6ft3Aussie wrote: ↑Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:28 am
r.m.anderson wrote: ↑Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:02 pm
KMart is still around ?
Wait to Wal*Mart finds out that location - it will be history.
Also, as far as I know, K-Mart is an Australian retail chain, I was not aware that they had stores in the US, unless they are two completely different entities.
A bit of history
From Wikipedia -
For the U. S. - -
Kmart Corporation (/ˈkeɪmɑːrt/ KAY-mart, doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was incorporated in 1899 as S. S. Kresge Corporation and renamed Kmart Corporation in 1977.[3] The first store with the Kmart name opened in 1962.[4] At its peak in 1994, Kmart operated 2,486 stores globally, including 2,323 discount stores and Super Kmart Center locations in the United States.[5][6][7][8] From 2005 through 2019, Kmart was a subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation and is now a subsidiary of Transform SR Brands LLC. S. S. Kresge, the founder of the company that would become Kmart, met variety-store pioneer Frank Winfield Woolworth while working as a traveling salesman and selling to all 19 of Woolworth's stores at the time.[9] In 1897 Kresge invested $6,700 saved from his job into a five-and-dime store in Memphis, Tennessee. He jointly owned the first store with his former tinware customer, John McCrory.[10] Kresge and McCrory added a second store in downtown Detroit the following year. These were the first S.S. Kresge stores.[11][12][13] After two years of partnership, he traded McCrory his share in the Memphis store, plus $3,000, for full ownership of the Detroit store, and formed the Kresge & Wilson Company with his brother-in-law, Charles J. Wilson.[12][13]
In 1912, Kresge incorporated the S.S. Kresge Company in Delaware with eighty-five stores. In 1916, Kresge incorporated a new S.S. Kresge Company in Michigan and took over the operations of the original company; the new company in Michigan is the modern day Kmart company.
For Australia - -
Kmart Australia Limited is an Australian-based chain of affordable retail stores owned by the Kmart Group division of Wesfarmers. The company operates 234 stores across Australia and New Zealand,[2] consisting of 209 stores in Australia and 25 stores in New Zealand, with its head office located in Mulgrave, Melbourne. Kmart Group, the department store division of Wesfarmers, also owns and operates Target Australia and online retailer Catch.com.au.
Kmart Australia Limited was born out of a joint venture between G.J Coles & Coy Limited (Coles) and S.S. Kresge Company in the United States, with Kresge owning 51% of the common stock in the company. They began to develop Kmart stores in Australia in 1968.[3] The first store opened in Burwood East, Victoria on 30 April 1969 with an estimated 40,000 people passing through the checkouts and taking in over $97,000 (equivalent to A$1.17 million in 2021) on the first day.
SO - K-Mart came into being well before Walmart. Walmart took the "idea" to
another level. Walmart is the K-Mart(S.S.Kresge) of today. As a small child,
I remember shopping at Kresge's '5 & Dime'. What fun
Uncle Al
