Kmart

Kmart ( KAY-mart), formerly Kmart Corporation, is a department store chain and online retailer in the United States and its territories. Originally incorporated in 1899 as S. S. Kresge Corporation, Kmart became one of the largest retailers in the world, operating 2,486 stores globally at its peak in 1994. Its big-box stores sold a large variety of goods, including clothing, appliances, electronics, housewares, and food. The company began a slow decline in the late-1990s, leading to its first Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2002. In 2005, Kmart and Sears merged to form Sears Holdings Corporation. Store closures continued gradually until Sears Holdings Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 2018. The following year, Kmart became a subsidiary of Transform SR Brands LLC, a privately held company that was formed in 2019 to acquire assets from Sears Holdings, which included 202 remaining Kmart stores. Additional Kmart closures rapidly followed, bringing the number of stores remaining to under a dozen by early 2022. The company closed its last full-sized big-box store in the mainland United States in 2024. As of 2026, there are three remaining Kmart locations: a big-box department store in Charlotte Amalie, the US Virgin Islands, a big-box store in Tamuning, Guam, and a smaller location in Kendale Lakes, Florida.