[10] A smaller location remains open in the former Garden Shop of its Kendale Lakes, Florida (Miami postal address) store, while the adjoining big box building is occupied by another retail chain that has leased the space.

[18] Since 2019, Kmart has been a subsidiary of Transform SR Brands LLC, a privately held company that was formed in 2019 to acquire assets from Sears Holdings.

[43] In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, the corporate office shifted much of its focus from the Kmart stores to other companies it had acquired or created, such as Sports Authority, Builders Square, and Waldenbooks.

[58] The company also began to offer exclusive merchandise by Martha Stewart, Kathy Ireland, Jaclyn Smith, Lauren Hutton, and Thalía.

[83] The company announced a planned major restructuring, in which Kmart would invest in new customer check-out and new inventory management technology and other related systems.

[88] On January 22, 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under the leadership of its then-chairman Charles Conaway and president Mark Schwartz.

After dismissing Conaway and Schwartz, Kmart closed more than 300 stores in the U.S., including all the locations in Alaska, and laid off around 34,000 workers as part of the restructuring process.

[91] Kmart introduced five prototype stores with a new logo, layout, and lime green and gray color scheme, one in White Lake, Michigan, and four in central Illinois: (Peoria, Pekin, Morton and Washington).

[92] The new layout was touted as having wider aisles and improved selection and lighting, and the city or town's name was featured under the new Kmart logo at the front entrance.

"[98] He began to improve the company's balance sheet by reducing inventory, cutting costs, and closing underperforming stores.

[109] In 2006, the typical white and blue interior of the stores was changed to orange and brown, and shelf heights were lowered to create better sightlines.

[119] Along with store closings, measures included the spinning off its Lands' End division, selling most of its stake in Sears Canada, issuing debt and taking on loans that cumulatively put it on track to raise $1.445 billion in cash in 2014.

[119] Howard Riefs, a company spokesman who has often spoken on behalf of Kmart, said, "Store closures are part of a series of actions we're taking to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base and accelerate the transformation of our business model.

[144] According to MSN Money, Kmart along with sister company Sears had an extremely high chance of disappearing in 2018, such that 2017 would have marked its final holiday season as an independent brand.

[147] On March 26, 2018, CEO Eddie Lampert said, "I'm not sure Kmart on its own could ever be a great retailer," implying that the company was trying to shift to online shopping as opposed to brick and mortar stores.

[182][183] It had opened in 1999 in the place of a former Caldor store and was able to outlive other Kmart locations due to limited competition from Walmart and Target which were both a 45-minute drive away.

[186] The Kmart location in Miami had been downsized in March 2023[187] and is now largely operating out of its former garden center, offering a limited selection of clothing, appliances, and household goods; the rest of the store's original space is leased to an At Home outlet.

[217][218] On July 29, 2008, Don Germano, SVP/GM of Kmart stores, was elected to a five-year term on the national Board of Trustees of the March of Dimes Foundation.

On May 9, 2007, Kmart was penalized $102,422 (equivalent to $151,000 in 2023) for violations of federal hazardous waste, clean water, emergency planning and preparation regulations at 17 distribution centers.

[223] Kmart corrected the violations by preparing and implementing spill-prevention control and countermeasure plans, applying for appropriate storm-water permits, complying with hazardous-waste-generator requirements, and submitting reports to state and local emergency-planning and response organizations informing them of the presence of hazardous substances.

[224] The Environmental Protection Agency also accused Kmart of not maintaining adequate information and failing to act in accordance with hazardous-waste-storage and disposal requirements.

[233] In response to Mercy for Animals' infiltration, Kmart announced it would begin requiring its pork suppliers to phase out gestation crates.

[235][236] On November 25, 1959, the S. S. Kresge chain expanded with the opening of its first store in Puerto Rico, a 17,678 square-foot unit at the 65th Infantry shopping center in San Juan, the capital city of the island.

[244][238] On December 31, 1967, a fire would consume the building where the Kmart was located at the San Patricio Plaza shopping center leaving it completely destroyed.

The fire, which caused an estimated loss of $1.5 million, was started in some boxes and sheets of cardboard partitioning walls behind the store outside the building.

[247] On May 28, 1983, the Kmart Corporation had completed the acquisition of five lease contracts for stores previously operated by the Barker's chain on the Island, and hoped to reopen them by September or October of that year.

The Barker's chain had closed 16 stores it had in Puerto Rico earlier that year due to financial problems of its parent company, KDT Industries.

In July of that year, the stores in Vega Baja, Bayamón (Plaza Río Hondo), Caguas (Rafael Cordero Avenue) and Trujillo Alto would also be converted.

[257] In November 2019, another five Kmart stores announced their closure, located in Fajardo, Juana Díaz, Arecibo, Plaza Río Hondo, and Vega Alta.

[260] And in December 2020, two more Kmart stores announced their closure, located in the Rexville Town Center in Bayamón, and the Western Plaza in Mayagüez.