![]() ![]() ![]() To further expand the reach of the company, in December of 1999 Kmart launched a new Internet presence,. These ''big'' changes were signified by a new name for the remodeled stores - ''Big Kmart.'' A ''Pantry'' department selling frequently purchased consumable goods was moved toward the front of the store and a new focus was placed on the Children's and Home Fashions departments. ![]() In 1996, a complete redesign of the Kmart store was launched, making them cleaner, brighter and easier to shop. In 1991, as part of the new plan, Kmart opened the first Kmart Supercenter in Medina, Ohio, offering a full-service grocery along with general merchandise 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In 1990, Kmart unveiled a bold new logo and a bold new plan - a five-year, $3.5 billion new-store opening, enlargement and modernization program to focus the business back on what mattered most - its Kmart stores. Ten years later, Kmart sold the remaining Kresge stores to fully concentrate on discount merchandising. To reflect this dramatic impact, the company officially changed its name to Kmart Corporation. Kresge Company sales were generated by Kmart stores. 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. Just four years later in 1966, sales in 162 Kmart stores and 753 Kresge stores topped the $1 billion mark. Seventeen additional Kmart stores opened that year, leading to corporate sales of more than $483 million that year. Under Cunningham's leadership, the first Kmart discount department store opened in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan. Cunningham had been studying other discount houses and developed a new strategy for the Kresge organization. Cunningham, who became Kresge President in 1959. Those print ads were the precursor to radio promotions, which followed 20 years later, and then TV commercials, which began to air in 1968.īy the 1950s, it was evident that the company needed to change to continue to be a leader in the growing competitive retail environment. The retail environment was getting more competitive, and again Kresge blazed the trail for future retailers by launching a newspaper advertising program to entice shoppers to its stores. Ten years later in 1937, Kresge opened a store in the country's first suburban shopping center - Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. These ''green-front'' stores often were right next to the traditional red-front five-and-dime Kresge stores. Kresge Company was opening locations that sold items for $1 or less, a precursor to the current discount store. They also offered people what other businesses at the time could not - jobs to support their families.Īs time went on, prices may have changed, but the business philosophy stayed the same - offer consumers products they need at prices they can afford - and they'll keep coming back.īy the mid-1920s, the S.S. War and financial depressions hit America hard over the next decades, but Kresge stores were always there to offer families products at prices they could afford. The low prices appealed to shoppers and allowed him to expand to 85 stores in 1912, with annual sales of more than $10 million. When Kresge opened his first store in 1899, he sold everything for 5 and 10 cents. The store that Kresge built has evolved into an empire. and changed the entire landscape of retailing. More than one hundred years ago, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened a modest five-and-dime store in downtown Detroit. Home > About Us > Kmart Kmart History RETAILING LEGEND IS BORN ![]()
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