Hence the sarcasm.
Even 20 years ago I felt that way. K-Mart was the closest big box store to where I lived at the time by a lot, so I’d sometimes get the idea to run over there and grab a few things. I usually regretted it and wished I’d just driven the extra distance to WalMart. The selection was poor, what they did have was generally low quality, the store was old and dirty, and on a not insignificant number of occasions they didn’t even have the thing I needed in stock and I’d have to drive to another store anyway.
Worked there in 86’ and got a nickname from my co-workers not long after starting.
Worked in sporting goods where we sold bowling balls that we fitted and drilled for customers. Measured up a young kid who was with his mom and filled out the card after asking their name and added the measurements. They could come back the next day for pick up.
I come back two days later and manager is angry cause the customer came back for their ball and nobody could find it. And the kid just happened to be son of Milwaukee Brewer Pete Vuckovich and Pete was there with his son. I swore that nobody gave me the name Vuckovich for a bowling ball order. I go in the back and scan the balls and find one with my handwriting. Name on in it was for Lazo.
I tell them it was the only ball I did that day. Turns out the kid’s name was Lazo Vuckovich and when I asked for a name for the order to write down they gave me his first name.
For the rest of my stint at Kmart I was known as Lazo.
I grew up in Ann Arbor, and for some reason we had a Kresge and a K-Mart in side-by-side shopping centers, on Stadium Blvd, on either side of Jackson Avenue. Folks unfamiliar with the history wouldn’t understand–K-Mart came from Kresge…that’s the “K” in K-Mart, so why would the old and the new be next to each other for so many years?
They each had their own feel. One fond memory from Kresge’s was their diner area–it wasn’t a formal sit-down restaurant with waitresses like K-Mart; it was an open-air diner with stools at the counter. But they sold ice cream! They had helium balloons by the diner, and they let children pop the balloons–there would be a little coupon inside saying how much your sundae would cost. Full price was $1, so the balloons would have prices like 75 cents or 65 cents. My mom would occasionally let me have a sundae there.
What a fun little gimmick, akin to the famous Blue Light Special of K-Mart.
The Blue Lights are going out.
Close. Massachusetts.
Those stores used to be near me when I lived in Medford, Mass.
Meffa!
Pretty much. Clever, memorable advertising can’t help much if the product itself isn’t what people want.
Kmart and Sears are just two of a number of once-massive U.S. retailers which have evaporated because they bet wrongly (or reacted too late) on how to adapt to technological changes in how people shop and view media.
BTW, in 2013, or eleven years ago, the Adam Sandler movie of the summer was called Grown-Ups 2. As expected, not very good, though it starred his usual gang of buddies, but what amazed me was the product placement scene set in a K-Mart store. It amazed me because this was a nice K-Mart store, clean with merchandise that was displayed attractively. If actual K-Mart stores looked like that, they might still be around today.
Kresge was Kmart’s 5& dime store mom loved that place when I was a toddler …I always gave a free ice cream scoop to melt in my sippy cup
And near me when I lived in Dorchester and Jamaica Plain.
And near me when I moved to Connecticut 30 years ago.
We bought all of my son’s newborn baby gear at Bradlee’s: bassinet, crib, changing table, baby clothes, diaper genie, and dozens of other things. It was my first realization of how expensive kids are. 
I remember Bradlees offered “Bradlees Bucks” as a gimmick to get people back in the store. They were basically a voucher/coupon equal to 10% of your purchase. But you could redeem them right away. And when I redeemed them I got more Bradlees Bucks. Bucks on bucks! I’m pretty sure that wasn’t how the program was supposed to work. I felt a little guilty when they declared bankruptcy a few years later, like I had contributed to their downfall.
The one closest to me shut down close to 20 years ago. The building sits empty to this day, I believe. It’s a pretty big lot, and I think nearly every other business, including a US Post Office is shut down, too.
The only place that seems to be in operation is a dialysis clinic, but I never see any cars parked there. To be fair, I don’t go by there hardly at all. But it seems like a big deserted ghost corner in town.
The empty KMart near us is being remodeled to house an Aldis. People (including my gf) are excited. She currently drives 45 minutes to shop at aldis.
Our former Sears died just before the pandemic. They were prepping it to be the gigantic sick ward/morgue when things got ugly. Now half of it is a nice mattress shop and half is the most depressing consignment furniture store in the world. The former tire and oil change building is a thrift store.
When I was little, there was one near my grandmother’s house. Whenever I would visit, she would bring me there for a toy. In summer, an Icee as well. I thought Kmart was the best thing ever.
I walked into a Kmart for the last time about 8 years ago. I ran across one in a small town I was passing through. I had to stop and wax nostalgic. It was probably one of the nastiest stores I’ve ever had the pleasure to visit, except for maybe one of the last Sears I checked out before they closed.
They really went downhill over the years. Sad to see.
I thought K-Mart shut down entirely a few years back. Circa 2005-2006, they shut down in Little Rock and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. I went to the PB location in the hopes of being able to find some Playstation 2 games for cheap, but they didn’t have any. The K-Mart in Little Rock was turned into a medical center just a few short years ago.
It’s a little odd how many of us have nostalgia for a retail outlet. I’m in that same boat of course. My family stopped going to K-Mart once we moved from Colorado to Texas. But I have fond memories of going to K-Mart, getting an Icee at the snack bar, and wistfully looking at GI Joe figures in the toy aisle. I kind of miss the experience of going to Blockbuster on a Friday night too.
The old K-Mart near me is now a gym. I like it, because I used to drive 40 minutes to the gym.
what used to be the Pic 'n Save before it moved to become big lots and the k mart is now a Uhaul truck and storage rental facility