K's Merchandise Mart, Inc. (usually known as simply K's Merchandise) was a catalog showroom

Catalog merchant

A catalog merchant is a form of retailing. The typical merchant sells a wide variety of household and personal products, with many emphasizing jewelry. Unlike a self-serve retail store, most of the items are not displayed; customers select the products from printed catalogs in the store and fill...

 department store based in Decatur, Illinois

Decatur, Illinois

Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...

. It offered furniture, jewelry, and general merchandise, including electronics, at 17 locations in 5 Midwestern states at the time of its closing.

K's was founded in 1957 by Raymond "Ray" Eldridge Sr. and his brother Kay. However, by the 2000s, competition from big box stores had eroded K's sales for years, though it had 17 locations in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, and Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. Boston's Gordon Brothers Group

Gordon Brothers Group

Gordon Brothers Group, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is a liquidation firm that was founded in 1903 by Jacob Bernard, Louis and Joseph Gordon....

took over the company from the original family, appointing Bill Weinstein as president. After an attempt at turning around the stores' operations, K's announced on 3 October 2006 that it would liquidate and close to pay off its creditors in full. The final stores closed by January 2007.

K's Merchandise also operated four chain stores by the name of "Bargain's Only", and had locations in Mt Zion, Champaign, Springfield and Peoria, Illinois. These stores closely resembled a TJ Maxx style offering, with clothing, household goods and furniture. They closed in front of their parent stores, with the final store closing in October 2006 in Mt. Zion.