I shopped at Kohl's to see how stores are taking 'aggressive action' to boost plummeting sales

Kohl's has more than 1,150 locations in 49 states. While there are Kohl's stores in the greater New York City area, including in Brooklyn and Yonkers, there aren't any in Manhattan.

Kohl's announced its partnership with Sephora in 2020. By 2023, 910 Kohl's locations had added Sephora stores, and the retail chain built 140 more Sephora stores at Kohl's in 2024.

In 2023, Sephora sales at Kohl's totaled $1.4 billion, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Sales are projected to hit $2 billion by 2025.

Kohl's Rewards members and Kohl's cardholders received extra discounts.

The juniors section sold flared leggings, bralettes, and other styles popular with Gen Z.

The Sephora was constructed like a store within a store, similar to smaller shops located in a mall.

The aisles were full of makeup brands like Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Fenty Beauty by Rihanna.

On a June earnings call, Kingsbury said the retailer had removed some jewelry from stores to make room for Sephora locations since jewelry sales had been steadily declining.

He said Kohl's planned to add more accessories like jewelry back into stores in time for the holidays and place them near Sephora in an effort to boost sales.

The items ranged between $7 and $15, while most of the fine jewelry items displayed nearby cost around $100.

Kingsbury told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in September that Kohl's locations with more space for dresses were "performing better" than other locations.

To me, the black-tie dresses in particular made Kohl's feel more like a department store than a big-box retailer.

Kohl's also carries a line of adaptive clothing designed for accessibility. I appreciated how the store catered to a wide customer base.

Women's flannel shirts were on sale for $24.99 — the same as they cost at Target, but more expensive than Walmart, where similar shirts cost between $5 and $15. I also didn't find the clothing displays particularly engaging compared to Sephora's luminous shelves and eye-catching photos.

The items were organized by color, which I found visually appealing. I also enjoyed the wooden roof displayed over the home decor section, which made it easy to spot and identify from a distance.

Kohl's Q3 earnings report found that home decor was a "key growth area" that experienced a "strong collective performance" despite the overall slump.

Centering the juniors and jewelry sections around Sephora's beauty products made sense to me, but these items all seemed like they belonged in different parts of the store. Perhaps it was a space issue, or maybe Kohl's is still playing around with store layouts that drive more sales.

In October, Kohl's launched a digital baby registry service through Babies "R" Us to boost sales of baby gear, which has been a top seller.

On the Q3 earnings call, Kingsbury said that while Kohl's had "benefited" from opening Babies "R" Us shops in 200 stores, these additions were still "unable to offset the declines in our core business."

This could have been a stylistic choice, but it did make me think of Business Insider senior correspondent Emily Stewart's story about how store aisles crowded with boxes are a sign of the retail apocalypse.

Kohl's launched self-pickup in all of its locations in 2022.

The staffed checkout counters may have had a longer line because of people making returns.

By leaning into partnerships with Sephora and Babies "R" Us and thinking strategically about store layouts, Kohl's hopes to drive enough business to sustain its core brand and reverse its sales slump.