Kmart, formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department store chain, and a current online retailer in the United States and its territories and operates five remaining Kmart big-box department stores — 3 in the US Virgin Islands and one each in Kendale Lakes, Florida ;and Tamuning, Guam.
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began as a mail ordering catalog company migrating to opening retail locations in 1925, the first in Chicago. In 2005, the company was bought by the management of the American big box discount chain Kmart, which upon completion of the merger, formed Sears Holdings. Through the 1980s, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States. In 2018, it was the 31st-largest. After several years of declining sales, Sears's parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018. It announced on January 16, 2019, that it had won its bankruptcy auction, and that a reduced number of 425 stores would remain open, including 223 Sears stores.
Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly-traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until January 14, 2018, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company began as Simpsons-Sears—a joint venture between the Canadian Simpsons department store chain and the American Sears chain—which operated a national mail order business and co-branded Simpsons-Sears stores modelled after those of Sears in the U.S. After the Hudson's Bay Company purchased Simpsons in 1978, the joint venture was dismantled and Hudson's Bay sold its shares in the joint venture to Sears; with Sears now fully owning the company, it was renamed Sears Canada Inc. in 1984. In 1999, Sears Canada acquired the remaining assets and locations of the historic Canadian chain Eaton's. From 2014, Sears Holdings owned a 10% share in the company. ESL Investments was the largest shareholder of Sears Canada.
Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is an American and Canadian department store chain that operates 656 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Its Canadian market opened in June of 1994. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Men's, Women's, Boys', Girls', Baby, Bedding, Home, Fine Jewelry, Shoes, Lingerie, JCPenney Salon, JCPenney Beauty, as well as leased departments such as Seattle's Best Coffee, US Vision optical centers, and Lifetouch portrait studios.
Carson Pirie Scott & Co. is an American department store that was founded in 1854, which grew to over 50 locations, primarily in the Midwestern United States. It was sold to the holding company of Bon-Ton in 2006, but still operated under the Carson name. The entire Bon-Ton collection of stores, including Carson's, went into bankruptcy and closed in 2018. Bon-Ton's intellectual property was quickly sold while in bankruptcy, and the new owners reopened shortly afterwards as a BrandX virtual retailer.
Payless ShoeSource Worldwide, LLC, is an American multinational discount footwear chain. Established in 1956 by cousins Louis and Shaol Pozez, Payless was a privately held company owned by Blum Capital, and Golden Gate Capital. In 1961, it became a public company as the Volume Shoe Corporation, which merged with The May Department Stores Company in 1979. In the 1980s, Payless was widely known in the U.S. for its Pro Wings line of discount sneakers, which often had Velcro straps instead of laces. In 1996, Payless became an independent publicly held company. In 2004, Payless announced it would exit the Parade chain and would close 100 Payless Shoe outlets. On August 17, 2007, the company acquired the Stride Rite Corporation and changed its name to Collective Brands, Inc. As of 2020, Payless is owned by a group of investors led by Alden Global Capital and Axar Capital Management.
Franchise Group, Inc. is an American privately-held holding company that acquires and manages mainly franchise companies. It owns brands in various retail industries including American Freight, Buddy's Home Furnishings, The Vitamin Shoppe, and Pet Supplies Plus.
DirectBuy is an American membership buying service headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana. Members pay a fee, which entitles them to buy products at a discount, directly from the manufacturer and its authorized suppliers. Product categories include home furnishings, home improvement, entertainment, outdoor, flooring, and accessories.
The Harford Mall is a shopping mall owned by CBL & Associates Properties that is located near the junction of Maryland Route 24 and U.S. Route 1, about 32 miles (51 km) north of Baltimore, in Bel Air, Maryland, United States. Its anchor is Macy's. It is the only shopping mall in Harford County, Maryland. The mall was built on the previous site of the Bel Air Racetrack.
Art Van Furniture Inc. was an American furniture retail store chain, with stores across the Midwestern United States. Founded in 1959, the company was headquartered in Warren, Michigan, and claimed to be the largest furniture retailer in the Midwest at its peak. In 2020, the company filed for bankruptcy and closed all of its stores.
Conn's, Inc. was an American furniture, mattress, electronics and appliance store chain headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, United States. The chain had stores in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Within Texas, Conn's has stores in Greater Houston, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, Greater San Antonio, Greater El Paso, Greater Corpus Christi, Southeast Texas, and South Texas.
Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-largest retailing company in the United States in 2015. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018, and sold its assets to ESL Investments in 2019. The new owner moved Sears assets to its newly formed subsidiary Transformco and after that, Sears Holdings Corporation was closed.
Mattress Firm, Inc. is an American mattress store chain founded on July 4, 1986. The headquarters of the company is located in Houston, Texas.
Champlain Centre North is a shopping mall in Plattsburgh, New York. Opened in 1987, the mall features tenants open & closed, like JCPenney, Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, DSW, Hobby Lobby, Kohl's, Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Ross Stores, Old Navy, Five Below, Ames, Toys R Us, Kmart, Sears, Gander Mountain, and a Regal Entertainment Group-owned movie theater.
Kenmore is an American brand of household appliances, cookware, floorcare, grills, HVAC equipment and other home items owned and licensed by Transformco, an affiliate of ESL Investments. Previously they were a subsidiary brand of Sears Holdings, but after Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018 they were acquired by Transformco, formed in 2019 after acquiring the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation.
Wolf Furniture was a furniture retailer operating eighteen showrooms throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia under the Wolf Furniture and Gardiner Wolf Furniture store names.
Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. was an American retail company that sold home appliances, lawn & garden equipment, apparel, mattresses, sporting goods, & tools. The company had four subsidiary store formats: Sears Hometown, Sears Outlet, Sears Hardware and Appliance, and Sears Home Appliance Showrooms. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores was based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores was founded in April 2012. The company was a spun off from Sears Holdings in 2012. By May 2019, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores & its independent dealers & franchisees operated a total of 639 stores across 49 states as well as in Puerto Rico & Bermuda. On June 3, 2019, it was announced that Transform Holdco would acquire Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores. As per the deal, Sears Hometown needed to divest its Sears Outlet division to gain approval. The company ceased to exist on October 23, 2019, when Franchise Group acquired the Sears Outlet division and Transform Holdco acquired the rest of the company.
Transform SR Brands LLC is an American privately held company formed on February 11, 2019, to acquire some of the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation. The new company is owned by ESL Investments. Following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Sears Holdings on October 15, 2018, Transformco purchased the surviving assets owned by Sears Holdings for $5.2 billion.
