Kmart Looks at Future with Sears

Kmart Holding Corp. (Troy, Mich.) has announced plans to convert more than a quarter of its 1480 stores to one of the Sears formats following its merger with Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Hoffman Estates, Ill.).

The announcement did not specify what kind of Sears stores they would be, but they likely would fit the new Sears Essentials concept for mid-size, standalone stores. Sears has said that it would convert 25 of the 50 stores it acquired from Kmart several months before the merger announcement into that format. The company previously had announced plans to turn three of the acquired Kmarts into Sears Grand stores, a larger off-mall concept.

Kmart disclosed the plans on the same day that it posted a $309 million profit for the fourth quarter, a 14 percent increase over the previous year. See that and other retailers’ financial statements on the Retail Financial Reports channel on this web site.