KOHL’S

Headquarters: Menomonee Falls, WI
Founder:
Employees: 140,000 (approx.)
Stores: 1,154 (2017)
Slogan: Expect great things!
Founded: 1962
Website: kohls.com

COMMENTARY:

Kohl's has only been in northern New England for less than 20 years but in this short time, they made their mark. I did not knew Kohl’s until Bradlees went out of business at the end of 2000. Early in 2001, Kohl's acquired many of the prime retail locations left vacant by Bradlees to enter this new market. Stores opened in Nashua, Salem, Hooksett, Plaistow and Newington NH. After visiting the Newington store, I was pleasantly surprised by this kind of concept. It reminded me of a very modern Sears without hard lines, in a single story store with a different layout and selection of products. Kohl's came in with these odd shopping carts, checkouts at each entrances, wide aisles and very clean stores. It was the complete opposite of the old Bradlees that was located there before.

Kohl's took advantage of Ames closing like it did for Bradlees. They picked up some locations to open even more stores like West Lebanon NH and South Burlington VT. Kohl's has been part of several new shopping center projects in northern New England. In Maine, Kohl's opened in 2005 in Biddeford, and now Westbrook, Augusta and Bangor have a store. The company opened a total of 95 new stores in 2005 including its first location in Florida. Kohl's opened a store in Auburn Maine in October 2006. Their latest addition was a new store in Seabrook NH. A new store opened in 2011 in Bedford NH.

OVERVIEW:

Kohl's was founded by the Kohl family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1962. In 1978, the Kohl's Corporation became wholly owned by the BATUS Retail Group, a subsidiary of British-American Tobacco Company. While owned by BATUS, Kohl's expanded from 10 to 39 stores throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. In 1988, Kohl's acquired 26 Main Street Stores, expanding to 66 stores.

Fast expansion continued in the 1990's and Kohl's joined the S&P500. In 2002, Kohl’s opened stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island for the first time. The company also added stores in Houston. In all, Kohl’s opened 75 stores in 2002. Kohl’s also opened a distribution center in San Bernardino, CA, in late 2002 to facilitate its Southwest expansion. At the end of the year, sales exceed $9 billion, and the company counted more than 80,000 associates among its ranks. In January 2025, Kohl's announced the upcoming closing of 27 underperforming stores in 15 states.