Kmart Centre. The first Canadian Super Kmart opened in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 19, 1995. As of 1997, the Canadian stores were renamed to Super Kmart, but with a Canadian maple leaf in the center of the logo to differentiate the US stores with the Canadian stores. Canada is the only country to continue to use the Super Kmart branding due to their localized logo, even after the introduction of the 2004 logo (by that point, the US, Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico & Central America, and Latin America and Brazil have all phased out of the ‘Super Kmart’ branding). When Sears Grand Canada closed all stores in 2016, many of them became Super Kmart locations.
Super Kmart Mexico and Central America (originally Super Kmart Mexico)[]
In the 1990s, as a result of a joint venture between Kmart and the Mexican retailer Liverpool to form Kmart México (better known as Kméx), Super Kmart Center stores came to Mexico, which all Mexican stores looked so identical to the US stores in outside and inside looks. The first 2 Mexican Super Kmart Center locations opened in Cuautitlán Izcalli and San Mateo on May 24, 1994. 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, with the exception of a few new food departments being added in, for example, the Tortilleria, a department where fresh corn tortillas can be bought, and the salchichoneria, a kind of deli/butcher shop where customers can haggle with the butcher. The Mexican brand became so successful that Kmart continued opening new supercenters in Mexico under the name Super Kmart Mexico, until 2004 when Kmart started building new Super Kmart stores with normal Kmart branding. Expanding into Mexico was Kmart’s first step into expanding into Latin America, with later having a separate Latin American division. In January of 2003, Kmart Corporation was planning to acquire its Central American division with its Mexican division joint venture, and merge both divisions together to become one whole division. Liverpool sold its part of the joint venture to Kmart Corporation, and before acquiring the Central American division, Kmart Corporation had full ownership of Kmart Mexico, shortly renaming it to Kmart México to apply with the Mexican market. In late April of 2003, Kmart México acquired 43% of Kmart Centroamérica from Kmart Corp, and 40% from two other minority partners, paying over $2.6 billion pesos (approximately US$300 million) in cash and shares. In mid July of 2003, the transaction was completed and Kmart México was renamed Kmart México y Centroamérica.
In 1992, 2 years before the first 2 Mexican Super Kmart Center stores opened, Kmart got ready to expand into Central America. On May 24, 1994, the same day the first 2 Mexican Super Kmart Center stores opened, the first Central American Super Kmart opened in Guatemala, with plans to open more stores in Guatemala, as well as in Nicaragua, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and eventually Panama. After plans succeeded, Kmart named its Central American division to Kmart Centroamérica. Like the Mexican stores, about half of the store area was devoted to groceries, and this part of the stores resembled those in the US and Mexico with some adjustments to the Central American market.
In April of 2003, 43% of Kmart Centroamérica and its stores were acquired by Kmart México from Kmart Corporation, and soon after being acquired, Kmart México was renamed to Kmart México y Centroamérica.
In March of 2014, as part of an effort to focus on its core business in the United States, Kmart Corporation announced that it was pulling out of its chain of Mexican and Central American retail stores. Kmart sold its Kmart México y Centroamérica division and all of the division’s stores to competitor Walmart de México y Centroamérica (Walmart of Mexico and Central America) (the Mexican and Central American division of Walmart Inc.) for an unknown exact amount of money. All Kmart stores in the country were Super Kmart Center stores, and none were normal Kmart stores. Kmart Mexico included five stores in Mexico City, one in Cuernavaca, four in Puebla, and all other eighty stores in the country. After the sale, all of the former Super Kmart stores (except the one in Tlalnepantla, which was demolished in 2004 to build a Costco Wholesale, 10 years before the sale) were converted into Walmart stores, and remain open under that name, and many retain the Super Kmart look to date while being expanded, while others have been remodeled with the Walmart design. At the time of the sale, there were still six unfinished Mexican Super Kmart stores under construction, which were nearly complete, and all were on track to open in Summer 2014, but as a result of the sale, they never opened as Super Kmart. After the sale finished, Walmart finished construction on the unfinished stores, and opened them as Mexican Walmart Supercenter stores.
However, they would still be serving the Latin American and Brazilian area as those stores were not related to the Mexican and Central American chain.
In 2022, Kmart announced plans to return to the Mexican and Central American markets by opening 2 new stores, one in Mexico City, Mexico, and other in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. After that, more stores opened acrooss the countries, marking the return of the Kmart México y Centroamérica division.
Super Kmart Latin America and Brazil[]
In 1996, after the success of Kmart México, Kmart had more plans to expand globally, with stores heading into Latin America, and eventually, into Brazil. Kmart first headed to Latin America when its first Latin American Super Kmart store opened in Venezuela in 1997, and another one in Colombia opening a few months after the Venezuelan store opened. By 2000, Kmart opened more Super Kmart stores through the rest of Latin America (excluding Brazil until 2002), including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica (through the Kmart Centroamérica division), Cuba, the Dominican Republic (in 2002 when Kmart expanded into the Caribbean), Ecuador, El Salvador (through the Kmart Centroamérica division), Guatemala (through the Kmart Centroamérica division), Honduras (through the Kmart Centroamérica division), Mexico (through the Kmart Mexico division joint venture), Nicaragua (through the Kmart Centroamérica division), Panama (through the Kmart Centroamérica division), Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico (by Kmart Corporation), Uruguay, and Venezuela. At the time, Kmart named its Latin American division Kmart Latinoamérica.
By 2002, Kmart opened its first Brazilian Super Kmart store as part of joint venture between Kmart Latin America and Brazilian retailer Lojas Americanas. Even if they looked similar to the US stores, they were completely different through the inside. By the time Kmart opened its second Brazilian Super Kmart in late 2002, Kmart Latinoamérica was renamed to Kmart Latinoamérica y Brasil (Kmart Latin America and Brazil), which was managed by Kmart Corporation until 2004, when Kmart bought Sears and formed a new company called Sears Holdings, which includes Kmart, Sears, Sears México y Centroamérica, Kmart México y Centroamérica, and Kmart Latinoamérica y Brasil.
Even after the announcement stating that that Kmart would be pulling out of Mexico and Central America, the Latin American and Brazilian would remain open because they were not part of Kmart México y Centroamérica (the division came back in 2022).
Super Kmart Europe[]
In 1996, Kmart decided to jump across the pond to open Super Kmart's in the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, and eventually Romania. The first Super Kmart in Europe opened in late 1996 in London. Another Super Kmart would open in Bristol in 2004. A Super Kmart (known in France as ''Centre Super Kmart'') opened in Paris in 1998. Another would open in Nantes in 1999. Super Kmart would also open Bucharest, Romania in 2000. Super Kmart also opened in the Ukraine in 1998 as well. This location was built as a major tenant of a indoor shopping center.
Super Kmart Caribbean[]
In late 2000, Kmart was getting ready to expand into Caribbean countries where Walmart and Target had no presence. The first Caribbean Super Kmart started construction on April 2001 in Trinidad, and opened on June 2002. Eventually, Kmart announced plans to open more stores in Trinidad, as well as in Millennium Heights in Barbados, the Dominican Republic, and possibly Jamaica.
Super Kmart Asia[]
In 1995, Kmart tried to expand into Asia, with the opening of 2 Super Kmart stores, one in Japan, and the other in Indonesia. The brand was bought by a new franchise in 2000, and several more Super Kmart locations opened in Asia. Eventually, in 2003 Super Kmart Asia opened for the first time in Tokyo and a 2nd location opened again in Tokyo in 2005, in a indoor shopping mall.