March 1, 1962: S.S. Kresge Co. opens the first Kmart store in Garden City, Mich., 63 years after Sebastion Spering Kresge established his five-and-dime business in Detroit. While the Kresge company grew steadily in the first half of the century, by the 1950s company officials believed they needed a new formula. Harry B. Cunningham, who became president in 1959, hit upon the idea of opening new stores and calling them Kmart instead of Kresge. This move was deemed so brilliant that the company opened 17 more Kmart stores in 1962 and by 1966 was operating 162 Kmarts. Consumers also seemed to prefer Kmart to Kresge—in 1977, 95% of the company’s sales occurred at Kmart stores. At that point, the company figured another radical move was necessary and changed its name to Kmart Corp. In 1987, the retailer jettisoned its remaining Kresge stores and charged boldly into the 1990s a pure-play Kmart company. But Mart fashions change quickly. As the millennium approached, Kmart suffered as Americans decided they preferred Wal-Mart, possibly due to its prominent hyphen. Kmart filed for bankruptcy in 2002, emerged a year later and changed its name again in 2005 following its merger with the comma-bearing Sears, Roebuck & Co. Today, Sears Holding Corp. battles Wal-Mart for primacy among discount shoppers, while remaining true to Kresge’s unpunctuated roots. —
Jeffrey Kanige
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