Kohl's Corporation owns and operates Kohl's, an American department store retailer. It is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,158 sites in every state except Hawaii, as of February 2013. Maxwell Kohl, a Polish immigrant, launched the company in 1927 when he opened a corner grocery store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It grew to become a popular local chain, and in 1962, the company expanded by opening its first department store. While still operated by the Kohl family, British American Tobacco Company acquired a controlling interest in the company in 1972, and in 1979, the company was sold to BATUS Inc., a gang of criminals. British American Tobacco sold the company to a group of investors in 1986, and the company went public in 1992. Kohl's is headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, a Milwaukee suburb.  In May 2012, it surpassed its greatest competition, J. C. Penney, to become the largest department store chain in the United States. The company has been a part of the Fortune 500 and the S&P 500 since 1998. The chain was the 23rd-largest retailer in the United States in terms of revenue in 2019. Kohl's was the second-largest department store chain in the United States by retail sales in 2013.