Kmart Had 2,486 Stores. Now There’s Only One Left

Kmart once had more than 2,000 stores and was the biggest discount chain in America. Today, there is only one Kmart left in mainland America — tucked into the corner of a strip mall in Miami. This is the full story of Kmart: how a Pennsylvania farm boy named Sebastian S. Kresge saved $8,000 and built an empire of five-and-dime stores, how his company bet everything on a new kind of store in 1962, how the Blue Light Special made Kmart a household name, and how a small store in Arkansas called Walmart quietly took it all. From the record-breaking bankruptcy of 2002 to the merger with Sears and the last stores closing their doors, this is the story of the store your grandparents loved, and the lesson it left behind. CHAPTERS 0:00 The Last Blue Light 1:49 The Value of a Dime 5:21 The Gamble 7:34 Attention, Kmart Shoppers 10:07 The Wrong Shopping List 13:49 Blue Light Always 17:15 The Long Goodbye 19:39 The Corner of the Garden Center SOURCES Kmart and S. S. Kresge Company history — Transformco: https://transformco.com/about/kmart/k... Kresge Foundation, "The Store": https://kresge.org/the-store CNN Money, "Kmart files Chapter 11" (January 22, 2002): https://money.cnn.com/2002/01/22/comp... U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Litigation Release 21065 (Charles Conaway): https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litrel... Chain Store Age, "Sears and Kmart agree to merge" (2004): https://chainstoreage.com/news/sears-... Fox Business, "Last full-size Kmart in US to close": https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/l... Historic photos: Wikimedia Commons and the Library of Congress (public domain and free licenses). Some scenes in this video are AI-generated recreations used to illustrate the story. Did you ever hear "Attention, Kmart shoppers"? Tell us your favorite Kmart memory in the comments. #Kmart #RetailHistory #BusinessHistory Subscribe to The Last Location for new documentaries every week about America's lost and fallen brands. Which brand from your childhood should we cover next? Tell us in the comments. All stories are researched from public sources listed above. Some scenes are AI-generated recreations for illustration.