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1962 - With Harry B. Cunningham as president, the company opened the first Kmart discount department store in a suburb of Detroit. Seventeen other Kmart stores opened the same year. 1966 - Founder Sebastian S. Kresge died at age 99. 1966 - Sales topped the $1 billion mark for the first time.
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Just four years later in 1966, sales in 162 Kmart stores and...
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- Kmart History
Numerous Kresge stores, mostly in deteriorating business areas, were renamed Jupiter Discount Stores and converted to facilities offering a limited variety of low markup, fast-moving merchandise such as clothes, drugstore items, and housewares. By 1966 there were almost 100 Jupiter stores in operation. In 1965 the company underwent several changes.
- Kresge Red Fronts and Green Fronts: 1899 to 1929
- Weathering The Great Depression: 1930–40
- Massive Expansion: 1950s
- The Birth of Kmart: 1960s
- Further Diversification: 1970s
- Bolstering A Faded Image: 1978–89
- Beleaguered But Not Beaten: Early 1990s
- Short-Lived Comeback: Late 1990s
- Falling Into Bankruptcy, Early 21st Century
- Further Reading
The giant Kmart Corporation grew from a Detroit five-and-dime store opened in 1899. Its proprietor was Sebastian Spering Kresge, a former Pennsylvania tinware salesman, who along with a partner, John McCrory, adopted the chain-store idea first used by Frank W. Woolworth. When Kresge and McCrory dissolved the partnership they had formed in 1897, McC...
The company’s orderly expansion changed after 1929, when the Depression-era stock market plunged the price of Kresge stock from $57.50 per share to an eventual low of $5.50. This was a severe blow to company management, which had pledged its support by taking turns to buy the deflated stock, gambling on its bottoming out at $26. Kresge found himsel...
By the mid-1950s Chairman Sebastian Kresge was long retired from active company management. An operating committee of 16 executives appointed by the board of directors steered the corporate strategy. Although the committee frequently combined smaller stores in high-volume areas to provide better selection and more efficient service, there were 616 ...
In 1962 the company opened its first discount store in the Detroit suburb of Garden City, calling it Kmart. Within a year, there were 17 others. Unlike Kresge stores, Kmarts were not placed in shopping centers but were built in plazas by themselves, to avoid internal competition and also to provide ample parking. To ensure a 25 percent annual preta...
As the 1960s ended, an economic slowdown posed challenges for S.S. Kresge. The company resorted to heavier-than-usual promotional markdowns in December 1969 and January 1970 that shaved profit margins. Other problems included the difficulty of keeping to a 25 percent annual rate of sales gain for an ever expanding number of stores; the fact that th...
The late 1970s saw changes in Kmart’s seemingly impregnable position. New competitors with more inviting stores made company facilities seem shoddy, and specialty stores began to stock Kmart staples such as sports equipment, drugs, and personal grooming aids. Changes in public taste showed up in lagging profits, which sank 27 percent in 1980 on rec...
The company changed its logo from red and turquoise to red and white, with “mart” written within the larger “K” in 1990. Next came the acquisition of The Sports Authority into which it rolled the Sports Giant stores. Kmart also began a long overdue six-year overhaul of its stores (including openings, closings, enlargements, and refurbishings) to he...
After closing 214 stores, disposing of its Czech, Slovak, and Singapore properties, and pledging to reduce expenses by $600-$800 million, Kmart was ready to prove its retail mettle. Its new merchandising credo centered around four simple words: brands, consumables, convenience, and culture. To help achieve its goals came a new advertising campaign ...
Hall retired as chairman, president, and CEO in early 2000. Hired as the new chairman and CEO was 39-year-old Charles C. “Chuck” Conaway, who had been president and COO of CVS Corporation, the giant drugstore chain. Conaway moved quickly to implement major changes as Kmart’s financial performance began to once again head south. He shook up senior m...
Brauer, Molly, “Kmart Posts Profit, Denies Buyout Rumor,” Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, November 21, 1996. Byrne, Harlan S., “New Look at Kmart: The Retailer Goes Upscale and Its Earnings Follow Suit,” Barron’s, May 11, 1987, pp. 8+. Coleman, Calmetta Y., “Grand Designs: Ask Ms. Stewart’s Advice for How to Improve Kmart,” Wall Street Journal...
Just four years later in 1966, sales in 162 Kmart stores and 753 Kresge stores topped the $1 billion mark. In 1976, S.S. Kresge made history by opening 271 Kmart stores in one year, becoming the first-ever retailer to launch 17 million square feet of sales space in a single year.
[27] [28] Sixteen more Kmart stores opened in 1962. Kmart Foods, a now-defunct chain of Kmart supermarkets, opened in that decade. Though the store chain continued to open Kmart branded stores, the store chain was still officially known as S.S. Kresge Company.
In 1966, the year Sebastian Kresge died, S. S. Kresge Corporation owned 162 Kmart stores, 753 Kresge stores, 100 Jupiter stores (Kresge stores located in deteriorating business areas that were renamed "Jupiter"), and 108 Canadian stores.
Jan 14, 2003 · By year end, 19 stores were operating in Canada. —1962: Company opened first Kmart discount department store in a suburb of Detroit. Seventeen other Kmart stores opened the same year. —1966: Founder Sebastian S. Kresge died at age 99. —1966: Sales topped $1 billion mark for the first time.
