What Happened to Kmart? | The Store That Was Bigger Than Walmart скачать в хорошем качестве

What Happened to Kmart? | The Store That Was Bigger Than Walmart

What Happened to Kmart? | The Store That Was Bigger Than Walmart Subscribe: ‪@BeforeItVanished0‬ At its peak in 1993, Kmart had 2,486 stores, 350,000 employees, and $37.7 billion in revenue. It was bigger than Walmart. Bigger than Target. Every suburb in America had one. Today, three stores remain on the entire planet. This is the full story. From Sebastian Kresge's first five-and-dime in 1897 Detroit. Through Harry Cunningham's revolutionary discount store concept in 1962 — launched the same year Sam Walton opened his first Walmart, after both men visited the same store in Rhode Island. Through the Blue Light Specials that became the first flash sale in retail history. Through the Jaclyn Smith clothing lines, the Martha Stewart kitchenware, the cafeteria with the ham subs and the ICEE machines. And through everything that went wrong. The failed acquisitions — Waldenbooks, Builders Square, Sports Authority, Borders. The stores that went thirty years without renovation while Walmart invested billions in supply chain technology. The decision to kill the Blue Light Special in 1991. The largest retail bankruptcy in American history in 2002. And then Eddie Lampert — the hedge fund manager who merged Kmart with Sears, stripped both companies for parts, sold off billions in real estate and brand names, and watched from his private island as 2,483 stores disappeared. People drove hours to visit the last locations. Not to shop. Just to walk through one more time. Just to smell the popcorn and floor wax. Just to remember what Saturday morning used to feel like. If you remember the blue light, the cafeteria, or loading bags into the trunk on a Saturday afternoon — tell me about it in the comments. #kmart #bluelightspecial #nostalgia #whathappenedto #retail #americana #sears #walmart #80s #90s #sebastiankresge #eddielampert