1962
![KMART KRESGE S.S. Kresge Co. opened its first Kmart discount department store in a suburb of Detroit in 1962. S.S. Kresge Co. changed its name in 1977 to Kmart Corp. to reflect that in 1976, sales at Kmart stores accounted for 94.5 percent of the company's domestic consolidated sales. Discounter Kmart Holding Corp. announced it is acquiring one of the most venerable names in U.S. retailing, department store operator Sears, Roebuck and Co., in a surprise $11 billion deal that will create the nation's third largest retailerSEARS KMART, DETROIT, USA](https://footwearnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/rexfeatures_6406927a.jpg?w=273)
S.S. Kresge Co. opened its first Kmart discount department store in a suburb of Detroit.
S.S. Kresge Co. opened its first Kmart discount department store in a suburb of Detroit.
People walk by a Sears store in Mexico City.
Sears
Shoppers enter a Sears store in Hollywood, Calif.
A huge Sears Roebuck and Co. retail store sits in disrepair in Camden, N.J.
Traffic passes by a Sears department store in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood in New York.
People stand outside a Sears department store in Hackensack, N.J., following news that Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.