After initially closing dozens of stores last year, Kohl’s said there would be no changes to its stores’ footprint in 2026.
How many stores did Kohl’s close in 2025?
As Blavity reported, Kohl’s announced in January 2025 that it would close 27 underperforming stores across 15 states by April.
“We always take these decisions very seriously,” then-CEO Tom Kingsbury said in a statement at the time, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “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.”
However, Kohl’s newest CEO, Michael Bender, recently confirmed that the company would not have to close any stores this year, according to Men’s Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Kohl’s CEO said the company’s goal is to ‘optimize’ the remaining locations
Instead, they would be focusing on the 1,150 existing locations. “Well over 90% are profitable,” he said, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I would not anticipate any sort of grand plan of saying we’re taking stores out or adding stores at this point,” Bender said during an earnings call. “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.”
Kohl’s stated that instead of shrinking its physical footprint, it remains focused on strengthening value offerings as part of its turnaround strategy, Newsweek reported.
‘We are confident that the work we are investing in now is essential’
Despite a decline in sales in recent years, Bender said the company is in a better position now and will continue to focus on ways to make it more profitable.
“In 2026, we are committed to further strengthening our foundation by addressing operational opportunities, building on our strengths, and modernizing our processes. We are confident that the work we are investing in now is essential for Kohl’s long-term benefit,” he said, per Newsweek.
Bender also said that Kohl’s has the customers in mind when making necessary changes, making it a positive experience for them.
“Our customers count on us to actually have what they’re looking for, whether it’s online or in-store, particularly in-store,” Bender said, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “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.”
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