Company Man asks 'Kohl's - The Rise and Fall?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse

I closed At Home files for bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and tariffs with an observation and program note: "Erik mentioned Kohl's in his video. They're next. Stay tuned." Watch Company Man ask Kohl's - The Rise and Fall?

America's largest department store chain has been having trouble. This video explores the company's initial rise before trying to identify five of the main reasons behind its recent struggles.

Here are Company Man Mike's five reasons for Kohl's struggles.


Kohl's inventory issues are the opposite of Joann's, which suffered from too little inventory, not too much. That's difficult to solve if the suppliers aren't there. Too much inventory? Reduce price and clear it out. That's easy, even if it results in a loss, as happened in 2022.

Poor leadership is an issue Company Man Mike has seen lots of, most recently in Rite Aid and Walgreens. Ashley Buchanan's actions during his tenure were scandalous enough that Erik of Retail Archaeology remarked on them in his video, What Is Going On At Kohl's.

Let's take a look at what is going on Kohl's.

Looks like Buchanan was thinking with the wrong head. Good riddance! Also, watching this explains why Erik made the comparison to Kohl's in his video about At Home.

Back to Company Man Mike's list. External factors include both the pandemic and tariffs, the former of which has been an ongoing issue this decade and the latter looks like one I'll keep seeing as long as Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump is in office. Sigh.

Both Company Man Mike and Erik noted the Sephora store-within-a-store replacing the jewelry display could be a mistake, although Company Man Mike tied it into identity issues. Alienating core customers while trying to attract new ones is something he saw in Hooters. I personally saw this in drum corps during the 1990s and early 2000s as DCI decided that high school band kids were the future, while the alumni were the past. The alumni were pissed, but DCI won that contest, a conflict I partially described in The Archdruid and I talk drum corps. This isn't the post for the rest.*

Too much debt is always an issue, but the reason Company Man Mike gives for the debt, Kohl's pursuing stock buybacks and increasing dividends instead of investing in the company, is relatively rare, which I mentioned in Company Man asks 'The Decline of Weight Watchers...What Happened?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse (and Ozempic).

While I've often seen private equity as a cause of debt leading to failure, I've come across stock buybacks by themselves just three times, and only seen both once in the case of Ruby Tuesday. Now I can say I've run across the combination twice.

At least private equity doesn't seem to be one of the reasons for Kohl's struggles.

I may have one more Retail Apocalypse post tomorrow, or I might change subjects. Stay tuned to see which I do.

*Drum corps season begins tomorrow, so I'm not surprised this comparison occurred to me.