Kohl's

Kohl's Corporation is a family-oriented department-store retailer headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating more than 1,100 stores in 49 states alongside Kohls.com and the Kohl's App. Founded by Maxwell Kohl, whose first department store opened in 1962, the company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KSS. Its formula — national and private brands at sharp savings, in convenient off-mall locations, with promotions such as Kohl's Cash — made it the largest department-store chain in the United States by store count and a major seller of apparel for the whole family.

Company Profile

The July 2023 summary in the record describes the modern omnichannel retailer: more than 1,100 stores, national and private brands at savings for families nationwide, and stated commitments on diversity and environmental and social progress. The February 2019 summary says the same in the language of that year — inspiring families to lead fulfilled lives, with an easy shopping experience in store, online and on the app.

The October 2013 summary records the listed-era merchandising: family-oriented department stores selling apparel, footwear and accessories for women, men and children, soft home products and housewares, pitched at classic, modern classic and contemporary customers, from 1,127 stores in 49 states as of January 2012. The store count barely moved across that decade — Kohl's story is consistency of format rather than expansion.

The range behind the name is apparel, footwear and accessories for women, men and children, plus beauty, soft home products and housewares. Its customers are families seeking national and private brands at promotional prices, in stores and online. That combination — what is sold, and to whom — is the simplest way to place Kohl's in the industry: it explains the company's costs, its competitors and the kind of news that moved its shares when it had them. A change in either half of the combination, a new product category or a new customer, is usually the first sign that the business described in the older summaries is turning into something different.

Scale should be read from the dated summaries with their dates attached. Store counts, sales descriptions and market positions quoted there were the company's own account of itself in that year, and they are the right basis for comparing Kohl's with the other companies in this section — a component supplier against a retailer, or a catalogue house against a mall chain — as long as each figure is compared with figures from roughly the same period.

For current dealings, the snapshot at the top of this page is the place to start: it gives the company's present status — Operating — and links to the official website, which is where current product ranges, store information and investor or corporate contacts are maintained. Anything in the dated summaries that conflicts with the snapshot should be read as the older position: summaries describe the year they are dated, and the snapshot describes the company as it stands now.

Company summaries of this kind were the working tool of the apparel trade as much as of investors: a buyer, landlord or supplier checking Kohl's could see its scale, its headquarters and its own description of its business in a few paragraphs. Those dated descriptions are kept with their dates, because a store count from 2013 or a strategy statement from 2019 is evidence about that year, not about today. The current position is the one given in the snapshot: operating.