Company History :

In 1899, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened a store in Detroit where he was solding everything for 5 or 10 cents.This store attracted hundreds of shoppers because of the low prices and allowed Sebastian Spering Kresge to expand to 85 stores in 1912; at this time he was making an annual sale of more than $10 millions. America experienced war and financial depression but Kresge stores still had a large success because families could afford these low prices products. The stores also offered jobs when other businesses were not able to do so.In the 1920s Sebastian Spering Kresge opened stores that sold products for 1 dollar or less, that was the precursor of the actual discount store. However, nowadays prices are different in Kmart but the business philosophy is still the same : offering consumers what they need at low prices. In 1937, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened a store in Country Club Plaza shopping centre in Kansas City, Missouri. As the retail environment was getting more competitive, Sebastian Spering Kresge launched a newspaper advertisement, this advertisement was the precusor of radio promotions and TV commercials which followed 20 years later. In 1959, Harry B. Cunningham became the president of the Kresge organisation helping the company to continue to be a leader in the competitive retail environment. The first Kmart discount department store opened in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan. Seventeen other Kmart store followed that year increasing the sales to more than $483 millions. In 1966, sales in 162 Kmart and 753 Kresge stores were of $1Billion mark. In 1976, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened 271 Kmart stores in one year,this was the first time ever a retailer launched 17 million square feet of sales space in one year. By 1977, 95 percent of Kresge company sales were generated by Kmart stores, thus the company decided to change its name to Kmart Corporation. In 1990, Kmart gets a new logo and a new plan of 3.5 billion new store opening, enlargement and modernisation program. In 1991, Kmart opened the first Kmart Supercenter (open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) in Medina, Ohio. In 1996, Kmart are redesigned, making them cleaner, brighter and easier to shop. The frequently purchased products are moved to the front of the store and a new focus is placed on the Children's and Home Fashions departments, the name changed for these remodelled stores and became "Big Kmart". In January 2003, Julian C. Day become Chief executive of the company and achieved important objectives such as strengthening its balance sheet, reducing debt, focusing its store portfolio on the most productive locations, terminating leases for closed stores, developing a more disciplined, efficient organisation and lowering its overall operating costs. Kmart is now a new and vital enterprise which focus on delivering value to customers.

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Company overview:

Nowadays, Kmart is owned by Sears Holding Corporation, in January 2011, Holdings  had a total of 1.307 Kmart stores across 49 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands. This is a total of 1278 discount stores averaging 93.000 square feet and 29 Super Centers, averaging 169.000 square feet. Most of the Kmart stores are one-floor, free-standing unit selling a wide range of products from consumer electronics to seasonal merchandise and services.

In January 2011, major home appliances were sold in 268 Kmart stores and the company started operating its own footwear business ( ...

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