Kmart Australia

Kmart Australia Limited is a chain of discount stores owned by Wesfarmers. It operates 170 stores in Australia and 15 in New Zealand, with its head office located in Mulgrave, Victoria. Unlike the American stores, Kmart Australia continues to be successful in the 21st century. 
== History ==
Kmart Australia was a joint venture between Kmart and Cole's (The Supermarket) They opened the first Kmart location in Victoria, it was very popular, so Kmart opened many more stores throughout Australia. 
In 1978, Kmart corporation sold all of Kmart Australia to Cole's, this meant that Kmart corporation no longer was associated with the company. 
In 1988, Kmart Australia expanded into New Zealand, where it continues to operate today. 
In 2006, Cole's, Bi Lo, and Kmart were all integrated together, this is why you usually see Kmart and Cole's together. 
In 2007, Wesfarmers bought out Cole's for 22 billion dollars, this included Kmart and Cole's other stores. 
Originally, Wesfarmers wanted to shut down most Kmart stores and turn them into Target Australia stores, but decided against this, instead, they spent 300 million dollars to renovate their stores. These renovations did things like change the names of departments and moving the checkouts to the centre of the store which makes customers want to buy more things and reduces shoplifting. 
In 2012, Kmart started opening multi level stores. 
In 2017, Wesfarmers bought the rights to the Kmart name in Australia for 100 million dollars so they no longer had to frequently pay Sears Holdings for the name. 
In 2023, Wesfarmers combined Kmart and Target Australia so they were now run under one business. 
=== Super Kmart ===
In 1983, Kmart launched Super Kmart (Not to be confused with the American Super Kmart Center) This concept added a full grocery section to a normal Kmart store. At its peak, there was 34 locations across Australia. In 1990, the brand was discontinued, and the grocery sections were split off into Cole's supermarkets. 
=== Anko ===
In 2019, Kmart introduced Anko as a in store brand for their stores. Nearly 85% of products in Kmart location are Anko branded. 
In 2023, the Hudson's Bay Company got exclusive rights to the brand, and started selling Anko products in their Canadian Zellers pop-up stores. 
== See Also ==
* Kmart (America) - the founder of Kmart Australia
* Kmart Canada - Former Canadian division of Kmart
* Wesfarmers - Parent company of Kmart Australia 
Category:Discount stores
Category:Toy stores
Category:Superstores
Category:Oceania
Category:Retailers
Category:Companies founded in Australia‎