Founded | 1913 (as Kuhn Brothers) 1962 (as Big K) |
---|---|
Defunct | 1981 |
Fate | Merged with Walmart |
Successor | Walmart |
Headquarters | Columbia, Tennessee |
Number of locations | 18 (1969) 21 (1970) 105 (1977) |
Subsidiaries | Big K-Edward's |
Kuhn's-Big K, (typically signed as simply Big K) was a large discount store chain in the Southeastern United States that merged with Walmart in 1981 [1] The store is entirely unrelated to, and preceded, Big Kmart.
Kuhn's-Big K began in 1913, as a chain of variety stores called Kuhn Brothers, founded in Columbia, Tennessee. The first Kuhn's-Big K was opened in 1962, and by 1969 operated 35 variety stores and 18 Big K discount department stores. That same year, the company was officially renamed to Kuhn's - Big K Stores Corporation. [2] In March 1970, the company announced plans to go public with 400,000 shares, then operating 21 Big K stores and 34 Kuhn's Variety Stores. [3] The company later went public in April 1971, with 512,000 shares of common stock. [4]
Kuhn's Big K began an expansion push in the early 1970s, and by August 1971 had a total of 17 stores in varying stages of development. [5] The company at this time began to open larger and larger stores, the biggest at the time being a planned 76,000 sq ft location in Nashville, Tennessee. [5] The company had a total of 30 Big K stores and 32 Kuhn's Variety Stores, when they bought out the lease of a Sky City store in Greeneville, Tennessee in January 1972. [6] Big K expanded into South Carolina with the purchase of competing discount chain Edward's in September 1977, adding 33 stores, operated as subsidiary Big K-Edwards, to the then 105 stores. [7] [8]
In June 1981, Kuhn's-Big K, then described as "financially struggling" by The New York Times , agreed to a merger with competitor Walmart in a deal valued at $13 million. The merger followed another attempted merger with Walmart in 1980, which collapsed due to store lease complications. [1]
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