s after the Sears/Kmart merger
Kmart was a failed company with access to credit. They used that credit to buy a successful company, Sears.
Kmart was tone deaf to their customer's desires and clueless about technologies like point-of-sale/bar codes.
The colossal incompetence and hubris of Kmart management tanked Sears as well.
Kmart should have been allowed to die, just like the TBTF banks should have been parted out in a rational, controlled way.