Kmart
Launched by the S. S. Kresge Company in 1962; all but a handful of U.S. stores had closed by the mid-2020s.
The S. S. Kresge Company — itself a five-and-dime chain dating to 1899 — opened its first Kmart discount store in Garden City, Michigan in 1962, the same year Walmart and Target debuted. Kmart grew into the dominant U.S. discounter of the 1970s, known for the in-store 'Blue Light Special' and later for Martha Stewart Everyday home goods. A 2002 bankruptcy and a 2005 merger with Sears began a long contraction that left only a few stores standing two decades later.
Known For
- The 'Blue Light Special'
- Grew out of the S. S. Kresge dime stores
- Martha Stewart Everyday line