How Walmart Beat Kmart: The Retail War (1962–2025)

In this video, we compare the rise of Walmart and Kmart by mapping their expansion, competition, and eventual divergence across the United States from 1962 to 2025. Using historical store data, this animation shows how both chains grew rapidly during the same era, competing for dominance in suburban America, before their paths split dramatically. While Walmart continued expanding into the world’s largest retailer, Kmart entered a prolonged decline. The visualization includes: 📍 Side-by-Side Expansion: How Walmart and Kmart spread across the U.S. 📍 Competitive Overlap: Regions where both chains battled for market share 📍 Peak Footprint: When each retailer reached maximum store count 📍 Decline vs Dominance: Kmart’s closures vs Walmart’s continued growth 📍 Net Store Count: A timeline comparing total active stores over time This project is based on publicly available store history data compiled by independent researchers and retail historians. Special credit to Ben Schultz for Kmart dataset contributions. If you enjoy data-driven storytelling, retail history, or map-based visualizations, consider subscribing for more content like this. 🔍 Keywords #Walmart #Kmart #RetailHistory #DataVisualization #MapAnimation #BusinessHistory #Economics #Timelapse #RetailWar #StoreClosures