Kohl’s has named Ashley Buchanan, CEO of Michaels, as its new CEO, effective Jan. 15, 2025. Current Kohl’s CEO Tom Kingsbury will be stepping down on that date but will remain as an advisor and board member until his planned retirement in May 2025.
The department store retailer announced the C-suite change along with its financial results for Q3, which ended Nov. 2, 2024. Net sales of $3.5 billion represented an 8.8% drop compared to the same period the previous year, with comparable store sales falling by an even larger percentage, 9.3%. For the first nine months of Kohl’s fiscal year, net sales dropped 6.1%, to $10.2 billion, while comp sales declined 6.4%.
“Our third quarter results did not meet our expectations as sales remained soft in our apparel and footwear businesses,” said Kingsbury in a statement. “Although we had a strong collective performance across our key growth areas, including Sephora, home décor, gifting and impulse, and also benefited from the opening of Babies ‘R’ Us shops in 200 of our stores, these were unable to offset the declines in our core business. Importantly, we delivered gross margin expansion and managed expenses tightly in the quarter.”
Kohl’s has been revamping its assortment and merchandising strategy, including adding dedicated dress shops in 700 stores to enhance its women’s apparel offerings. In March 2024 Kohl’s expanded its home offerings in a bid to become a seasonal décor destination.
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Buchanan, who joined Michaels as CEO in January 2020, received praise from Andrew Jhawar, Chairman of that retailer’s board: “Ashley has led Michaels through significant transformation, delivering on key strategic initiatives that have enabled sustainable and profitable growth.”
