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.

This Kindle book, The Dark History of Christmas, is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only $1.99 and The Strange History of Easter and the Christian Cross is on Amazon for only $1.99