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

Well Kmart used to be a competitor to Wal-Mart(back when Walton was alive)
Unfortunately, they decided to go Woke instead of selling products people will buy.
In the wake of protests by gun control advocates, Kmart Corp. has said that it will stop selling...... just months before filing for bankruptcy.
WalMart ate their lunch, and Kmart had Woke issues. Sears had problems with their mall stores. Around here, we had "Western Auto" and the Sears stores were independently operated.

Sears drove out the locally owned stores(converted over to "Sears Hometown" which there are several alive today) and sold off Western Auto to Advanced Auto? Which was a problem since Western Auto stores were more of general merchandise.
 
I re-sided a rental property about five years ago and an elderly Sears rep showed up to bid. Looked like he could play Willie Lohman. Had a little beat down hat. Announced that he wouldn't be the low bidder "because Sears competes on name, not price". The other bidders available for the pre-bid meeting rolled on the ground laughing. Thank you, Eddie L. for sucking the blood out of not one but two brand names.
 
I re-sided a rental property about five years ago and an elderly Sears rep showed up to bid. Looked like he could play Willie Lohman. Had a little beat down hat. Announced that he wouldn't be the low bidder "because Sears competes on name, not price". The other bidders available for the pre-bid meeting rolled on the ground laughing. Thank you, Eddie L. for sucking the blood out of not one but two brand names.
Oddly enough, Sears will still be around for appliance repair - as A&E Repair. Almost all the appliance brands(save for Bosch/Gaggenau, Haier’s Fisher & Paykel, Thermador, Dacor, Miele, Viking and the Wolf/Sub-Zero brands) have sanctioned Sears to service their appliances - more so the Whirlpool brands.
 
+2
They had a great auto section..... Probably not as well-stocked as a "real" auto parts store, but you could get tune-up parts, shock absorbers, spark plugs, brake pads.... Probably way more that I am forgetting too.

They had a good camera department too. Tons of stuff.
And dont forget those Kraco speakers that Jason Aldean is so fond of.
 
In population dense regions any K-Mart was a cheaper store. There were two near me.
The Lodi, NJ store seemed viable though I never did anything but buy oil + filters there. It shared a wide footprint with a great A&P.
When K-Mart sputtered, the A&P chain closed. It's part of the footprint became a chain gym and an Aldi. The K-Mart 'half' stayed vacant for a year.
Then it was stripped down to its steel. The Garden Section (and then some) was framed out and the project is nearing completion as I type.
I don't know what's going in there. I assume there's a tenant as the work proceeded so fast.

The K-Mart up in Westwood/Hillsdale, NJ is still open. There's a phenomenal pizzeria in that group of stores. Its Hallmark Gold Crown store just closed. However, the ladies spa, a nail joint, a sushi place and a waxing-your bod, not a car's bod- shop remain.

In my early driving years (think K-Mart oil etc.) I always thought there was more than enough retail footage. That's why I thought stores like Rickles and Bradlee's had to be superfluous.
The idle Norwalk (CT) Drive In became the site of a Bradlee's in 1978 when I lived there. People pre-bemoaned the specter of additional traffic on the Post Road.

Besides fierce takeovers you gotta think the business model(s) were honed some as today's HD and Lowe's are broader if not better.

FYI: The 20,000+ sq.ft. Lowe's site in Ticonderoga, NY is still vacant. Get in while it's cold.
 
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...
i predict that even after these last three close, the website will still optimistically list all those other locations as being open. Ghost stores LOL.
 
A good video on them.


My local Kmart is a church and the auto section is a Line-X franchise.

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FYI: The 20,000+ sq.ft. Lowe's site in Ticonderoga, NY is still vacant. Get in while it's cold.


It might be there for some time. A lot of old business locations around here are being torn down and high density housing put up in its place.

The demand for commercial space is in the toilet.
 
I remember growing up as a kid in the 50s and the 60s in Cleveland OH....Both K Mart and Zayres were the place to go..
 
In population dense regions any K-Mart was a cheaper store. There were two near me.
The Lodi, NJ store seemed viable though I never did anything but buy oil + filters there. It shared a wide footprint with a great A&P.
When K-Mart sputtered, the A&P chain closed. It's part of the footprint became a chain gym and an Aldi. The K-Mart 'half' stayed vacant for a year.
Then it was stripped down to its steel. The Garden Section (and then some) was framed out and the project is nearing completion as I type.
I don't know what's going in there. I assume there's a tenant as the work proceeded so fast.

The K-Mart up in Westwood/Hillsdale, NJ is still open. There's a phenomenal pizzeria in that group of stores. Its Hallmark Gold Crown store just closed. However, the ladies spa, a nail joint, a sushi place and a waxing-your bod, not a car's bod- shop remain.

In my early driving years (think K-Mart oil etc.) I always thought there was more than enough retail footage. That's why I thought stores like Rickles and Bradlee's had to be superfluous.
The idle Norwalk (CT) Drive In became the site of a Bradlee's in 1978 when I lived there. People pre-bemoaned the specter of additional traffic on the Post Road.

Besides fierce takeovers you gotta think the business model(s) were honed some as today's HD and Lowe's are broader if not better.

FYI: The 20,000+ sq.ft. Lowe's site in Ticonderoga, NY is still vacant. Get in while it's cold.
The one in route 17 was neat because it had a round roof. Not sure what it was before - a Food Fair or something?

The k-mart in Belleville was the best because it kept the original old school neon sign, the green color scheme, the old in/out signs, etc.

Best run store was in East Stroudsburg, PA.
 
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.
🦘
Kmart in Australia is an Australian company, they only licensed the name and later bought the rights to it, the way they run their stores has no connection to the ones in the USA.
 
Their store locator still shows three still open in CA.
The website hasn't been updated in ages (probably nobody at corporate left to do it). There's only three left in the states (one each in NJ, FL and NY) along with six offshore locations (Guam, PR and four in the Virgin Islands).

The Miami location is supposedly getting subdivided and Kmart eventually pushed out once the center part is re-tenanted.
 
Enjoyed the OP's photos!

The last of the 3 K-Marts around my go to city only closed about 3 years ago. I hadn't been in one in many years. The familiar one to me has been vacant for many years. An area long drenched in crime that also devoured a mall and other shopping centers. I do remember the cheap auto ignition parts, etc. that they carried years ago. I knew people that would walk around in KM on a Friday night for free entertainment. Evidently that was a hot night for the blue light specials. If they scored a plastic wash basket for $1.50 it was a win.

I can't recall if K-Mart once sold firearms but all else did here. Sears, Boscov's, WM, Western Auto, even Woolworths at one time. I think I still have some .22 rimfire cartridges I bought for nearly nothing when K-mart closed out ammo.
 
Enjoyed the OP's photos!

The last of the 3 K-Marts around my go to city only closed about 3 years ago. I hadn't been in one in many years. The familiar one to me has been vacant for many years. An area long drenched in crime that also devoured a mall and other shopping centers. I do remember the cheap auto ignition parts, etc. that they carried years ago. I knew people that would walk around in KM on a Friday night for free entertainment. Evidently that was a hot night for the blue light specials. If they scored a plastic wash basket for $1.50 it was a win.

I can't recall if K-Mart once sold firearms but all else did here. Sears, Boscov's, WM, Western Auto, even Woolworths at one time. I think I still have some .22 rimfire cartridges I bought for nearly nothing when K-mart closed out ammo.

K-Mary used to sell Winchester lever action rifles. I remember living to go to the sporting goods section at the store we often went to in PA and look at them.
 
This Kmart was clean and well kept but very dated as the company stopped updating the stores many years ago.

Pharmacy was closed and sign taken down.
 
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