Only 3 Kmarts remaining in the USA and I visited a store last week

The one near me probably closed 12 years ago. A Super K-Mart. It was one that had groceries in it. So there were groceries, the regular retail, a restaurant, an auto repair/service center, and was a pretty hoppin place. It remains vacant today. The current big retailers in town built new buildings so I'd imagine there isn't much redevelopment interest in it.
 
Loved going to Kmart when we were kids, it was like a family ritual to pile everybody in the car and go shopping, my Moms favorite store, the last store to close around here was 3 yrs ago. :(
 
I grew up in my local Kmart on Southwestern Blvd. in Buffalo, NY. Was there at least 2-3 times a week from birth until we moved in 1995.
Yes! Me too at that exact store from ~1985 until it closed around 2000 or so. That was an awesome store.

Not sure if you've been back lately, but there a Lowes there now, a Tops grocery store and strip mall.

My first 'on the books' job while I was in HS was at the Valu Home Center right down the road.
 
Yes! Me too at that exact store from ~1985 until it closed around 2000 or so. That was an awesome store.

Not sure if you've been back lately, but there a Lowes there now, a Tops grocery store and strip mall.

My first 'on the books' job while I was in HS was at the Valu Home Center right down the road.

I used to take the 1988 Chevy Caprice Estate wagon and do donuts in that parking lot in the mid-90's.
I drove past it just over this past weekend when visiting friends in OP, as well as that Valu. My dad took me there ALL the time to buy hardware and building materials.

GO BILLS.
 
It is very sad to see what happened to Kmart and Sears too. My brother worked at Kmart in the home improvement department in the early 70's before he joined the Army in 1974. He was glad to be working there. Kmart and Zayre were the only department stores we had in our town until we got the Macon Mall in 1976.

I was too young to care about the low prices but I do very well remember the blue light specials and the popcorn, cashews, sub sandwiches and Icees. Also the cafeteria in back of the store had great chicken noodle soup served in a thick paper bowl.

Does anyone here remember having to ask the clerk at the layaway counter in back of the store to hit the button to unlock the bathroom door?
Sears was in a position with their catalog Department to be one of the leaders (at least in the beginning) of e-commerce. But due to missteps it never materialized.

Very sad.
 
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Remember going to a Kmart in Darwin, Australia. I told a clerk how familiar it was to shop in the store. He said it was a fine Australian company. I just had to tell him it was American and the HQ were in Oklahoma.

So much for foreign relations.
🦘


Woolworth’s is still big in Australia though I don’t know if it is the company.
 
Funny, multiple news outlets say there are only 3 in the states left, but their websites shows 3 in Cali, 2 in Florida, one in Montana, 2 i think in NJ...

We used to shop there a lot when i was young i remember blue light specials and slushee's and models...

I remember being surprised there was one open in LA (hammond i think, or maybe kenner) years ago, i thought they had all closed then... for the longest time my hometown had a distribution center, but no actual Kmart... LOL.
 
Worked in the auto dept at Kmart when I was about 19. Hixon Pike, TN.

I was standing at our register when a woman came up and asked for help getting spark plugs. Asked her if she knew the year and model of her car.
She said her husband had taken one out of their car, and she had it in her purse. I asked if I could see it.

She VERY carefully started to take it out of her purse. It was kinda obvious she was scared of it. It was wrapped in a kleenex or something. Thought that maybe it was still warm from the engine or dirty or something.

I asked her to give it to me. She said, "Oh, be careful! My husband said if you touch both ends at the same time you'll get a bad shock."

Bet he was laughing his a$h off at home. :sneaky:
 
Kmart even had their own branded oil filters. Some people sell them on eBay.

I don‘t know who made Kmart oil filters.

This last Kmart I visited only had a few automotive items not even worth taking a photo of.
At one time, the Kmart filters were made by Purolator.
Once, around 1990, when Purolator was a subsidiary of Pennzoil, we had a few cases of filters packaged as Pennzoil that were painted as Kmart. Oops. They ended up being given away to good customers and friends.
 
Funny, multiple news outlets say there are only 3 in the states left, but their websites shows 3 in Cali, 2 in Florida, one in Montana, 2 i think in NJ...

We used to shop there a lot when i was young i remember blue light specials and slushee's and models...

I remember being surprised there was one open in LA (hammond i think, or maybe kenner) years ago, i thought they had all closed then... for the longest time my hometown had a distribution center, but no actual Kmart... LOL.


 
Eddie Lampert intentionally looted Sears/Kmart for the real estate. Kmart's decline is the point for him. :mad:
:devilish::poop:
You are spot on. The entire process with ELJ (Eddie JR) and a New York BK judge is why Kmart is toast. When Kmart went into bankruptcy, it actually had a very positive net worth. ELJ had the BK process go through a NYC/ Long Island BL judge which stripped the Kmart shareholders of the value of their shares, and awarded it to ELJ. Am example of this same thing was American Airlines BK OOA 2014. AA had a positive net worth while in BK, and the shareholders of AA were given shares in the newly organized AA. In Kmart's case, all that positive net worth went to ELJ.

If one ever gets bored- google corporate BK judge shopping. It happens all the time, and is unbelievable.
 
Woolworth’s is still big in Australia though I don’t know if it is the company.
According to wiki its not the same company
The similarly named Woolworths supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand are operated by Australia's largest retail company, Woolworths Group, a separate company with no historical links to the F. W. Woolworth Company or Foot Locker, Inc. However, Woolworths Limited did take their name from the original company, as it had not been registered or trademarked in Australia at the time
 
Kmart was an absolute giant for a long time. Who here remembers the Kmart oil clearance frenzy that went on about 2011? It was well documented here on BITOG and was an early E-sport I think! I got so many oil jugs for ridiculous prices I ended up giving some away to relatives I couldn't get through it all.

I never cared for Sears until I owned my own home, at which time I became quite a fan.

Our kitchen table and chairs we still use daily came from Montgomery Wards, still going strong.
 
I used to buy those little green Army men from KMart and Woolworths. The plastic had a distinctive smell when the bag was first opened. Ohh the memories....well good riddance to those memories..lol.
I remember we had a Woolworth/Woolco and a TG&Y across the mall. We used to make army camps in the woods with sticks, rocks, and those toy army men and use our Hot Wheels cars as army tanks (y)
 
I remember getting a pair of Mura headphones from Kmart that I loved. Had a pair of imitation Tuff Wheels (I think they were called Empire) that were total junk. I remember riding down the street and seeing all the ball bearings rolling past me on the ground haha! I had them on my Schwinn Stingray:D
 
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