Fourteen months ago Kohl’s Corp. was closing 27 underperforming stores across 15 states, but this year the company said its stores are in good shape.
Kohl’s CEO Michael Bender said the company has 1,150 stores and “well over 90% are profitable.”
Bender made the remarks during an call with analysts and investors on March 10 after being asked if the company was planning on closing stores.
“I would not anticipate any sort of grand plan of saying we’re taking stores out or adding stores at this point,” Bender said. “The focus for us is actually on optimizing what we already have and we’ll be focused on making sure that we continue to push the stores productivity going forward.”
Bender said the company evaluates stores on an “annual basis” to and is keeping the possibility of relocation available for some locations but but no major changes at this point.
“Our customers count on us to actually have what they’re looking for, whether its online or in-store, particularly in-store,” Bender said. “What we’ve been doing is curating the assortment to the point where we have the appropriate level of choice and in many cases that means reducing the choice offerings that we have but at the same time actually going deeper on that.”
Kohl’s reports $272 million profit in 2025
Kohl’s reported a profit of $272 million for the full year 2025 compared to $186 million in 2024, and operating cash flow of $1.4 billion compared to $648 million in 2024.
Despite the profit, Kohl’s reported sales decrease of 4% for 2025. The company is planning on sales to be flat or down roughly 2% for 2026.
Kohl’s closed 27 stores in 2025
In January 2025, Kohl’s announced it was closing 27 stores in 15 states, none in Wisconsin.
All 27 stores were closed by April.
“We always take these decisions very seriously,” said then-CEO Tom Kingsbury in a statement at the time. “As we continue to build on our long-term growth strategy, it is important that we also take difficult but necessary actions to support the health and future of our business for our customers and our teams.”
Bender said the company has been making progress during the last several years.
“We got to get the product right because that’s what ultimately people come for. Experience and all the other things wrapped around it are important and we’re working on that as well, but we got to get the product right,” Bender said. “We’ll continue to focus back on that space to get back to growth eventually.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kohl’s improved performance means no store closings, openings expected
Reporting by Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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