Kmart History Starts in Detroit

When Sebastian Spearing Kresge opened his first store in Detroit, he sold everything for 5 and 10 cents. The low prices appealed to shoppers and allowed him to expand to 85 stores in 1912, with annual sales of more than $10 million, according to Kmart’s Web site.

Kresge’s company survived two World Wars and the Great Depression.

By the mid-1920s, the S.S. Kresge Co. was opening locations that sold items for $1 or less, a precursor to the current discount store.

Ten years later in 1937, Kresge opened a store in the country’s first suburban shopping center — Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo.

Harry B. Cunningham became Kresge’s president in 1959. Three years later, he opened the first Kmart discount department store in Garden City, Mich. Seventeen additional Kmart stores opened that year, leading to annual corporate sales of more than $483 million.

By 1966, sales in the company’s 162 Kmart stores and 753 Kresge stores topped the $1 billion mark. Sebastian Kresge died that year at the age of 99.

Kmart was on a roll. S.S. Kresge Co. opened 271 Kmart stores in 1976 alone.

In 1977, about 95 percent of S.S. Kresge Co. sales were generated by Kmart stores, so the company changed its name to Kmart Corp. Ten years later, Kmart sold the remaining Kresge stores to concentrate on discount merchandising.

Wal-Mart, which Sam Walton took public in 1970, was growing quietly during this period. Wal-Mart had sales of $1.2 million in 1980. That number had grown to $25.8 million by 1990.

Following Wal-Mart’s lead in grocery sales, in 1990, Kmart unveiled a new plan — a five-year, $3.5 billion new-store opening, enlargement and modernization program.

In 1991, 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 1996, Kmart remodeled many stores and dubbed them “Big Kmart” stores.

In December 1999 Kmart launched its Internet site, BlueLight.com.

In May 2000, Charles C. Conaway was appointed chairman and CEO of Kmart.

Conaway said he had three “strategic imperatives”: achieving “world-class execution,” becoming a “customer-centric culture” and maximizing “sales and marketing opportunities,” according to the Web site.

In January, James Adamson was named chairman of Kmart. Conaway remains CEO.

Adamson is a turnaround expert who was brought in to lead Kmart through the bankruptcy.

Adamson told reporters he hopes Kmart will have $35 billion in sales by next year, $2 billion below its 2001 number. Kmart will begin closing stores in August, he said. The company’s underperforming stores will be closed, Adamson said.