Kohl’s stores closing activity won’t continue in 2026, and the company has made that clear. After shutting down 27 locations across 15 states last year as part of a broader cost-cutting push, leadership says no further closures sit on the agenda right now. The Kohl’s earnings report 2026, released on March 10, showed a continued Kohl’s sales decline — though profits also came in stronger than many analysts had expected, and that’s also worth noting.
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Kohl’s Sales Decline and 2026 Strategy Behind Store Closures
No New Closures on the Horizon
The question of Kohl’s stores closing came up directly on the March earnings call, and CEO Michael Bender shut it down fairly quickly. The company doesn’t anticipate any further Kohl’s stores closing in 2026 — and Bender said the focus sits elsewhere right now.
Bender stated:
“I would not anticipate any sort of grand plan of saying we’re taking stores out or adding stores at this point. 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 stores’ productivity going forward.”
Right now, Kohl’s runs around 1,150 stores, and well over 90% of those locations turn a profit. The Kohl’s stores closing list from 2025 covered underperforming locations that management flagged following a 7.2% Kohl’s sales decline the year prior — and that Kohl’s stores closing list covered less than 3% of the total store base.
What the Earnings Report Actually Showed
The Kohl’s earnings report 2026 confirmed the Kohl’s sales decline hasn’t reversed yet. Net sales dropped 3.9% to $5 billion in Q4, with comparable sales also down 2.8%. Full-year net sales landed at $14.8 billion, down 4% year-over-year.
CFO Jill Timm stated on the earnings call:
“Our issue continues to be traffic.”
That foot traffic problem has been the company’s central challenge for a while. Still, tighter inventory and expense control pushed Q4 profits to $125 million, with earnings per share climbing to $1.07 from $0.43 a year earlier. No new wave of Kohl’s stores closing came alongside the Kohl’s earnings report 2026, and that reading gave investors some brief relief.
Bender said:
“We are ending 2025 in a stronger position than we started, with important work still ahead of us. Over the past year, our efforts have been focused on resetting our foundation. This focus is intended to stabilize the business and strengthen our operational ability to build for a stronger future.”
Analysts Still Skeptical on the Sales Numbers
The Kohl’s stores closing conversation may have quieted, but the ongoing Kohl’s sales decline still draws skepticism. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, described the overall results as “one of the weakest in mainstream retail” and also pointed out that sales are down nearly 24% since 2019 — even counting the Sephora shop-in-shops boost.
For full-year 2026, Kohl’s expects sales to range from down 2% to flat. The retailer leans harder into value right now — expanding proprietary brands and rolling out more under-$10 impulse items to bring shoppers back in. Kohl’s stores closing in 2026 looks off the table for the moment, though the road ahead, as Bender put it, won’t exactly be smooth. Bender cautioned: “It’s not going to be a straight line.”