[hanamizu]

The CEO bought KMart for the real estate.

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I believe it was the other way round—K-Mart bought Sears for the real estate. About 10 or so years ago, our local Sears moved into a brand-new building and called itself ‘Sears Grand’. You drive by and there might be 6 or 7 customers’ cars in the parking lot. If you go in you feel like you are in the building by yourself. Our local K-Mart will close next month and I have no doubt our Sears will soon follow.
My first rifle was a JC Higgins .22. As others have said, just about anything up to and including houses were for sale at Sears.

[Moonman62]

Right. The CEO, Eddie Lampert bought KMart first, then the holding company bought Sears:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kmart#2002%E2%80%932009:_Collapse_and_merger_with_Sears

While Kmart was going through its bankruptcy, a significant amount of Kmart’s outstanding debt was purchased by ESL Investments, a hedge fund controlled by Edward Lampert. Lampert worked to accelerate the bankruptcy process.

On January 13, 2003, Kmart closed 326 stores due to a lack of profitability and poor sales.[54]

On May 6, 2003, Kmart emerged from bankruptcy protection as a subsidiary of the new Kmart Holding Corporation. On June 10, 2003, Kmart began trading on the NASDAQ stock market with the ticker symbol of KMRT with Lampert serving as the chairman and with ESL Investments controlling 53% of the new company for an investment of less than $1 billion.