Kohl’s stores closing update: CEO reveals what happens next after dozens of locations shuttered last year
Last year, the CEO of the department store chain Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) announced the closure of 27 locations in order to help shore up the company’s struggling finances.
But in November, a new CEO took the helm, prompting many to wonder whether he would implement additional store closures. Now that CEO has made his plans clear. Here’s what you need to know.
Kohl’s shut 27 stores in 2025
In January 2025, Kohl’s announced it was closing 27 underperforming locations in 15 states, as well as its San Bernardino E-commerce Fulfillment Center (EFC) in California.
At the time, the company’s then CEO, Tom Kingsbury, said the closures were a “necessary” step “to support the health and future of our business for our customers and our teams.”
The closures followed slumping comparable store sales in 2024, and by April 2025, all of the previously announced doomed locations had shut for good.
But in November, Kohl’s got a new CEO, Michael Bender, the chain’s third chief executive in nearly three years.
Bender’s top priority was to turn around sinking store sales and increase the company’s bottom line. That left many wondering whether even more underperforming stores would be on the chopping block this year.
Now, thanks to recent comments from Bender, we know for sure.
Will there be more Kohl’s store closures in 2026?
On March 10, Kohl’s reported its fourth-quarter 2025 results, and on the following conference call, Bender was asked specifically whether additional store closures were planned.
The good news for Kohl’s customers and employees is that the answer, for now at least, is no.
In response to an analyst’s question about potential additional closures, Bender noted that the company has around 1,150 locations and that the “vast majority”—over 90% of them—are still profitable, according to a PitchBook transcript of Bender’s comments.
Bender stated that the company would be looking at the “hygiene” of each store to make sure they are “positioned in the right spot,” adding that he “would not anticipate any sort of grand plan of saying we’re taking stores out or adding stores at this point.”
“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 store’s productivity as far as we can going forward,” he continued.
He added that the company tends to assess its store footprint on an annual basis.
Kohl’s stock price has struggled
It was little surprise that Kohl’s decided to shutter underperforming locations in 2025.
Like many big-box retailers, the chain had been struggling for years with declining sales and shifting consumer habits, as well as ever-increasing competition from online retail giants like Amazon, Temu, and Shein.
Most recently, the company reported its Q4 and full-year fiscal 2025 results, and as has been the case lately, things could have been better for Kohl’s.
For its most recent quarter, net sales decreased 3.9% and comparable sales decreased 2.8%. When looking back over the full fiscal 2025 period, net sales decreased 4.0% and comparable sales decreased 3.1%.
If there was one bright spot, it’s that for the fourth quarter, Kohl’s posted a diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.07. As noted by CNBC, that was well above the EPS of 86 cents that analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.
Still, it wasn’t enough to reverse the downward slope of Kohl’s stock price. As of yesterday’s closing bell, shares of Kohls Corp have declined more than 37% year-to-date. The company’s stock price closed at $12.69 yesterday.
However, over the past 12 months, KSS shares are actually up over 48%, largely thanks to a November surge, a surprise earnings beat in the company’s Q3 2025, and the appointment of Bender as CEO.
And yet, looking back even further reveals how dire things have become for the company’s share price. Over the past five years, Kohl’s stock has lost nearly 80% of its value.