Kohl's to Open New Stores and Buy Space Abandoned by Others

The fourth-largest U.S. department-store chain is accumulating cash to grab locations abandoned by shrinking or defunct retailers, said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mansell. Any store takeovers would come on top of as many as 25 new locations Kohl's already plans to build for next year at a cost of about $275 million, he said.

"Nobody's come to us and said they want to sell us 50 stores, but I suspect it's going to happen," Mansell, 57, said in a Sept. 24 interview in New York. "We want to be in a position to act."

Better inventory management and exclusive agreements with designers have helped Kohl's outperform competitors, Mansell said. The company is also among retailers benefiting as consumers move away from higher-priced stores and seek more for their money, said Gilbert Harrison, chairman of Financo Inc., a New York-based adviser and investment bank specializing in retail.