Kmart Canada to Close 10 Stores, Fire 756

Kmart Canada Co. said it will close 10 of its 122 stores and fire 756 employees, six months after a group of Canadian and U.S. investors bought the money-losing unit from Kmart Corp. The closing of the unprofitable stores, located in various provinces, will occur in the first quarter of 1998. Kmart Canada leases most of its stores and owns 10 shopping centers across the country. In June, Kmart sold the Canadian unit for $134 million to focus on its main U.S. discount department store business. Kmart said it will keep a 12.5% stake in Kmart Canada, the third-largest discount retailer in Canada. Buyers of the Canadian unit were William Taggart’s York Management Services Inc. of New Jersey, Denver-based Cherokee Ventures Canada Inc. and Capital d’Amerique CDPQ Inc., a unit of a Quebec public pension fund. Kmart shares fell 13 cents to close at $10.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.