50 Years of Kmart

Kmart celebrates 50 years in Australia.

The first Kmart store was opened on 30 April 1969

in Burwood East, Victoria. It was the first of its kind in

Australia providing Australian families with great value

and marketed as a ‘one stop shop’ with a supermarket

included in the storeall on the one level. 

The store was opened by Mrs HB Cunningham, wife

of the president and chairmanof S.S Kresge Company, as

Kmart was born from a joint venture between

G.J Coles & Coy Limited and S.S Kresge Company in

the United States.  

The public interest in Kmart was unprecedented with

many customers travellingmore than 40kms for the opening

and it was reported for safety measures the store had to be

closed 45 minutes after opening because it was packed

with shoppers!

There has been a great transformation over the 50 years

with growth across thecountry and in overseas markets.

Commencing with a team of 400 team members and

one store, Kmart has becomea leader in the market with

more than 40,000 team members across 232 stores, serving

over 3.7 million customers a week.

Please visit the Kmart website at:

https://www.kmart.com.au/50years for some more history

and a photo gallery.