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The $11 billion blockbuster deal could end up costing Kmart its identity, hundreds of stores and most of its $3.1 billion cash stockpile. And its Kmart's Troy headquarters, which employs 2,000 people, is likely to get gutted as the new company, Sears Holdings Corp., settles in suburban Chicago.

Hundreds of Kmart stores will be converted to smaller, stand-alone stores called Sears Grand. On the other hand, Kmart will be able to add Sears' brands -- Craftsman tools, Die Hard batteries and Lands' End clothing .. absent in the announcements Wednesday was any concrete plan for growing and nurturing the Kmart brand. On Thursday, analysts sorting through the details of the merger said Kmart's future appears bleak.

"You can't have two cooks in one kitchen," said Farmington Hills turnaround expert Kenneth J. Dalto. "The newly-created company will gain, but Kmart will be swallowed up in the whole strategy of creating a larger, more profitable retailer. In five years, people will forget there ever was a Kmart." .. "I see no reason for the brand name Kmart to exist," said Michael Bernacchi, a University of Detroit Mercy marketing professor. "There is a negative image connected with it. The brand is and will be Sears."