Kohl's Corporation
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Company History
Founded 1962 in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
Maxwell Kohl arrived in the United States from Poland and worked his way into the grocery business, opening his first store in Milwaukee in 1927. The chain grew steadily across Wisconsin through the 1930s and 1940s. In 1946, Kohl's opened what was then a novel format: a full-service supermarket with a dedicated bakery and deli counter, at a time when most grocery stores were still general-purpose provisions shops. The 1962 opening of the first Kohl's Department Store in Brookfield, Wisconsin marked the pivot from food retail to soft goods. The timing was deliberate — the postwar suburban expansion of the American middle class was creating enormous demand for department stores positioned not at the luxury end of retail but at the value end, carrying name-brand apparel, housewares, and electronics at prices that working families could afford. British American Tobacco acquired a controlling interest in 1972, and BATUS Inc. Took full ownership in 1979. The company spent the 1980s expanding its store network and adding private-label merchandise. In 1988, Kohl's acquired Federated's Main Street Stores, adding dozens of locations and accelerating its geographic reach into new markets outside the Midwest. The company went public in 1992, by which point it had established the store format — freestanding suburban locations, easy parking, nationally recognized brands discounted from department store prices — that defined Kohl's for the next three decades. The credit card program launched as an extension of that discount positioning: charge account holders received exclusive coupons and early access to sales, a structure that drove loyalty through financial incentive rather than brand attachment.
Kohl's possesses a pragmatic, Midwestern founding story, rooted in the economic expansion of post-war suburbia and the ambitious vision of a Polish immigrant family heavily focused on the grocery business before ever selling a single piece of clothing. The company's foundational origins trace back to 1927 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Maxwell Kohl, an ambitious Polish immigrant, opened a successful traditional grocery store. He possessed a foundational obsession with high-quality customer service and pristine store conditions. In 1946, he launched Kohl's Food Stores, which became the dominant, supermarket chain in the Milwaukee area. The defining corporate pivot into department stores occurred in 1962. Maxwell Kohl recognized a lucrative demographic shift: the explosion of the American middle class moving into the suburbs. He realized these busy suburban families wanted a convenient store that sold everything from hardware to clothing, without the formal, intimidating atmosphere of traditional downtown department stores (like Gimbels or Marshall Field's). He opened the very first Kohl's Department Store in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The foundational masterstroke was heavily positioning the store exactly between expensive, premium department stores and cheap discount retailers. In 1972, the British American Tobacco Company acquired a controlling interest in the company, eventually spinning off the department store division to a group of investors (led by management) in 1986. This aggressive management team took the company public in 1992, abandoning the legacy grocery business to roll out Maxwell Kohl's successful 'suburban convenience' department store model across the entire United States.
Maxwell Kohl, a Polish immigrant working in Milwaukee factories, opened a corner grocery store at Lincoln Avenue and Kinnickinnic Avenue using his savings. This was the beginning of a retail empire that would eventually include 48 supermarkets.
Kohl opened the first supermarket in Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood to feature then-novel services like an in-store bakery and deli, innovations that would later influence his department store concept.
Based on his dissatisfying experience buying a shirt, Maxwell Kohl opened the first Kohl's department store in conjunction with a supermarket in Brookfield, Wisconsin. He applied supermarket efficiencies to department store retail, offering lower prices than high-end stores with higher quality than discounters.
The Kohl family sold a controlling interest in their retail enterprise to a subsidiary of British American Tobacco Company. By this point, the enterprise included 56 supermarkets, 6 department stores, 3 drug stores, and 3 liquor stores. The Kohl family continued managing the business.
British American Tobacco's subsidiary BATUS Inc. acquired full ownership of Kohl's Department Stores. Herb Kohl, Maxwell's son, resigned as president. He would later become an U.S. Senator from Wisconsin and owner of the Milwaukee Bucks.
A group of management executives and investors led by William Kellogg purchased the 40-store Kohl's retail chain from British American Tobacco for approximately $300 million, setting the stage for national expansion.
Kohl's acquired Federated Department Stores' Main Street chain, entering the Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis-St. Paul markets and expanding beyond its Midwest base for the first time.
Kohl's went public on the New York Stock Exchange, pricing shares and raising capital for expansion. At the time, the company operated 76 stores in the Midwest. The IPO valued the company at approximately $600 million.
Kohl's was added to the S&P 500 index, recognizing its growth and market capitalization. The company had become a significant player in U.S. retail.
Kohl's launched its e-commerce website, Kohls.com, giving the company an online presence that has grown to represent 29% of net sales. The platform initially offered merchandise available in stores plus online-exclusive items.
Kohl's opened 28 stores in California, achieving a coast-to-coast presence for the first time in the company's history. This marked the completion of a national expansion strategy that began with the 1988 Main Street acquisition.
In May 2012, Kohl's surpassed JCPenney to become the largest department store chain in the United States by store count. The company operated approximately 1,100 stores at the time.
Kohl's expanded its Amazon returns partnership to all 1,100+ stores nationwide, allowing customers to return Amazon packages unpackaged and free of charge. Then-CEO Michelle Gass called it the 'single biggest initiative of the year.' The company later claimed 2 million new customers from the partnership.
Kohl's announced a long-term strategic partnership with Sephora to open shop-in-shop beauty destinations in Kohl's stores. The first 200 locations opened in Fall 2021, with plans to expand to at least 850 stores by 2023. Sephora became the exclusive beauty partner on Kohls.com.
Activist investors including Macellum Capital Management pressured Kohl's board, nominating 10 directors and pushing for real estate monetization. The company adopted a poison pill defense. In November 2022, CEO Michelle Gass announced her departure to become president of Levi Strauss. Tom Kingsbury, former Burlington Stores CEO, was appointed interim CEO.
In February 2023, Tom Kingsbury was named permanent CEO. The Sephora rollout continued, reaching 850 stores by year-end. The company also laid off approximately 60 marketing and merchandising employees at corporate headquarters to 'drive greater efficiency.'
Sephora at Kohl's sales exceeded $1.4 billion in 2023, up over 90% year-over-year. The company announced a partnership with WHP Global's Babies 'R' Us to open shop-in-shop baby gear sections in approximately 200 stores. Store comparable sales were flat for the year, the best performance since 2010.
In May 2025, CEO Ashley Buchanan was fired for cause after an investigation found he directed the company to engage in vendor transactions involving undisclosed conflicts of interest with a former romantic partner. Board member Michael Bender was appointed interim CEO and named permanent CEO in November 2025. The company also began testing discontinuation of Amazon returns at select stores.
Kohl's reported FY2025 net sales of $14.78 billion (down 4.0%), total revenue of $15.527 billion, net income of $272 million (including a $129 million lawsuit gain), and adjusted net income of $186 million. The company issued $360 million in 10.000% senior secured notes due 2030 and repaid $353 million in maturing 4.25% notes. Sephora was present in over 1,100 stores.
Kohl's reported $15.527 billion in FY2025 total revenue, $14.775 billion in net sales, $624 million in operating income, $272 million in net income, 1,153 stores, and an average of about 84,000 associates.
Kohl's acquired Federated Department Stores' Main Street chain to enter the Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis-St. Paul markets, expanding beyond its Midwest base for the first time. This acquisition was the foundation of Kohl's national expansion strategy. The strategic rationale for this acquisition was to rapidly accelerate the company's geographic penetration of lucrative Midwestern urban markets where organic brand-building would have taken many years and required substantially more marketing investment.
Since its establishment in 1962, Kohl's Corporation expanded from an early-stage venture into a recognized leader in Department Store Retail, overcoming key market challenges.
Over its history, Kohl's Corporation executed decisive strategic pivots toward scalable monetization and digital distribution, securing its current market leadership.
By continually modernizing operations and embracing workflow automation, Kohl's Corporation maintains resilience through changing technological and economic cycles.