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Kohl's history
Kohl's company history timeline
1962-86: From Grocery Offshoot to BATUS Subsidiary to Independent, Private Firm
When the United States Supreme Court found that BAT was a monopoly, it compelled American Tobacco to annul its territorial agreement with Imperial and divest its interest in BAT. Imperial kept its 33 percent interest in the company until 1972.
Herb Kohl left the management in 1979, eventually becoming a United States Senator and owner of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The grocery stores were sold to A&P in 1983, operating under the name Kohl's Food Store, and later Kohl's Food Emporium.
A group of investors, led by the senior management, purchased the company in 1986.
Kohl’s most impressive growth spurt began in 1988, when management and The Morgan Stanley Leveraged Equity Fund II, L.P. formed Kohl’s Corporation and acquired Kohl’s Department Stores.
Completed in 1993, it encouraged higher productivity and lower turnaround time, and allowed vendors to send advance ship notices electronically and to pre-ticket merchandise.
The chain added Iowa and South Dakota to its roster in 1993 and opened 11 new stores.
Continuing its expansion, Kohl's opened 18 new stores in 1994, and 22 each in the following two years.
Kohl's also continued to tinker with its store format, completing its phaseout of electronics in 1995.
1997 Kohl's opens a distribution center in Winchester, Virginia, to support an expansion into the Mid-Atlantic region.
Also in early 1999 came the purchase of 33 stores previously operated by bankrupt Caldor Corporation.
To support its westward expansion, Kohl's in 1999 was building a fourth distribution center, a 542,000-square-foot facility in Blue Springs, Missouri, to handle 80 to 100 stores and to service units in Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and central Iowa.
In 2000 the company opened 60 more stores and entered several new markets, particularly in the Northeast, including Connecticut, New Jersey, the New York metropolitan area, and Oklahoma.
2000 Kohl's begins offering online shopping at kohls.com.
Kohls.com launched in 2001, giving Kohl’s an online presence that has grown and evolved over the years.
Of the 62 stores opened in 2001, more than a dozen blanketed the new market of Atlanta while other new markets included Oklahoma City, Austin, Fayetteville, and El Paso.
2001 Backing expansion into the South Central United States is a new distribution center in Corsicana, Texas.
2002 In anticipation of West Coast store openings, Kohl's builds a distribution center in San Bernardino, California.
In February 2003, A&P put the Kohl's Food Stores up for sale, as part of an effort to reduce debt.
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Kohl's competitors
Company Name  | Founded Date | Revenue | Employee Size | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Home Depot | 1978 | $157.4B | 500,001 | 25,922 |
| Nordstrom | 1901 | $15.5B | 74,000 | 1,206 |
| Sears Holdings | 2005 | $1.4B | 85,000 | 697 |
| Dillard's | 1938 | $7.0B | 40,000 | 13 |
| Big Lots | 1967 | $5.5B | 22,900 | - |
| Walgreens | 1901 | - | 210,500 | 17,038 |
| Vudu | 2004 | - | 180 | - |
| Bon-Ton | 1898 | $2.7B | 23,300 | 3 |
| BJ's Wholesale Club | 1984 | $19.3B | 25,001 | 760 |
| JCPenney | 1902 | $11.2B | 60,000 | 4,565 |
Kohl's history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Kohl's, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Kohl's. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Kohl's. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Kohl's. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Kohl's and its employees or that of Zippia.
Kohl's may also be known as or be related to Kohl's, Kohl's Corp., Kohl's Corporation, Kohl's Department Stores, Kohl’s Corporation and kohl's department store.