Kmart's Thrift Ill-Timed

One of the country's biggest retailers might have gambled and lost in October.

With U.S. consumers keen on deals and discounts in a rapidly declining economy, department stores that sell merchandise on the cheap showed generally strong growth in October. Same-store sales for the group rose 5.3%, making discounters the second-strongest retail segment for the month, after drugstores.

But for Kmart(KM Quote), the month was a different story. The No. 2 discount retailer in the U.S. behind Wal-Mart(WMT Quote), Kmart saw sales decline 4.4% in October vs. the previous year to $2.42 billion, a worse result than analysts had forecast. ...