Kohl's chief executive, Michael Bender, told investors the company has no sweeping strategy to shutter more locations or open new ones anytime soon.
During a post-earnings call last week, Bender said Kohl's will instead focus on squeezing more productivity out of its existing footprint — a notable shift after the retailer closed 27 stores across 15 states in 2025, along with a California fulfillment center.
According to the New York Post, the remarks came in response to an investor who asked whether additional closures were on the horizon. Bender was direct: he "would not anticipate any sort of grand plan of saying we're taking stores out or adding stores at this point." He added that more than 90% of the company's roughly 1,150 locations remain profitable.
"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," Bender said. That language signals a management team betting on operational improvement rather than contraction.
Bender also described a plan to review the performance of each store — what he called evaluating the "hygiene" of locations to ensure they are "positioned in the right spot" for future growth. It is the kind of granular, store-by-store approach that investors in brick-and-mortar retail have been asking for.
For context, the 2025 closures were announced under then-CEO Tom Kingsbury, who called the move a "necessary" step to "support the health and future of our business." Those 27 shuttered locations represented a modest portion of Kohl's total store count, but they rattled employees and customers who feared more would follow.
The debate around Kohl's future cannot be separated from its leadership turmoil. Bender is the company's fourth full-time CEO in three years. He was named interim CEO after Kohl's fired Ashley Buchanan in May over conflicting business ties with a secret romantic partner.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Buchanan and Chandra Holt, founder of coffee business Incredibrew, kept their relationship hidden from three major retailers over a period of at least five years. The two reportedly lived together in a $3 million mansion in Texas, even as Buchanan held top executive roles.
That kind of governance failure erodes investor confidence fast. When Bender took the helm in November, he inherited a company reeling from reputational damage and sliding sales — hardly the ideal backdrop for ambitious expansion plans.
The numbers remain sobering. Same-store sales plunged 2.8% in the most recent quarter and fell 3.1% over the full fiscal year 2025. Kohl's stock is down more than 37% so far this year, closing at $12.69 on Tuesday.
There was one bright spot buried in the earnings report. Earnings per share came in at $1.07, beating Wall Street estimates of 86 cents. That suggests the company's cost discipline may be working, even if top-line revenue continues to disappoint. Bender has ramped up efforts to draw in cash-strapped customers by focusing on private-label brands, discounts, and new item releases. He has also focused on streamlining partnerships with Sephora and Babies "R" Us — two collaborations that have been central to Kohl's strategy for driving foot traffic.
Critics will argue that holding steady with 1,150 stores is not a growth strategy — it is a defensive crouch. In a retail environment where consumer spending is under pressure and e-commerce continues to chip away at department store traffic, simply optimizing existing locations may not be enough to reverse a multi-year decline.
But there is a free-market logic to Bender's approach. Rather than torching capital on expansion or panicking into mass closures, the company is focusing on making each store earn its keep. If 90% of locations are profitable, the math supports a patient, store-by-store evaluation over sweeping action. Bender, who previously worked at Victoria's Secret, PepsiCo, and Walmart, appears to be bringing an operator's discipline to a company that desperately needs it.
The real question is whether discipline alone can revive a brand that has struggled to define itself in a crowded market. Kohl's has cycled through leadership, shed locations, and restructured partnerships — all while same-store sales keep falling. For investors watching from the sidelines, the stock at $12.69 is either a deep value play or a value trap. Time, and Bender's execution, will tell.