Why the Kohl’s CEO believes stores will still matter post-COVID

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The first quarter bloodbath could have been much worse for Kohl’s.

The department store chain on Tuesday reported comparable sales fell 43.5% in the three months ending May 2, largely because the pandemic idled all of its 1,100 stores for half the quarter. Picking up much of the slack was Kohl’s large e-commerce business and its ability to offer curbside pickup of online orders, something it had only been testing at a few stores pre-COVID-19.

“All this accelerated what would