One of the KMarts local to me used to be a Super K Mart, but they took the grocery part out. And when I say 'taken out', they've just blocked off that store section and hung a sign that says "Store ends here". Stay Klassy, KMart.
Wow! Would love to see some picture of that. If you are on twitter and ever do take pics let me know, I always retweet pics of that kind of stuff. Thanks for watching!
WickedWonder1979 yeah my local K-mart did the same thing. But now it's closing and the part that was blocked off you can see the difference. The floor looks different from the part we can see. The walls from the blocked off part of Kmart are also different. Brought back memories cause my mom would buy meat there. Very cool to see
Retail Archaeology If I ever mosey back that way (it's across town for me) I certainly will take pics! It's been a while since i've seen it, maybe it's been improved!
Retail Archaeology wow the kmart where I work at it my home County looks a lot better than that one and our garden center is still open as well we only sell name brand television sets! and is still operating fairly well!
If you haven't already, check out This is Dan Bell. He does Dead Malls and other dead/abandoned places on his two channels. His Another Dirty Room series is also great.
The two Kmarts around me appear to be doing better. Both used to be absolutely disgusting, but about a year ago things started to get better. Now, they are much cleaner, the decor is somewhat better, and they are actually busy. Hope they survive, I love their SYW program.
For at least ten years, the K-marts I've gone to in Colorado and New Mexico have been like a ghost town. Even if there are a few customers, you can't get ANY help from the employees. There's usually only two: One in customer service, and one on register 1, and their mission in life seems to be to talk to each other. Don't expect any help in any department anywhere in the store.
Anton Nym I have filmed several Kmarts where I live at in Southwest Ohio and many of them are like morgues. What few Kmart employees that you see are always very depressed
Just found out it's been closed recently. I didn't even get to say goodbye one last time. :( That store used to be nostalgia overload. It would give me head tingles just walking through it.
Our Kmart Closed last year. and the building sat empty for some time then a Rural King took it over and is once again the Building is being used good to see that happen
The one in Lebanon is still open...for now. No idea how it stays open. If Walmart ever finally decides to build a store on that side of town, that should be the final nail in the coffin.
scwxman my family always went christmas shopping at the one in cool Springs til 2011. easily able to get attached to stores when you have traditions with them. sad to see them go in a way
Trigger Happy Guns it's not really fair to blame the internet. Kmart, Sears and all the stores that are going under have online stores as well, so they had their chance to compete and didn't.
Love those old Commercials! Thankyou for yet another great Video! We had a Kmart in Lawrence MA that closed down in the early80s, turned into a Stuart's in the mid 80s, then turned into an Ames in the late 80s to early 90s, than closed and now it's a Dollar Store and part of it is a Marshall's now. I miss the Kmart, Ames and Bradlees Stores. They were great to shop in and the Prices, Staff and the Stores were always Top Notch! I also miss the Methuen Mall that went dead in the early to mid 90s and by the late 90s had closed and was demolished by 2000 which by then turned into where Wal Mart and the Loop are! Thankyou again for another awesome Video! It brought back alot of fond Memories of Saturdays going shopping at Kmart and blowing half of my first Job's Paycheck when my Daughter and Son were little.
Kmart in Australia was exactly the same until a few years ago. New CEO came in and changed it to "cheap and cheerful". Now Kmart is one of the busiest stores around and other department stores liked BigW and Target are suffering. Its amazing how an update and change of image helps a business.
A little updating and sprucing up would probably go a long way here. I'm sure more people would shop there if they could make it look just a little better than Walmart. Thanks for watching!
Too bad Kmart in the USA doesn’t have the same great ideas as the new CEOs in Australia if they did many would probably still be around instead of having to close down many of them
Interesting side note. They've actually started remodeling a few stores over the past month, and I will say the new style looks fantastic. I hope they roll it out nationally
I used to work at a Kmart that's now closed. customers used to open packages especially underwear and we were told to tape them back up and hang them on the racks again. If some of the underwear had been taken out we were told to tag each individual underwear with a 1 dollars price tag and through them in a bin to be sold. it was a damn mess.
A couple of hours ago, a Kmart closed in Cudahy, California. It didn't seem like an underperforming store. It had a good location. But a few blocks away, Marshall's, Ross, and Wal-Mart had moved in, which probably led to its demise. It was a sad day today.
My local Kmart (which I work at) has escaped the Retail Apocalypse fairly unscathed, but that's mostly because the only other comparable retail locations are a Giant Eagles and a Marc's. We get a decent amount of customers only because there isn't many other options. That won't last long, consider how many customers look for things we don't even carry. Also, a retail complex is being built nearby, and by the looks of it seems to be a Target or other store of comparable quality. When that thing is finished, we're done. No doubt about it.
Kmarts are closing all over. Malls are going away. Rents are too expensive. I went to a McDonalds and asked for a mcwhopper! They all laughed at me. Still, things are so bad where I live that restaurants are closing down now. Last year we had the first closing of a grocery.
When you look at this Kmart compared to the last 4 in the u.s. and this Kmart looks like a completely different with actual stocked shelf’s, no block off areas, more of less feels modern, and looks overall clean besides the little Caesars which looks like a out house.
Obviously this thread is old but my hometown in the Midwest had a Kmart with a little Caesar's years ago so not just a regional thing. Granted it closed when Wal-Mart showed up in town probably 20 years ago.
I will say from my experience working at Walmart that the reason the garden area is full of trailers is most likely for holiday layaway storage. Also, keep in mind that garden supplies are seasonal, so that's why you won't find much out there anyway. Since that area is generally used for storage during the winter, the leftover garden supplies should be accessible right outside the doors. The two Walmarts I worked at both had somewhat messy garden centers during the holiday season. I do miss the heyday of Kmart. Used to go there tons as a kid in the late 80s/early 90s. Used to love going to the cafe in the back of the store (before they began incorporating chains like Little Caesars toward the right end of the stores).
My local Kmart in Florida is basically the same. It looks dirty and the formerly white decor is all beige now. The electronics section is basically gone. They never did have much selection after 1999. The Little Caesar's place looks exactly like yours. I remember mine used to have a dark blue color scheme until they made it white in the late 90s. And all the sections feel incredibly cramped. I have to squeeze my way through the clothing sections. Even the ceiling feels unusually low for a department store, especially now that I've grown up so tall.
Very well done. I like the way you go slowly, especially when you point out things in the past. I feel sad when I see those old Kmart ads. It really emphasizes the contrast of how it used to be and the overall decline today. The Kmart near me is on the list to close this year-2017.
I see a pattern here: every time one of these chains stops selling video games and consoles, the customers stop coming and the quality starts to suffer.
The last KMart in my community in South Carolina has announced they are going out of business. The Sears in North Charleston just closed. We have one in Charleston that is hanging on by a thread and we have a Sears Outlet that gets precious little foot traffic. The chain is dying a slow death. Amazing when you consider how Sears was the biggest retailer on Earth less than 30 years ago.
My local Kmart was dying for 20 years and closed March 2017.Old business model + old technology + no inventory + outdated look never kept up = death to a store.
I think you're right, but I think the decline that started in the 90s was regional. Kmart was still looking and doing fairly decent where I grew up in the 90s. Thanks for watching!
+ReviewsTechNow I doubt Sears and Kmart would be in better shape. Both have made major blunders and Lampert's mismanagement has not helped. He wants to slowly liquidate their assets for his own benefit.
Great video, I have worked for kmart for over 20 years, and found out 3 weeks ago my store is closing and will be losing my job in April, this will be my third kmart I have worked at is now closing. in my book the only place you can blame for us going out of buisness is Kmart, and the greedy CEOs.
mike wilson Blame Lampert and the old grandpas of Sears Holdings. I was pissed at Walmart even more when they got rid of Layaway only to bring it back only for the holidays. Christmas is the most overrated holiday ever as I wish Walmart can fired that current and greedy CEO and bring back Layaway and made it as a permanent comeback as a Ross is going to Open in Carlsbad,New Mexico in Spring 2017.
Anton Nym not surprising. Companies tend hire "familiar faces" or famous people in general people can recognize and identify in order to bring customers in. A lot of people will assume "oh this famous person did an ad for this company, the company must be good and sell great products so I'll shop there too..!"
Retail Archaeology The last time I went to the Metro Mall Kmart in Queens where I used to live, which was around late '08, early '09, I vividly remember there still being Dreamcast games. Wish I could go back, even for just a while. The Kmart in Wayne, NJ is holding on ok. I go there often just to snag a few deals and buy crap. The electronics section is dead, all they sell are off brand TV sets and old DVDs, printer cartridges and obsolete a/v equipment. Clothing section is still acceptable, sporting goods is dead in the water and badly stocked. On Black Friday all discs were a buck a pop, got a blu-ray for a buck. I think the only hope now for Kmart and Sears is to drop the prices to sub-Walmart level, possibly bring back video games best. They should make huge blowout savings deals, push out old inventory that's been sitting for years and pray. I hope the company doesn't go under. While I lived in Europe, many of my beloved retailers left and I never got to say goodbye.
Dude, I live in Maspeth and used to go to the Metro Mall KMart from when I was little up until they closed their pharmacy in 2016 (which was the last reason I had to regularly go there). I was in there a month or two ago for old times' sake and it's the same as it was 2 years ago, which is to say very dirty and extremely desolate. It was also sad seeing the Toys R Us across from it boarded up.
And my old roommate Chris used to always stop at that store to pick up a Little Caesar's pizza on his way home from work when we lived near Power and Guadalupe. Then I told him there's been one at Power and Baseline all this time.
Kmart mindset- In case you aren't sure if you're in the the electronics department we've placed a second "electronics" sign over the old "electronics" sign to help prevent further confusion. Yes you are in the electronics department. Thank you for shopping at Kmart.
Great job! Our KMart snack bar in Somerset, Ky never converted to a Little Caesar's though they did sell the crazy bread. Unfortunately they closed the snack bar about six years ago to expand the girls' department.
Thank you! The Kmart I showed being torn down/redeveloped had a cafeteria in it when I was a kid. I remember get a really good grilled cheese sandwich there. Thanks for watching!
For some one like me that appreciates nostalgia ...your vids are a heaven send. Also the Martha commercial made me laugh out loud! Thanks man, your hard work is greatly appreciated my friend!
that's why i never go to K-mart, it's funny how everyone blames amazon for puttingt companies under and don't look at the state of the companies themselves, you don't compete you lose, K-mart hadn't updated 15 years prior to it's bankruptcy, not because amazon offers free shipping
Great video! I used to shop in the shopping center this K Mart is in all the time. I have never stepped foot inside the store and could only look from afar. Even on busy shopping days, the parking lot is never full.
I hated Kmart back when my grandmother dragged us kids there in the 70's and I'll not shed a tear when they're all gone. Dirty, dingy and they all had that weird smell. And of coarse the toothless unwashed dregs at the checkout counters that couldn't even muster a "thank you" when you paid. Good riddance to that place.
I like their Deals Flash specials, but everything else you mentioned remains true. Not even a thank you for giving them your dollars. I will miss these stores though.
I feel for anyone who depends on Kmart for employment. They have to sense the end is near. Sad really. Everyone knew Kmart and grew up with one near them. It was a monthly trip with my mom back in the 80s. There's one still holding on to life down the road from me. The best way to describe the entire company now; its as if sometime in the late 90s management said F it and let the stores go. Dated looks. Dirty floors. Worn old tiles. Under stocked shelves. Still playing hits from the 80s on the PA system. Yup...a blast from the past in all the worst ways.
This is actually one of the few stores that's completely remodeled with the latest signage. Most stores have the old 90s "Big K" signage. I was also surprised to see the Little Ceasers actually open!
I went to this Kmart yesterday. You need to do another video. They look like they are going out of business. Inventory blowout 10-30% off of pretty much everything.
It's sad to see that Kmart was actually doing quite well a few decades ago before it fell into the arms of Sears. I think Kmart has some potential for a turnaround...all it needs is motivated top management and investment to turn things around. Sears on the other hand is now mostly an appliance and hardware store. Thanks for posting this. It reminded me of the Kmart in my town that shut last year back in October.
These are great videos. I've just become fascinated with Retail's forced changed here in the US (from the changing industry and the rise of the internet/returning to village shops, etc.). Sears' CEO's hot mess of a leadership has led me to your videos. Thanks for taking to do this.
it's a shame the brand is being snuffed out and I lost 2 Kmart stores near me in less than 3 years (Newport News being dropped in 2013 and Hampton got killed earlier in the year)
Retail Archaeology My Mother in Law managed the Kmart at I17 and Northern in Phoenix. she retired from that store after 37 years with Kmart. I believe that store is still open.
There used to be a big KMart in a stripmall by the 224 Expressway and I205, in the 90s it did ok but starting in 2000 it nosedived pretty hard, taking the other store in the strip mall down with it. Eventually they both closed and a couple of years ago the whole thing was turned into a CarMax superstore. Glad that brought some life back to the area.
I went into the local K-mart a few miles from where I live six months before they closed up. The grocery section had things that had been sitting so long they were out of date. No one shopped there anymore. You could tell that twenty years ago it was a huge shopping destination but that it had not been for many, many years. The next closest K-mart was thirty miles away and before they closed the roof was leaking so badly that there were buckets all over the floor when it rained.
my kmart got rid of it's cafeteria back in 2013. They literally left the tables and chairs and everything out. But blocked the counter with a huge shelf full of back to school clothes. You can literally walk to the corner of the shelf and see the whole ordering counter and old menu and everything. They don't even have that part of the store lit anymore. I remember being like 7 or 8 back in the mid 2000s and being with my grandma and great aunt in the cafeteria. We'd always order pretzels. It kind of sucks to see kmart slowly fading away. It was a huge part of my childhood. I think if they would have changed things up, they wouldn't have failed so miserably. I still go to mine. Though all the rest in my city are closed. It honestly has looked the same for as long as I can remember. It gets dull and kind of odd. All I see shopping their is older people. Usually 60-70. But I barely see that anymore. And NOT EVEN JOKING all the people who worked there back in the day still work there. Which adds to the "nothing has changed at all". I find it eerie.
There were a some associate walking around and doing some stocking and stuff. I had to film when they weren't looking though which is why you don't see any of them :-) Thanks for watching!
Most of the time when a KMart store closes these days, the announcements say between 50 and 80 people out of work. A typical Walmart store is staffed with 280 (average) per store or Target at about 200. So, it would probably be rare to run into a KMart associate unless you really tried.
We used to go to Kmart all the time. We used to go to the one at Lindsey and Main, which closed last year. Also went to Dobson and Broadway. Remember the old cafe and the ice cream/snack counter near the front? Superstition Kmart has never been remodeled to my recollection. That one had a convenience store area immediately to the right when you first walk in.
That area that was a convenience store area is now a "Team Shop" area. They have jerseys and merch for all the local sports teams. They also had some stuff for other teams that are popular in the Phoenix area like the Cubs and Cowboys. You can catch a glimpse of it at 6:43 in the video to the left of the entrance/exit doors.
I used to buy all my CDs at my local kmart since wally world refused to sell the ones with explicit lyrics. The CD rack was protected by this Plexiglas shield that had holes just big enough for you to stick your hands through to browse but a CD wouldn’t fit through them so you had to get the electronics person to open it for you and you had to pay for it right then. Memories
I worked at Kmart until it closed in 2014. To give an idea how outdated it was, the video game demo setup in the electronics dept was still a GameCube and an Xbox that didn't even work. The GameCube was hooked up to an old faded out CRT TV
I used to work at Kmart 2011-13 (loved it) I remember one time my store had a product, it was a first gen iPod player for your car. It was dated 2006 and they wanted $60 for it. The box was ratty and taped up. One other time they found some old VHS movies up in storage one was a HBO special of how jay leno got the tonight show and the rest were about race car drivers educating the pubic on driving. They rang out no price so I stuck a nickel tag on them and sold every one of them.
The Kmarts in my area (South Florida) have very large garden centers. Although they seem to do better business than this one they do need an updating tho. An inexpensive coat of a color on the walls would go a long way. Kmart needs to put up a better fight if they ever want to be relevant again.
They know their own company is dying. They can't afford good employees, from cashiers to CEO's. If you have any skill you'll work elsewhere. It used to be a great store but now it's a sub par store run by sub par people and it's going to die.
Kip Paseo the problem with that is the corporation doesn't have the money to do so. They bearly have enough money keeping there buisness alive as it is. Your right though they need an update and any money they make they should use to update.
They allow customers in the garden center looking like that in the hopes that someone will hurt themselves and sue them so they can finally close the damn store! Our Kmart is still open, I go in about once a month to see what else has been put on clearance. Sadly, nothing to replace the clearance, I'm pretty certain ours will be the next to get the axe because there's less and less product every few months. It's only a matter of time.
Wow! As a kid I remember going to this location when it first opened. I bet it's been 10 years since I shopped at a Kmart. Great video! Brought back a lot of great memories.
It' had probably been 10 years or longer since I was in a Kmart too before I started working on this video. I have lot of memories going there as a kid. Thanks for watching!
The Mesa Kmart amazes me. It’s been my neighborhood Kmart forever and it manages to stay open this long. It also doesn’t help that it shares a parking lot with a Target.
My local K-Mart closed last month. The store was considered one of the underperforming stores that was announced to close back in January. It's a real shame to me because it was the only place where I bought my jeans and it was rare to find my size. It's a good thing I found two pairs before the closing sale started. I know when they wear out, I'm gonna have to drive an hour to the nearest K-Mart to get some more.
we're here in the Syracuse New York area still have two Kmart and one remaining Pharmacy. Mattydale and Liverpool. Mattydale which doesn't have a garden center opted to have a pharmacy because they're in a strip mall but they're in the middle of the strip mall and don't have room for a Garden Center so they decided to put the pizza shop and the pharmacy instead. Sadly they no longer sell pizza at Kmart. They walled off the pizza counter and took away the tables but they haven't wasted that space they still sell things out of that space sometimes summer clothes and put their clearance items that they might have and put their Christmas display over there because that are has electricity but they no longer sell pizza. The Liverpool location just like your location doesn't have a functioning Garden Center anymore they closed it down but the funny part was they put a garden gnome a grumpy old garden gnome with a go away sign in his hand Guardian the former Garden Center and they have a sign saying this area is closed employees only so I do think they're using it for storage now. Mattydale have to compete with Rite Aid Pharmacy up the street so who knows how long the former Kmart Pharmacy will be around. more and more people will go to Rite Aid instead of Kmart because there are not too many Kmart pharmacy left in the world. both the Kmarts are in a strip mall but Liverpool happens to be on the end of the strip mall so it was able to put in a garden center but never put in a pharmacy. they had an electronic in Liverpool but they got rid of it. They only sell cell phones and video games and TVs.
My local Kmart is still up and running! I remember when I would stay with my grandparents and my grandma would take me to Kmart so she could pick up the blue light specials.
Attention Kmart shoppers: Here are some countries where Kmart once existed: * Kmart Canada (Kmart closed their Canadian stores in 1997, most locations were sold to Zellers.) * Kmart Czech Republic/Slovakia (Kmart opened stores in both of those countries in former Maj department stores. The American Kmart Corporation's financial troubles caught up with them in the mid-1990s, causing them to sell their Czech/Slovak stores to Tesco.) * Super Kmart Mexico (Super Kmart Mexico was a joint venture between the U.S. Kmart Corporation and the Mexican Liverpool department store chain. Super Kmart opened a few stores in Mexico City suburbs, but they didn't last. They were later sold to the Mexican hypermarket chain Mega, a division of the Commercial Mexicana hypermarket chain.) * Kmart Caribbean (Kmart had plans to expand into the Caribbean, but those plans were scrapped in 2001.) Here are some countries where Kmart still exists: * Kmart United States (The American Kmart chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002, from which they emerged in 2005. Kmart U.S. is now owned by Sears Holdings Corp. of Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Their future is hanging by a thread alongside their sister store, Sears.) * Kmart Australia/New Zealand (Kmart Australia/New Zealand was once half owned by the S.S. Kresge Co./Kmart Corp. of The United States and G.J. Coles & Coy of Australia. In 1994, Coles bought back all shares of Kmart Australia not owned by them from Kmart Corporation in the United States. Kmart Australia/New Zealand is now owned by Wesfarmers Limited, and is doing way better than the Kmart stores in the United States.)
I see that I posted about a Walmart near me being remodeled again. As for Kmart, the one in Willow Grove closed the same time as the one in this video, November 2017. Philadelphia local bus company SEPTA's route 55 bus to Doylestown stops right across from this now-vacant store, also serving a huge shopping mall on the other side of the bus stop. The Doylestown terminus is right in front of another Kmart, which was still open as of mid-January 2018.
So true about Kmart. I remember about 8 years ago seeing a Kmart and saying "Who shops here anymore? This place hasn't been relevant since the early 90s" I don't think there are any Kmart locations where I live but I have to check
I used to have a Kmart here in Carlsbad,NM where I live. I brought Tiny Toons Adventures:Buster Busts Loose,Sunset Riders and Mega Man:Dr. Wily's Revenge on the SNES and Game Boy as I always see consoles and games in a glass display. As Walmart announced they're going to build a Supercenter and by 1998 WalMart Supercenter has open and my Kmart was struggling and struggling and by 2002 Kmart filed for bankruptcy and began shutting down stores mostly because of Walmart and online shopping sites like Amazon and when Kmart merged with Sears they tried to keep their stores open but it didn't work as not only Kmarts and closing but Sears are closing as well save one which is my Sears Home Town store which is not closing. The reason why Sears are closing is because of competition with Lowes and The Home Depot not to mention Aaron's and Rent A Center. Radio Shack went down the same path too as they went bankrupt in 2015 but emerged out of bankruptcy as they've merged with Sprint and close down the underperforming stores and sold some stores to Sprint while keeping most of them open and brought back Tandy and Realistic. Artesia Kmart closed Last Year as my mom,my sister and brother in law went I too went there they stopped selling video games as they sell Kenmore Appliances and mattresses and those tacky John Cena t-shirts which didn't sell and WWE was pissed they pulled out because they fed up with Sears Holdings's shit they gave up and switched to JCPenny which also shutting down stores as more people wants to shop online at the comfort of their own home.
Kmart's used to have room in the aisles, but they had to add so much more to their inventory, and didn't expand the stores, the one in Omaha you can't walk between to clothing racks and not bump something off the hangers.
I'm from Perth Australia and I have yet to find a Kmart which is quiet because they are always busy. The quality of goods are within reason and always at a reasonable price. Back in 1979, I bought a socket set from Kmart and I still use it today. The only difference is that it is not made in China but in the USA.
My stepdad calls Kmart "Kame Apart" because everything he bought at Kmart for all the times he used to go there was so cheap and low quality, they broke after he used them. The Kmarts in my city were around for only four years (1998-2002) and before then it was the only metropolitan area without a single Kmart. At one of the old Kmarts, Target opened in its place lol.
As an Ex Employee. Garden area is Flex area for Christmas. Usually in late February they will be restocking the garden centers. But I Hear Kmart may be on its last legs and may be lucky to make it till spring. Enjoy your videos.
If they make it to spring I'll have to go do a follow up and see what it looks like. Also, if you've got any interesting stories to share as an ex employee please feel free to share them on the discussion tab on my channel page. I'm sure other viewers would love to hear them too! Thanks for watching!
Kmarts here in Puerto Rico are doing alright. They have the same dated interiors as the one in the video, but the stores are organized and kept up. And there are always people, though nowhere near the amount of customers Walmart gets. If Target ever opens up here, then our Kmarts will be as sad as the ones on the mainland. That is if Sears doesn't die first.
Back in the day when Little Ceasers tasted decent (and you got two pizzas) we would always order from them. My mom and I would shop while the pizza was cooking. That was before it was the "hot n ready" garbage of today.
We had a stand alone Little Ceasars we used to get pizza from when I was a kid and I do remember it being decent. Not the best pizza in the world but pretty decent. I had a slice while I was there filming so I had an excuse to sit in there and film. The pizza tasted like sadness.
So amazing that here in Australia Kmarts are so packed and busy there are checkout lines on weekends going out through the back of the store. I don't know why this is happening here, but I do know that the stores out compete any Target, Big W, and TKMax around because of pricing and great store merchandising ☺.
This brought back a lot of memories of me as a little kid in the early 90s going to K Mart, it was over in Florida though and around the Pinellas County area. I remember when it closed, then Sears bought it and it reopened as a Super K Mart. Not sure what it is now or if the building is still even there. Thanks for filming and uploading this, retail archaeology is so fascinating to me and I love studying it too!
We still have a Kmart here but it is definitely declining, and the only reason ours is open and others have closed in the area is because it's right off one of the interstate exits. I used to go there around 2009-10 to buy very cheap video games (bought some really good gems) and their toy collection was actually pretty decent. But then all of a sudden it kinda started going south recently... they don't even sell games any more, it's normally not kept up very well... honestly if it closes soon, i wouldn't be surprised.
There are almost no remaining Kmart stores left in l.a. proper (the last two nearest ones are pretty close), as most were shut down around 2003. Target has more than filled the gap with up to ten stores within a ten Mile radius. Where I live, opposition to Walmart is rather strong.
I live in Miami, FL. Interestingly enough, the Kmart by my house gets pretty busy most of the time. I've even gone there from time to time recently to buy specific things. My Kmart is well stocked and the most of the stuff isn't outdated. But Kmarts will obviously vary by location...just thought it was interesting to share.
K Mart is really big in my country. It used to sell the same type of stuff as the US, but it has since changed the types of products it sells, and it is selling them at prices other retailers can't match..
This K-Mart is located in the same complex as a Target (just across the corner). I would imagine that alone is a big reason why this K-Mart is devoid of customers. This seems to be one of the newer K-Marts, constructed about 1994-1997, at the same time the entire complex (and Target) were constructed. I still cannot fully understand how two direct competitors were allowed to be in the same complex. Perhaps Target saw opportunity in the K-Mart coming in and Target chose to come in as well, when it was too late for K-Mart to leave (as construction already started)?
Our Kmarts (in my part of CA at least) never had food courts or Little Caesar's...it's amazing to me to see something like that in a Kmart, considering Kmart's been on life support for at least 15 years it seems
we used to to shop at Kmart on weekends. lots of action going on back then in the early 90's They closed that store over 10 years ago. life goes but memories stay.
One of the KMarts local to me used to be a Super K Mart, but they took the grocery part out. And when I say 'taken out', they've just blocked off that store section and hung a sign that says "Store ends here". Stay Klassy, KMart.
Wow! Would love to see some picture of that. If you are on twitter and ever do take pics let me know, I always retweet pics of that kind of stuff. Thanks for watching!
WickedWonder1979 yeah my local K-mart did the same thing. But now it's closing and the part that was blocked off you can see the difference. The floor looks different from the part we can see. The walls from the blocked off part of Kmart are also different. Brought back memories cause my mom would buy meat there. Very cool to see
WickedWonder1979 is the power still on that section and totally unprofessional the way it sounds
Retail Archaeology If I ever mosey back that way (it's across town for me) I certainly will take pics! It's been a while since i've seen it, maybe it's been improved!
i still have a busy Kmart in Sacramento, CA. it still has the building fixtures from 1963 but with the current logo slapped on top.
My mom got me a Sega Genesis at a Kmart in the Chicago Suburbs in the middle of a snowstorm. Made my year.
I got a Sega Genesis for Christmas and I'm 95% sure my Dad bought it at Kmart. Thanks for watching!
Retail Archaeology wow the kmart where I work at it my home County looks a lot better than that one and our garden center is still open as well we only sell name brand television sets! and is still operating fairly well!
My parents bought us a Super Nintendo from Kmart. It was awesome!
As someone who can't get enough of Dead Mall/Retail videos, keep up the good work man.
Thank you and thanks for watching!
If you haven't already, check out This is Dan Bell. He does Dead Malls and other dead/abandoned places on his two channels. His Another Dirty Room series is also great.
The two Kmarts around me appear to be doing better. Both used to be absolutely disgusting, but about a year ago things started to get better. Now, they are much cleaner, the decor is somewhat better, and they are actually busy. Hope they survive, I love their SYW program.
For at least ten years, the K-marts I've gone to in Colorado and New Mexico have been like a ghost town. Even if there are a few customers, you can't get ANY help from the employees. There's usually only two: One in customer service, and one on register 1, and their mission in life seems to be to talk to each other. Don't expect any help in any department anywhere in the store.
Anton Nym I have filmed several Kmarts where I live at in Southwest Ohio and many of them are like morgues. What few Kmart employees that you see are always very depressed
oh man, I have to film the K Mart in East Nashville when I get a chance. It's right out of the 80s with pastel graphics all over the walls!
Do it! I love when stuff still has 80s and 90s decor and would love to see it! Anyone can be a Retail Archaeologist :-)
Just found out it's been closed recently. I didn't even get to say goodbye one last time. :(
That store used to be nostalgia overload. It would give me head tingles just walking through it.
Our Kmart Closed last year. and the building sat empty for some time then a Rural King took it over and is once again the Building is being used good to see that happen
The one in Lebanon is still open...for now. No idea how it stays open. If Walmart ever finally decides to build a store on that side of town, that should be the final nail in the coffin.
scwxman my family always went christmas shopping at the one in cool Springs til 2011. easily able to get attached to stores when you have traditions with them. sad to see them go in a way
It's kind of sad what walmart and the internet has done to so many other retailers, especially small mom and pop retailers.
I just posted video about another retailer in trouble partly caused by Walmart and the internet. Thanks for watching!
The internet killed all retail.
Walmart only killed big box stores.
TableWrens Walmart kills all surrounding retail stores.
Trigger Happy Guns it's not really fair to blame the internet. Kmart, Sears and all the stores that are going under have online stores as well, so they had their chance to compete and didn't.
Yes, it's a shame that a multi billion dollar company couldn't figure out e-commerce.
I come back and watch this every few years. I can still smell the inside of this store
Love those old Commercials! Thankyou for yet another great Video! We had a Kmart in Lawrence MA that closed down in the early80s, turned into a Stuart's in the mid 80s, then turned into an Ames in the late 80s to early 90s, than closed and now it's a Dollar Store and part of it is a Marshall's now. I miss the Kmart, Ames and Bradlees Stores. They were great to shop in and the Prices, Staff and the Stores were always Top Notch! I also miss the Methuen Mall that went dead in the early to mid 90s and by the late 90s had closed and was demolished by 2000 which by then turned into where Wal Mart and the Loop are! Thankyou again for another awesome Video! It brought back alot of fond Memories of Saturdays going shopping at Kmart and blowing half of my first Job's Paycheck when my Daughter and Son were little.
Kmart in Australia was exactly the same until a few years ago. New CEO came in and changed it to "cheap and cheerful". Now Kmart is one of the busiest stores around and other department stores liked BigW and Target are suffering. Its amazing how an update and change of image helps a business.
A little updating and sprucing up would probably go a long way here. I'm sure more people would shop there if they could make it look just a little better than Walmart. Thanks for watching!
I visited Australia last December and saw some Kmarts, but didn't visit one.
Too bad Kmart in the USA doesn’t have the same great ideas as the new CEOs in Australia if they did many would probably still be around instead of having to close down many of them
Interesting side note. They've actually started remodeling a few stores over the past month, and I will say the new style looks fantastic. I hope they roll it out nationally
Where at?
Considering there a now 3 left I think they abandoned that unfortunately...
I used to work at a Kmart that's now closed. customers used to open packages especially underwear and we were told to tape them back up and hang them on the racks again. If some of the underwear had been taken out we were told to tag each individual underwear with a 1 dollars price tag and through them in a bin to be sold. it was a damn mess.
A couple of hours ago, a Kmart closed in Cudahy, California. It didn't seem like an underperforming store. It had a good location. But a few blocks away, Marshall's, Ross, and Wal-Mart had moved in, which probably led to its demise. It was a sad day today.
My local Kmart (which I work at) has escaped the Retail Apocalypse fairly unscathed, but that's mostly because the only other comparable retail locations are a Giant Eagles and a Marc's. We get a decent amount of customers only because there isn't many other options. That won't last long, consider how many customers look for things we don't even carry. Also, a retail complex is being built nearby, and by the looks of it seems to be a Target or other store of comparable quality. When that thing is finished, we're done. No doubt about it.
Kmarts are closing all over. Malls are going away. Rents are too expensive. I went to a McDonalds and asked for a mcwhopper! They all laughed at me. Still, things are so bad where I live that restaurants are closing down now. Last year we had the first closing of a grocery.
When you look at this Kmart compared to the last 4 in the u.s. and this Kmart looks like a completely different with actual stocked shelf’s, no block off areas, more of less feels modern, and looks overall clean besides the little Caesars which looks like a out house.
im surprised i still have a local one of these still open and "surviving"
BuschWhacker Reviews same here.
Excellent job on these videos, man :D
Also been to countless K-Mart stores and this is the first I've seen with a Little Caesars in it!
Huh, I thought Little Caesars in Kmart was a national thing, maybe it's only regional :-) Thanks for watching!
Retail Archaeology - Martinsburg, WV has a Little Ceaser's in a KMart. You're in AZ, right? I think it is national, just spotted.
Retail Archaeology I remember Little Caesars in Kmart in Bakersfield. The Taft location had a cafe and they took it out to expand the baby section.
Obviously this thread is old but my hometown in the Midwest had a Kmart with a little Caesar's years ago so not just a regional thing. Granted it closed when Wal-Mart showed up in town probably 20 years ago.
I will say from my experience working at Walmart that the reason the garden area is full of trailers is most likely for holiday layaway storage. Also, keep in mind that garden supplies are seasonal, so that's why you won't find much out there anyway. Since that area is generally used for storage during the winter, the leftover garden supplies should be accessible right outside the doors. The two Walmarts I worked at both had somewhat messy garden centers during the holiday season.
I do miss the heyday of Kmart. Used to go there tons as a kid in the late 80s/early 90s. Used to love going to the cafe in the back of the store (before they began incorporating chains like Little Caesars toward the right end of the stores).
My local Kmart in Florida is basically the same. It looks dirty and the formerly white decor is all beige now. The electronics section is basically gone. They never did have much selection after 1999. The Little Caesar's place looks exactly like yours. I remember mine used to have a dark blue color scheme until they made it white in the late 90s.
And all the sections feel incredibly cramped. I have to squeeze my way through the clothing sections. Even the ceiling feels unusually low for a department store, especially now that I've grown up so tall.
Very well done. I like the way you go slowly, especially when you point out things in the past. I feel sad when I see those old Kmart ads. It really emphasizes the contrast of how it used to be and the overall decline today. The Kmart near me is on the list to close this year-2017.
Surprisingly none of the Kmarts near me are on the list. I have a similar video on about Sears on my channel :-) Thanks for watching!
That 1600 Kmarts from like 1980 went to 941 in 2016 to now almost 28 left in whole USA it’s sad to see an icon like this go
I still remember the last thing I got from Kmart... WWF smackdown for the ps1 on release day... wow 17 years ago...
I see a pattern here: every time one of these chains stops selling video games and consoles, the customers stop coming and the quality starts to suffer.
Browningate Does that include grocery stores?
@Jersey - Definitely the former. Do you see any stores with a good selection of videogames that are actually short on customers?
is correlation, not a causation
@NewPaul
Perhaps, but I speculate otherwise.
Not getting into gorceries is another thing that did Kmart in, sure they had some but no where near the amount that Walmart and even Target have.
The last KMart in my community in South Carolina has announced they are going out of business. The Sears in North Charleston just closed. We have one in Charleston that is hanging on by a thread and we have a Sears Outlet that gets precious little foot traffic. The chain is dying a slow death. Amazing when you consider how Sears was the biggest retailer on Earth less than 30 years ago.
My local Kmart was dying for 20 years and closed March 2017.Old business model + old technology + no inventory + outdated look never kept up = death to a store.
It's obvious why K-Mart went under. Huge prices for sub-par products
M.Night207 don't forget amazon and walmart
M.Night207 Kmart is owned by Sears of course they are going under
M.Night207 Hugh prices lol Kmart always been cheap
The Kmart we had closed. Ironically ours looked more like it was out of the early 90s. I still attribute to the fall of kmart is no more video games.
I would say that Kmart was popular in the 70s and 80s. In the 90s it was already declining.
I think you're right, but I think the decline that started in the 90s was regional. Kmart was still looking and doing fairly decent where I grew up in the 90s. Thanks for watching!
Retail Archaeology They did go bankrupt in the 90s I believe, which is why it got bought by Sears and is now seriously in trouble, cause Sears lol
Frank Yu actually Kmart bought Sears. Now they are both in the toilet. It makes you wonder if they would be in better shape if they never met lol
+ReviewsTechNow I doubt Sears and Kmart would be in better shape. Both have made major blunders and Lampert's mismanagement has not helped. He wants to slowly liquidate their assets for his own benefit.
Mister Hat yes I know all about Eddie, I worked at Kmart in management for 6yrs. He is the last person I'd choose to run a business
Great video, I have worked for kmart for over 20 years, and found out 3 weeks ago my store is closing and will be losing my job in April, this will be my third kmart I have worked at is now closing. in my book the only place you can blame for us going out of buisness is Kmart, and the greedy CEOs.
mike wilson Blame Lampert and the old grandpas of Sears Holdings. I was pissed at Walmart even more when they got rid of Layaway only to bring it back only for the holidays. Christmas is the most overrated holiday ever as I wish Walmart can fired that current and greedy CEO and bring back Layaway and made it as a permanent comeback as a Ross is going to Open in Carlsbad,New Mexico in Spring 2017.
The black man in the commercial at 5:23 (crossing in the near field from right to left) looks and sounds like Reginald VelJohnson from Family Matters.
It probably is him. I thought the same thing. The ad agency probably hired him to make the commercial.
Anton Nym not surprising. Companies tend hire "familiar faces" or famous people in general people can recognize and identify in order to bring customers in. A lot of people will assume "oh this famous person did an ad for this company, the company must be good and sell great products so I'll shop there too..!"
Anton Nym It was him!! I KNOW my 80's and 90's sitcoms lol
That's not him. He was already doing Family Matters at the time and wouldn't do a bit commercial part.
Retail Archaeology The last time I went to the Metro Mall Kmart in Queens where I used to live, which was around late '08, early '09, I vividly remember there still being Dreamcast games. Wish I could go back, even for just a while. The Kmart in Wayne, NJ is holding on ok. I go there often just to snag a few deals and buy crap. The electronics section is dead, all they sell are off brand TV sets and old DVDs, printer cartridges and obsolete a/v equipment. Clothing section is still acceptable, sporting goods is dead in the water and badly stocked. On Black Friday all discs were a buck a pop, got a blu-ray for a buck.
I think the only hope now for Kmart and Sears is to drop the prices to sub-Walmart level, possibly bring back video games best. They should make huge blowout savings deals, push out old inventory that's been sitting for years and pray. I hope the company doesn't go under. While I lived in Europe, many of my beloved retailers left and I never got to say goodbye.
Dude, I live in Maspeth and used to go to the Metro Mall KMart from when I was little up until they closed their pharmacy in 2016 (which was the last reason I had to regularly go there). I was in there a month or two ago for old times' sake and it's the same as it was 2 years ago, which is to say very dirty and extremely desolate. It was also sad seeing the Toys R Us across from it boarded up.
Now, there are only 3 stores left
And my old roommate Chris used to always stop at that store to pick up a Little Caesar's pizza on his way home from work when we lived near Power and Guadalupe. Then I told him there's been one at Power and Baseline all this time.
I love your channel already! Another great video (:
Thank you and thanks for watcing!
Kmart mindset- In case you aren't sure if you're in the the electronics department we've placed a second "electronics" sign over the old "electronics" sign to help prevent further confusion. Yes you are in the electronics department. Thank you for shopping at Kmart.
Great job! Our KMart snack bar in Somerset, Ky never converted to a Little Caesar's though they did sell the crazy bread. Unfortunately they closed the snack bar about six years ago to expand the girls' department.
Thank you! The Kmart I showed being torn down/redeveloped had a cafeteria in it when I was a kid. I remember get a really good grilled cheese sandwich there. Thanks for watching!
For some one like me that appreciates nostalgia ...your vids are a heaven send. Also the Martha commercial made me laugh out loud! Thanks man, your hard work is greatly appreciated my friend!
Kmart is low class and you can tell, and people complain about Walmart...
that's why i never go to K-mart, it's funny how everyone blames amazon for puttingt companies under and don't look at the state of the companies themselves, you don't compete you lose, K-mart hadn't updated 15 years prior to it's bankruptcy, not because amazon offers free shipping
You say these places look outdated, but it's not like Wal-Mart looks any better.
Great video! I used to shop in the shopping center this K Mart is in all the time. I have never stepped foot inside the store and could only look from afar. Even on busy shopping days, the parking lot is never full.
My grandpa has that exact same radio at 0:25 we use it in the pole barn while working on cars and other projects
Love the retro commercials! Your videos are very interesting as well. Keep it up!
Thank you and thanks for watching!
One of the problems with Kmart in the us is the appearance of their stores
I hated Kmart back when my grandmother dragged us kids there in the 70's and I'll not shed a tear when they're all gone. Dirty, dingy and they all had that weird smell. And of coarse the toothless unwashed dregs at the checkout counters that couldn't even muster a "thank you" when you paid. Good riddance to that place.
I like their Deals Flash specials, but everything else you mentioned remains true. Not even a thank you for giving them your dollars. I will miss these stores though.
I sense a bias
The kmart in my town was the same before it closed no costumers in the store more dust mites then Costumers.
I feel for anyone who depends on Kmart for employment. They have to sense the end is near. Sad really. Everyone knew Kmart and grew up with one near them. It was a monthly trip with my mom back in the 80s. There's one still holding on to life down the road from me. The best way to describe the entire company now; its as if sometime in the late 90s management said F it and let the stores go. Dated looks. Dirty floors. Worn old tiles. Under stocked shelves. Still playing hits from the 80s on the PA system. Yup...a blast from the past in all the worst ways.
This is actually one of the few stores that's completely remodeled with the latest signage. Most stores have the old 90s "Big K" signage. I was also surprised to see the Little Ceasers actually open!
I went to this Kmart yesterday. You need to do another video. They look like they are going out of business. Inventory blowout 10-30% off of pretty much everything.
It's sad to see that Kmart was actually doing quite well a few decades ago before it fell into the arms of Sears. I think Kmart has some potential for a turnaround...all it needs is motivated top management and investment to turn things around. Sears on the other hand is now mostly an appliance and hardware store. Thanks for posting this. It reminded me of the Kmart in my town that shut last year back in October.
Fernando Avila Kmart bought Sears not the other way around
These are great videos. I've just become fascinated with Retail's forced changed here in the US (from the changing industry and the rise of the internet/returning to village shops, etc.). Sears' CEO's hot mess of a leadership has led me to your videos. Thanks for taking to do this.
I've been to a Kmart in Tucson and I'm pretty sure it's the only one left in town.
it's a shame the brand is being snuffed out and I lost 2 Kmart stores near me in less than 3 years (Newport News being dropped in 2013 and Hampton got killed earlier in the year)
It is a shame. Like I said we're down to just 2 in the Phoenix area :-( Thanks for watching!
Retail Archaeology My Mother in Law managed the Kmart at I17 and Northern in Phoenix. she retired from that store after 37 years with Kmart. I believe that store is still open.
There used to be a big KMart in a stripmall by the 224 Expressway and I205, in the 90s it did ok but starting in 2000 it nosedived pretty hard, taking the other store in the strip mall down with it. Eventually they both closed and a couple of years ago the whole thing was turned into a CarMax superstore. Glad that brought some life back to the area.
I went into the local K-mart a few miles from where I live six months before they closed up. The grocery section had things that had been sitting so long they were out of date. No one shopped there anymore. You could tell that twenty years ago it was a huge shopping destination but that it had not been for many, many years. The next closest K-mart was thirty miles away and before they closed the roof was leaking so badly that there were buckets all over the floor when it rained.
my kmart got rid of it's cafeteria back in 2013. They literally left the tables and chairs and everything out. But blocked the counter with a huge shelf full of back to school clothes. You can literally walk to the corner of the shelf and see the whole ordering counter and old menu and everything. They don't even have that part of the store lit anymore. I remember being like 7 or 8 back in the mid 2000s and being with my grandma and great aunt in the cafeteria. We'd always order pretzels. It kind of sucks to see kmart slowly fading away. It was a huge part of my childhood. I think if they would have changed things up, they wouldn't have failed so miserably. I still go to mine. Though all the rest in my city are closed. It honestly has looked the same for as long as I can remember. It gets dull and kind of odd. All I see shopping their is older people. Usually 60-70. But I barely see that anymore. And NOT EVEN JOKING all the people who worked there back in the day still work there. Which adds to the "nothing has changed at all". I find it eerie.
wow that is bad with no consumers, there is normally a few customers? wheres the assicates
There were a some associate walking around and doing some stocking and stuff. I had to film when they weren't looking though which is why you don't see any of them :-) Thanks for watching!
Most of the time when a KMart store closes these days, the announcements say between 50 and 80 people out of work. A typical Walmart store is staffed with 280 (average) per store or Target at about 200. So, it would probably be rare to run into a KMart associate unless you really tried.
Tony Thatcher I have filmed many Kmarts on my UA-cam channel if you want to have a look and almost all of them are dead
We used to go to Kmart all the time. We used to go to the one at Lindsey and Main, which closed last year. Also went to Dobson and Broadway. Remember the old cafe and the ice cream/snack counter near the front? Superstition Kmart has never been remodeled to my recollection. That one had a convenience store area immediately to the right when you first walk in.
That area that was a convenience store area is now a "Team Shop" area. They have jerseys and merch for all the local sports teams. They also had some stuff for other teams that are popular in the Phoenix area like the Cubs and Cowboys. You can catch a glimpse of it at 6:43 in the video to the left of the entrance/exit doors.
I used to buy all my CDs at my local kmart since wally world refused to sell the ones with explicit lyrics. The CD rack was protected by this Plexiglas shield that had holes just big enough for you to stick your hands through to browse but a CD wouldn’t fit through them so you had to get the electronics person to open it for you and you had to pay for it right then. Memories
I worked at Kmart until it closed in 2014. To give an idea how outdated it was, the video game demo setup in the electronics dept was still a GameCube and an Xbox that didn't even work. The GameCube was hooked up to an old faded out CRT TV
I used to work at Kmart 2011-13 (loved it) I remember one time my store had a product, it was a first gen iPod player for your car. It was dated 2006 and they wanted $60 for it. The box was ratty and taped up. One other time they found some old VHS movies up in storage one was a HBO special of how jay leno got the tonight show and the rest were about race car drivers educating the pubic on driving. They rang out no price so I stuck a nickel tag on them and sold every one of them.
Love the 8 bit computer sound intro!
The Kmarts in my area (South Florida) have very large garden centers. Although they seem to do better business than this one they do need an updating tho. An inexpensive coat of a color on the walls would go a long way. Kmart needs to put up a better fight if they ever want to be relevant again.
The old KMart I went to once had a Little Caesar's Pizza and is now closed.
PERMANENTLY closed. Goodbye KMart.
1932 - 2017.
Oh, huh. Where I live in North Florida, there is literally no Kmarts whatsoever in Jacksonville or St. Augustine. Never seen one in my life
They know their own company is dying. They can't afford good employees, from cashiers to CEO's. If you have any skill you'll work elsewhere. It used to be a great store but now it's a sub par store run by sub par people and it's going to die.
Blue Jay there's still one in Gainesville FL the one in Perry FL just closed
Kip Paseo the problem with that is the corporation doesn't have the money to do so. They bearly have enough money keeping there buisness alive as it is. Your right though they need an update and any money they make they should use to update.
They allow customers in the garden center looking like that in the hopes that someone will hurt themselves and sue them so they can finally close the damn store!
Our Kmart is still open, I go in about once a month to see what else has been put on clearance. Sadly, nothing to replace the clearance, I'm pretty certain ours will be the next to get the axe because there's less and less product every few months. It's only a matter of time.
Wow! As a kid I remember going to this location when it first opened. I bet it's been 10 years since I shopped at a Kmart. Great video! Brought back a lot of great memories.
It' had probably been 10 years or longer since I was in a Kmart too before I started working on this video. I have lot of memories going there as a kid. Thanks for watching!
This Kmart also has a pretty awesome car show every Saturday pending weather
The Mesa Kmart amazes me. It’s been my neighborhood Kmart forever and it manages to stay open this long. It also doesn’t help that it shares a parking lot with a Target.
My local Kmart is set to close in 1-2 weeks from now and I pretty much guarantee I will be mourning its absence.
My local K-Mart closed last month. The store was considered one of the underperforming stores that was announced to close back in January. It's a real shame to me because it was the only place where I bought my jeans and it was rare to find my size. It's a good thing I found two pairs before the closing sale started. I know when they wear out, I'm gonna have to drive an hour to the nearest K-Mart to get some more.
We used to call one of my grandmas “Grandma Kmart” because she loved Kmart and we would always visit there when we went to visit her❤️
we're here in the Syracuse New York area still have two Kmart and one remaining Pharmacy. Mattydale and Liverpool. Mattydale which doesn't have a garden center opted to have a pharmacy because they're in a strip mall but they're in the middle of the strip mall and don't have room for a Garden Center so they decided to put the pizza shop and the pharmacy instead. Sadly they no longer sell pizza at Kmart. They walled off the pizza counter and took away the tables but they haven't wasted that space they still sell things out of that space sometimes summer clothes and put their clearance items that they might have and put their Christmas display over there because that are has electricity but they no longer sell pizza. The Liverpool location just like your location doesn't have a functioning Garden Center anymore they closed it down but the funny part was they put a garden gnome a grumpy old garden gnome with a go away sign in his hand Guardian the former Garden Center and they have a sign saying this area is closed employees only so I do think they're using it for storage now. Mattydale have to compete with Rite Aid Pharmacy up the street so who knows how long the former Kmart Pharmacy will be around. more and more people will go to Rite Aid instead of Kmart because there are not too many Kmart pharmacy left in the world. both the Kmarts are in a strip mall but Liverpool happens to be on the end of the strip mall so it was able to put in a garden center but never put in a pharmacy. they had an electronic in Liverpool but they got rid of it. They only sell cell phones and video games and TVs.
I would love to go to the east side of the country and do some exploring, I haven't been to NY since I was a little kid. Thanks for watching!
My local Kmart is still up and running! I remember when I would stay with my grandparents and my grandma would take me to Kmart so she could pick up the blue light specials.
Attention Kmart shoppers:
Here are some countries where Kmart once existed:
* Kmart Canada (Kmart closed their Canadian stores in 1997, most locations were sold to Zellers.)
* Kmart Czech Republic/Slovakia (Kmart opened stores in both of those countries in former Maj department stores. The American Kmart Corporation's financial troubles caught up with them in the mid-1990s, causing them to sell their Czech/Slovak stores to Tesco.)
* Super Kmart Mexico (Super Kmart Mexico was a joint venture between the U.S. Kmart Corporation and the Mexican Liverpool department store chain. Super Kmart opened a few stores in Mexico City suburbs, but they didn't last. They were later sold to the Mexican hypermarket chain Mega, a division of the Commercial Mexicana hypermarket chain.)
* Kmart Caribbean (Kmart had plans to expand into the Caribbean, but those plans were scrapped in 2001.)
Here are some countries where Kmart still exists:
* Kmart United States (The American Kmart chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002, from which they emerged in 2005. Kmart U.S. is now owned by Sears Holdings Corp. of Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Their future is hanging by a thread alongside their sister store, Sears.)
* Kmart Australia/New Zealand (Kmart Australia/New Zealand was once half owned by the S.S. Kresge Co./Kmart Corp. of The United States and G.J. Coles & Coy of Australia. In 1994, Coles bought back all shares of Kmart Australia not owned by them from Kmart Corporation in the United States. Kmart Australia/New Zealand is now owned by Wesfarmers Limited, and is doing way better than the Kmart stores in the United States.)
I see that I posted about a Walmart near me being remodeled again. As for Kmart, the one in Willow Grove closed the same time as the one in this video, November 2017. Philadelphia local bus company SEPTA's route 55 bus to Doylestown stops right across from this now-vacant store, also serving a huge shopping mall on the other side of the bus stop. The Doylestown terminus is right in front of another Kmart, which was still open as of mid-January 2018.
So true about Kmart. I remember about 8 years ago seeing a Kmart and saying "Who shops here anymore? This place hasn't been relevant since the early 90s" I don't think there are any Kmart locations where I live but I have to check
I used to have a Kmart here in Carlsbad,NM where I live. I brought Tiny Toons Adventures:Buster Busts Loose,Sunset Riders and Mega Man:Dr. Wily's Revenge on the SNES and Game Boy as I always see consoles and games in a glass display. As Walmart announced they're going to build a Supercenter and by 1998 WalMart Supercenter has open and my Kmart was struggling and struggling and by 2002 Kmart filed for bankruptcy and began shutting down stores mostly because of Walmart and online shopping sites like Amazon and when Kmart merged with Sears they tried to keep their stores open but it didn't work as not only Kmarts and closing but Sears are closing as well save one which is my Sears Home Town store which is not closing. The reason why Sears are closing is because of competition with Lowes and The Home Depot not to mention Aaron's and Rent A Center. Radio Shack went down the same path too as they went bankrupt in 2015 but emerged out of bankruptcy as they've merged with Sprint and close down the underperforming stores and sold some stores to Sprint while keeping most of them open and brought back Tandy and Realistic. Artesia Kmart closed Last Year as my mom,my sister and brother in law went I too went there they stopped selling video games as they sell Kenmore Appliances and mattresses and those tacky John Cena t-shirts which didn't sell and WWE was pissed they pulled out because they fed up with Sears Holdings's shit they gave up and switched to JCPenny which also shutting down stores as more people wants to shop online at the comfort of their own home.
Kmart's used to have room in the aisles, but they had to add so much more to their inventory, and didn't expand the stores, the one in Omaha you can't walk between to clothing racks and not bump something off the hangers.
That guy in the SNES commercial plays a bully in On Deadly Ground with Steven Segal... needless to say he gets his ass kicked.
Now I have to go back and watch and Steven Segal film. Which is not a problem :-)
I'm from Perth Australia and I have yet to find a Kmart which is quiet because they are always busy. The quality of goods are within reason and always at a reasonable price. Back in 1979, I bought a socket set from Kmart and I still use it today. The only difference is that it is not made in China but in the USA.
My stepdad calls Kmart "Kame Apart" because everything he bought at Kmart for all the times he used to go there was so cheap and low quality, they broke after he used them.
The Kmarts in my city were around for only four years (1998-2002) and before then it was the only metropolitan area without a single Kmart. At one of the old Kmarts, Target opened in its place lol.
As an Ex Employee. Garden area is Flex area for Christmas. Usually in late February they will be restocking the garden centers. But I Hear Kmart may be on its last legs and may be lucky to make it till spring. Enjoy your videos.
If they make it to spring I'll have to go do a follow up and see what it looks like. Also, if you've got any interesting stories to share as an ex employee please feel free to share them on the discussion tab on my channel page. I'm sure other viewers would love to hear them too! Thanks for watching!
plz do more
I plan to. I should have a new video up every 1-2 weeks. There is a new one coming next Friday. Thanks for watching!
Well done! I really enjoyed your video. I'm very excited about more to come :)
Thank you and thanks for watching!
Kmarts here in Puerto Rico are doing alright. They have the same dated interiors as the one in the video, but the stores are organized and kept up. And there are always people, though nowhere near the amount of customers Walmart gets.
If Target ever opens up here, then our Kmarts will be as sad as the ones on the mainland. That is if Sears doesn't die first.
Man I remember going to K Mart all the time during the 90s. The place was usually very busy too, and I remember the Little Caesars in it too.
I saw recliners, laundry detergent, and TV's all basically in the same section. Lol. They gave up years ago. So sad.
There's a Kmart in Guam that is super crowded even at night ! 24/7
Back in the day when Little Ceasers tasted decent (and you got two pizzas) we would always order from them. My mom and I would shop while the pizza was cooking. That was before it was the "hot n ready" garbage of today.
We had a stand alone Little Ceasars we used to get pizza from when I was a kid and I do remember it being decent. Not the best pizza in the world but pretty decent. I had a slice while I was there filming so I had an excuse to sit in there and film. The pizza tasted like sadness.
Retail Archaeology I'll get a slice of it next time I'm at Kmart (pretty often) to try what sadness tastes like.
So amazing that here in Australia Kmarts are so packed and busy there are checkout lines on weekends going out through the back of the store. I don't know why this is happening here, but I do know that the stores out compete any Target, Big W, and TKMax around because of pricing and great store merchandising ☺.
This brought back a lot of memories of me as a little kid in the early 90s going to K Mart, it was over in Florida though and around the Pinellas County area. I remember when it closed, then Sears bought it and it reopened as a Super K Mart. Not sure what it is now or if the building is still even there. Thanks for filming and uploading this, retail archaeology is so fascinating to me and I love studying it too!
The stores up where I am have broken floor tiles, lights out, leaky roofs, etc..
We still have a Kmart here but it is definitely declining, and the only reason ours is open and others have closed in the area is because it's right off one of the interstate exits. I used to go there around 2009-10 to buy very cheap video games (bought some really good gems) and their toy collection was actually pretty decent. But then all of a sudden it kinda started going south recently... they don't even sell games any more, it's normally not kept up very well... honestly if it closes soon, i wouldn't be surprised.
There are almost no remaining Kmart stores left in l.a. proper (the last two nearest ones are pretty close), as most were shut down around 2003. Target has more than filled the gap with up to ten stores within a ten Mile radius. Where I live, opposition to Walmart is rather strong.
I live in Miami, FL. Interestingly enough, the Kmart by my house gets pretty busy most of the time. I've even gone there from time to time recently to buy specific things. My Kmart is well stocked and the most of the stuff isn't outdated. But Kmarts will obviously vary by location...just thought it was interesting to share.
K Mart is really big in my country. It used to sell the same type of stuff as the US, but it has since changed the types of products it sells, and it is selling them at prices other retailers can't match..
This K-Mart is located in the same complex as a Target (just across the corner). I would imagine that alone is a big reason why this K-Mart is devoid of customers.
This seems to be one of the newer K-Marts, constructed about 1994-1997, at the same time the entire complex (and Target) were constructed. I still cannot fully understand how two direct competitors were allowed to be in the same complex. Perhaps Target saw opportunity in the K-Mart coming in and Target chose to come in as well, when it was too late for K-Mart to leave (as construction already started)?
Our Kmarts (in my part of CA at least) never had food courts or Little Caesar's...it's amazing to me to see something like that in a Kmart, considering Kmart's been on life support for at least 15 years it seems
I just found your channel, your content so far is amazing. Thank you so much for doing what you do, I'm glad I subscribed! :-)
ItsZeroph Thank you and thanks for watching! More coming soon!
we used to to shop at Kmart on weekends. lots of action going on back then in the early 90's
They closed that store over 10 years ago. life goes but memories stay.
I checked nearby Kmarts in a 250 mi range and none were located haha
even maybe just 5 years ago there were at least two
Yeah, they're disappearing quick. Thanks for watching!