Attention K-Mart Shoppers on This Day in History

1978 Kmart Ad

This Day in History: The first Kmart store opened in Garden City, Michigan on this day in 1962. By 1981, there were 2,000 Kmart stores across the country. At the time Kmart bought various retailers, including Waldenbooks, Borders, and Sports Authority. In the mid-90's Kmart sold off Office Max, Sports Authority, and a number of other retailers it had acquired. What happened? Walmart happened. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2002. Later on Sears merged with Kmart to create Sears Holdings. At the time, it was the largest retail merger ever. On October 15, 2018, Sears filed for bankruptcy.

"'Kmart was part of America,' said Michael Lisicky, a Baltimore-based author who has written several books on U.S. retail history. 'Everybody went to Kmart, whether you liked it or not. They had everything. You had toys. You had sporting goods. You had candy. You had stationery. It was something for everybody. This was almost as much of a social visit as it was a shopping visit. You could spend hours here. And these just dotted the American landscape over the years.'" Source

Walmart may be surviving, and it is, at least for now, holding its own against its greatest competitor...Amazon. 20 years ago, the top 10 companies were General Motors, Ford, Exxon Mobil, Walmart, GE, IBM, Chrysler, Altria Group, Mobil and AT&T. Today only Walmart, GM and AT&T are still on that list.

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Walmart on This Day in History

Sam Walton

This Day in History: The first Walmart store opened for business in Rogers, Arkansas on this day in 1962. Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue, with US$514.405 billion and it is also the largest private employer in the world with 2.2 million employees. While many dislike Walmart, others argue that Walmart has done more to lift more low-income people out of poverty than any charitable organization or government agency in the world. Wal-Mart's everyday low retail prices in groceries, prescription drugs, clothing, and household items has significant economic benefits for the poor. Walmart also is at the forefront in many emergency response efforts. Ryan Ferguson in his article (My 5 Favorite Evil Corporations) states: "I don’t shop at Walmart very often, but they're a massive value creator for society that everyone hates. Rich people who prefer to imagine that poor people don’t exist like to lobby cities to prevent Walmart, ignoring how much they have improved the lives of people all over the world. They are the driving force of lowering the prices on all sorts of products. They have democratized wealth by pushing down supply costs and giving people access to inexpensive versions of almost any product available." https://fee.org/articles/my-5-favorite-evil-corporations/

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