Kmart Corporation ( KAY-mart, doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States.
The company was incorporated in 1899 as S. S. Kresge Corporation and renamed to Kmart Corporation in 1977. The first store with the Kmart name opened in 1962. At its peak in 1994, Kmart operated 2,323 discount stores and Super Kmart Center locations in the United States. After declaring bankruptcy in 2002 and emerging the following year, the chain's management purchased Sears for $11 billion in 2004, forming a new corporation under the name Sears Holdings Corporation.Sears Holdings, the parent company of Kmart, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018.