Image: Wesfarmers
Two of our favourite destinations for affordable homewares, Kmart and Target, are merging to become a single business worth $10 billion. So what does this mean for your local store?
According to Kmart Group Managing Director Ian Bailey, not much. “The announcements are an internal reorganisation of our support offices and there is no impact to the Kmart or Target stores,” he said in an email to Reuters. Both Kmart and Target have been owned by Wesfarmers – the company that owns Bunnings, Officeworks, Priceline and Catch.com.au – since 2007.
Since 2020, many Target stores have been either shut down, or converted into Kmart stores. The 12-month process began after Wesfarmers announced “Target has struggled for many years and has incurred very significant losses. In its current form it’s not viable.”
This time, however, all signs and reassurances point to the change having little effect on both staff and shoppers. That means we’ll still be able to shop at both Target and Kmart without noticing much change at all. So let’s go out and appreciate all of the latest product launches, including Kmart’s most recent ‘August Living’ collection, featuring gorgeous glassware and an epic new DIY range.
