// Table template v. 3.5
// Author - Brenden West; updated 3-18-03
// BEGIN editorial data
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SearsKmartTimeline.ID = "SearsKmartTimeline";
SearsKmartTimeline.sPubDate = "11/17/2004 4:09:13 PM GMT";
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SearsKmartTimeline.appHeader = "Timeline|Sears, Kmart timeline";
SearsKmartTimeline.appDeck = "A look at the history of Kmart Holding Corp. and Sears, Roebuck and Co.";
SearsKmartTimeline.appFooter = "Source: The Associated Press";
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SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1886: Richard W. Sears, a railroad station agent who sells coal as a side job, buys unwanted watches from jeweler and founds R.W. Sears Watch Co. in Minneapolis.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1887: Moves company to Chicago and places newspaper ad for watchmaker, hires Alvah C. Roebuck.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1893: Firm incorporates as Sears, Roebuck and Co., offering products by mail order to rural residents and farmers at lower-than-general store prices.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1896: Issues first general catalog.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("","1899: S.S. Kresge Co. founded by Sebastian S. Kresge.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1906: Opens three-million-square-foot mail order plant in Chicago, largest in world. Opens second plant in Dallas.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1908: Richard Sears retires as company president.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1909: Company begins selling Sears Motor Buggy. (line discontinued in 1912)","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("","1912: The company incorporates in Delaware with 85 stores and sales of $10,325,000.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1916: Establishes savings and profit sharing program for employees.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("","1918: S.S. Kresge Co. becomes publicly traded company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1925: First Sears retail store opens in catalog center on Chicago’s West Side.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1927: Launches Craftsman and Kenmore brands.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("","1929: Canadian subsidiary S.S. Kresge Co. Ltd. is founded. By year end, 19 stores operating in Canada.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1931: Establishes Allstate Insurance Co.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1945: Sears sales pass $1 billion.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1953: Establishes Simpsons-Sears Ltd. in Canada.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1962: Introduces Vincent Price Fine Arts Collection.","1962: Company opens first Kmart discount department store in a suburb of Detroit. Seventeen other Kmart stores open the same year.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("","1966: Founder Sebastian S. Kresge dies at age 99.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1973: Sears moves headquarters to Sears Tower, then world’s tallest building.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("","1977: Name changed from S.S. Kresge Co. to Kmart Corp. to reflect that in 1976, sales at Kmart stores accounted for 94.5 percent of the company’s domestic consolidated sales.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1981: Sears acquires Dean Witter Reynolds and Coldwell, Banker & Co.","1981: The 2,000th Kmart store opens. At year end, there were 2,055 Kmart stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1985: Debuts Discover Card.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("","1987: Kmart sells off its remaining Kresge stores in the United States to McCrory Corp., which filed for bankruptcy in 1992 and closed the last of its 300 stores in 2001.
Kmart introduces Martha Stewart, entertainment and lifestyle spokeswoman and consultant.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1993: Catalog discontinued. Sells 20 percent of Allstate. Sells off Coldwell Banker Residential Services and Sears Mortgage Banking Group.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1995: Headquarters move to Hoffman Estates, Ill.","");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("1997: Opens Great Indoors stores.","1997: Kmart launches Martha Stewart Everyday line of bed and bath fashions, and complementary paint line.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("2002: Acquires Lands End specialty catalog.","2002: Kmart files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time, the company had 2,114 stores. The bankruptcy led to the closing of about 600 stores and the termination of 57,000 employees.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array("","2003: Kmart exits Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as Kmart Holding Corp.");
SearsKmartTimeline.rows[i++] = new Array(" 2004: Announces merger with Kmart to form Sears Holding Corp.","2004: Kmart announces plans to combine with Sears, Roebuck & Co. in an $11 billion deal. The combined company will be headquartered in the northwestern Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, where Sears has its headquarters.");
// END editorial data