The demise of Kmart

[SandyinMonterey]

I'm surprised there are any Kmarts left. I worked at Kmart growing up. Remember blue light specials? I did some of those. I remember Teddy Ruxpin in the main aisle during Christmas. Oh, and when Cabbage Patch Dolls became available at Kmart. The crowd outside waiting to get in and grab a Cabbage Patch was insane.

 

[kymom99]

The last K-Mart in Illinois, which closed about a year or two ago is a county COVID mass vaccination center now.

Who remembers the Blue Light Specials?

View attachment 584067

I used to have to run those blue light specials.

 

[ronandannette]

No Target?!? That's sad!

Nope. Target made a brief foray into the Canadian market from about 2010 to 2015 and it was an epic fail. Unfortunately they also took another iconic Canadian chain, Zellers, down with them because they had bought most of the locations and turned them into Targets. A very sorry state of affairs.

 

[Dan Murphy]

And here in Chicago, where Sears started, there are no Sears stores left. In Illinois, one Sears store left. It's been a very, very long painful death for the old time behemoth.

 

[1GoldenSun]

When I was a little girl my grandma used to visit us every summer. She'd take my brothers and me to Kmart and spoil us rotten; it was like Christmas in June. She'd always take us to the lunch counter to get ice cream sundaes. For a while they had this huge wheel you got to spin that determined the price you paid for your sundae--anywhere from full price down to a penny. I was so excited the one time my grandma only had to pay one cent for my hot fudge sundae!

It's hard to realize that I'm around the age my grandma would have been when those summer visits would have first begun back in the 70s. Now Grandma and Kmart are both gone.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I remember K-Mart from back in the day, but cannot remember the last time I saw one still open.

 

[AuntieMe3]

I loved Kmart. Our store always had the best clearance and as someone else mentioned the Shop your way rewards were really good. I got a free coffee maker once with rewards I didn't even know I had. Our store closed maybe 5 years ago and the next closest one closed 2 or three years ago. They both are just ugly empty building now....

 

[tzolkin]

I worked at a Kmart when I was in high school in the late 90s and it was dying back then. A super Walmart had opened next door. There would be two employees (me as cashier and a supervisor at customer service so we would have to run both if one needed a break). I spent hours straightening packs of gum because you always had to look busy but the store was completely desolate. If I had 10 customers in an entire evening that was a lot.

I was shocked when I moved to my current location a few years ago and there was a Kmart here because I thought they were all gone. It just closed down a year or so ago.

 

[elphaba91]

Funnily, in Australia Kmart is absolutely fantastic and doing extremely well! I live very close to Australia’s first Kmart, which is open 24/7 and it’s absolutely amazing.

Back in the mid to late 2000s it was struggling and there was talk of stores being converted to Target (they are owned by the same company here). They put someone else in charge who focussed on more affordable and on-trend pieces and he turned the brand around completely. Now Target stores are being changed to Kmart instead.

 

[bcla]

Funnily, in Australia Kmart is absolutely fantastic and doing extremely well! I live very close to Australia’s first Kmart, which is open 24/7 and it’s absolutely amazing.

Back in the mid to late 2000s it was struggling and there was talk of stores being converted to Target (they are owned by the same company here). They put someone else in charge who focussed on more affordable and on-trend pieces and he turned the brand around completely. Now Target stores are being changed to Kmart instead.

That's a whole different story. Apparently the Kmart name was licensed to a company in Australia, although it's now a perpetual license after a lump sum payment. The Target name in Australia is completely separate (i.e. no legal relationship) from the brand name of Target Corporation (based in Minnesota). They established it through a separate trademark registration.

https://www.startribune.com/target-has-a-twin-in-australia-but-they-re-not-related/220867991/​

Born out of Dayton Hudson Corp., Target opened its first store in Roseville in 1962. Four years later, the discount retailer filed its first trademark claim and then another claim in 1967 that covered its bull’s-eye logo, according to documents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A year later, Target Australia, then known as Lindsay’s Target Pty Ltd., adopted the Target name.​

​

Hausman said Target never licensed anything to the retailer. Instead, the founders of each company “had a conversation” at that time, he said, without specifying what was actually said.​

​

In addition to Target, Wesfarmers also operates a retail chain called Kmart with a similar logo to the Kmart owned by Sears Holdings Corp. in the United States.​

​

Savio said it would not be surprising if the two Targets had some sort of informal, handshake agreement. Fifty years ago, retail was primarily a local business and there were very few, if any, truly global brands. The idea that Target U.S. and Target Australia would somehow cross paths seemed remote at best.​

 

[MillauFr]

As I kid I enjoyed the K-Mart sub sandwiches. Plenty of oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

I didn't realize how few locations were left until I looked it up. 30 years ago we had 2 Kmarts in our county of 100k people.


California

• Freedom - 1702 Freedom Blvd - Store #3725, (Opened in 1993). Store scheduled to close August 22, 2021.
• Grass Valley - 111 W McKnight Way - Store #9746, (Opened in 1981). Last Kmart in California.
• South Lake Tahoe - 1056 Emerald Bay Rd - Store #9153, Former Grant's, (Opened in 1976). Store scheduled to close August 22, 2021.

Florida

• Key West - 2928 North Roosevelt Blvd - Store #4725, Former Ames, (Opened in 1991)
• Miami - 14091 SW 88th St - Store #3074, (Opened in 1977) - Expanded.

Guam

• Tamuning - 404 N Marine Drive - Store #7705, (Opened in 1995) - Only Kmart in Guam.

Michigan

• Marshall - 15861 Michigan Ave - Store #3841, (Opened in 1990) - Last Kmart in Michigan

Montana

• Hamilton - 1235 North 1st St - Store #9808, (Opened in 1988) - Last Kmart in Montana (Has really cool dated logo. Most likely the smallest open Kmart; small Kmart format straight out of the 90s)

New Jersey

• Avenel - 1550 St George Ave - Store #3438, (Opened in 1979)
• Westwood - 700 Broadway - Store #3202, (Opened in 1982)

New York

• Bridgehampton - 2044 Montauk Hwy - Store #9423, Former Caldor, (Opened in 1999)
• Brooklyn - 2307 Beverly Rd - Store #4731, (Opened in 2018). Occupies part of the basement level of Sears as a store-in-a-store concept. It is not listed in the Kmart.com store locator, and people debate whether this should be considered a real Kmart.
• Bronx - 300 Baychester Ave - Store #7654, (Opened in 1994)
• Bronx - 1998 Bruckner Blvd - Store #9420, Former Caldor, (Opened in 1999)
• New York (Manhattan) - 770 Broadway - Store #7777, Former John Wanamaker, (Opened in 1996)
• White Plains - 399 Tarrytown Rd - Store #9416, Former Caldor, (Opened in 1999)

Puerto Rico

• Hato Rey (San Juan) - Calle Kalaf 525 - Store #7783, (Opened in 1998) - Last Kmart in Puerto Rico.

Virgin Islands

• Frederiksted - Remainder Matriculate #1, Store #7413, (Opened in 1993)
• St. Croix - 4500 Sunny Isle Shopping Center - Store #3972, (Opened in 1998)
• St. Thomas - 26 Tutu Park Mall - Store #3829, (Opened in 1993)
• St. Thomas - 9000 Lockhart Gardens Shopping Center - Store #7793, (Opened in 1998)

 

[flyingdumbo127]

I miss Kmart tremendously! I do live in CA. I say that mostly because I had come to rely on one of their store brands of socks that were so perfect for me. I also appreciated how through their Shop Your Way Rewards store card, "Surprise Points" emails were sent weekly. I would get for example $8 off an $8 purchase of toys which I would always use to get a toy for my church's Christmas time toy drive or sometimes they would send a clothing offer. I was never much a fan of Sears so don't miss them but definitely was sad about Kmart. Years ago, when I lived in a smaller town, that Kmart also had tasty breakfasts!

 

[Kitty 34]

Ahhh you're sweet Dan. Just remember I live a little west of South Detroit.

 

[Shellsbutt]

When our family made our big move up to Northern CA, our closest K-mart was in Placerville. I think it's become a Target if I'm not mistaken. I haven't been up that way in a while though. I do remember being a kid in the 80s, you wouldn't be caught dead inside a K-mart, it was very uncool The few times I was dragged there with my Mom, I was so embarrassed and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible in case someone from school saw me. Then in high school, it became so uncool that it was cool. My friend and her date actually ate there for dinner before Homecoming one year. I tend to get really nostalgic for these old chains and I do remember the blue light specials. I shopped at the one in Citrus Heights a few times over the years, just really dirty and disorganized. I miss Mervyn's and Gemco.

 

[bcla]

The last Kmart in California is closing in December.

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2021/10/19/kmart-grass-valley-closing-december/

 

[CdnCarrie]

They closed here in mid 90s.

 

[superme80]

The last Kmart in California is closing in December.

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2021/10/19/kmart-grass-valley-closing-december/

I love this Kmart. I got so many great deals on toys and clothes here. I am so sad.

 

[RamblingMad]

Do you watch Company Man on YouTube?

This is a good one about Kmart:

 

[sasywtch]

When our family made our big move up to Northern CA, our closest K-mart was in Placerville. I think it's become a Target if I'm not mistaken. I haven't been up that way in a while though. I do remember being a kid in the 80s, you wouldn't be caught dead inside a K-mart, it was very uncool The few times I was dragged there with my Mom, I was so embarrassed and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible in case someone from school saw me. Then in high school, it became so uncool that it was cool. My friend and her date actually ate there for dinner before Homecoming one year. I tend to get really nostalgic for these old chains and I do remember the blue light specials. I shopped at the one in Citrus Heights a few times over the years, just really dirty and disorganized. I miss Mervyn's and Gemco.

I live close to the CH Kmart and drive by it 3x a week. I think it's a Big Lots now? It's right by the light so I'm usually trying to figure out the fastest lane to get into going over the freeway. We use to go there after Thanksgiving dinner to just look for Christmas stuff. Growing up, we always went to the one on Auburn/Garfield. As someone else said, I always wanted one of the subs. Today, I have no idea why. Still not sure it's real meat slices they put in there but back then, there was no subway so thinking it was unique, something we didn't do at home.