Does Kmart exist anymore in 2023? Are there any Kmart’s left in the United States? The last Kmart
# The Rise and Fall of Kmart: A Look Back at the Blue Light Special
## Introduction
What’s up guys! It’s Jason here and welcome back to my YouTube channel, Blue light Kmart Special. In our video today, we are going to head towards the light. Not to disappoint you, but not the light at the end of the tunnel or some heavenly light leading us to illumination, but the blue shopping light of Kmart. This famous light, in its day, was the blue light special and was one of the major innovative ideas that distinguished Kmart from the others in the commercial shopping pack. Today we’re going to bring back the memories of where Martha Stewart used to live.
## The Rise of Kmart
The giant powerful mass market retail chain which was brought down to its knees by Target and Walmart. Is Kmart still around today? You might not have seen the big K in your local neighborhood. So today I’ll also be giving you the update on what’s going on with Kmart in 2021 and 2022. I guarantee you’ll learn something new that you didn’t know before and bring you down memory lane.
## Company Man Summary
There’s plenty of Kmart history videos so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel with Kmart’s history. Rather I’ll keep it short with what’s already been made and then update you what’s going on in the current day and future. Just about three years ago Company Man, one of my favorite YouTubers, produced a YouTube video walking us down the retail aisles of Kmart. The genesis of this company and its founder were spotlighted, along with its rise as a major shopping experience for customers. As we continue following the radiance of the blue light it is always interesting to note and pause in the glow of memories that viewers experienced with Kmart.
## Kmart Bankruptcy Again
So what has been happening with Big K these last three years? In a simple word decline. Business had become so bleak that Sears Holdings, Sears had merged with Kmart back in 2004 to become a new retail company and announced the grim news of 142 store closures in October 2018. After this wave of closures, only 202 Kmart’s remained and only 223 Sears’s stores were open for business.
## Kmart Under New Management in 2021 and 2022
Alright, get your scorecard ready cause we have a new player coming in. Following the financial deal struck with Lambert, a new company emerged and was legally named Transform Holdco or, wait for it the New Sears. This new company obtained some of the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation. The chairman of Transform Holdco? Meet Mr. Eddie Lambert again, yes, the same Edward S. Lambert from before. And so it seems that the survival of 202 remaining Kmart’s and its assets, on the surface, occurred when Sears Holding Company was purchased by the New Sears or Transform Holdco. One by one all across the nation, Kmart continued to decrease its presence.
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