Wal*Mart, Kmart, Target ... and what else?

In My Humble Opinion
1

When discussion turns to big-box department stores, it’s usually about one or more the three dominant chains in the US; Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart. Even ten years ago, there used to be far more regional bix-box department store chains, such as Venture, Ames, Caldor, Hills, and Gold Circle.

There has to be more than just Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart now, though. I can only think of a few that are out there:

  • Meijer in Michigan, Indiana and parts of Ohio
  • Shopko in Wisconsin
  • Fred Meyer in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska

Are there others still out there? I’m not thinking of extinct chains, wholesale chains (Costco, Sam’s Club), specialty big box retailers (Best Buy, Kohl’s, Barnes and Noble, Tractor Supply) or rural chains with small stores (Alco), but rather still-operating regional big box department store chains in the United States. Is there a Carrefour or some other European store hiding somewhere in the US? A struggling old-school chain down to just a couple of stores? Anything?

2

Ames and Caldor went belly-up.

So did Barker’s, King’s, Jamesway, J.M. Fields, and quite a few others.

Around here, there are places like Boscov’s and Macy*s, but they’re more upscale than the others.

3

There used to be Zayre’s, but they’re gone too.

4

Hills went belly-up too. We used to have one of those and an Ames around here, but they both closed years ago.

What about Big Lots?

5

W.T. Grant’s but that has been a long time.

Big Lots, formerly McFrugals, is a closout store that I don’t think you can compare to other retailers.

Kohl’s is anogther but doesn’t have the market of Target or branded merchandise.

6

ShopKo is in Michigan and Colorado as well as Wisconsin. Probably some other places, too.

We have a Ben Franklin here. About 5-10 years ago it was more like a mini KMart or something; now it’s just a craft store.

What about Jewel/Osco? Are they still around in lower Michigan?

7

has everyone forgotten Sears and Pennys?

I know, technically they aren’t big box, they’re mall stores. But the nightmarish KMart/Sears merger may include moving some Sears stores out of the malls and into the strips.

8

We have Rose’s in the NC/VA area. It’s like Woolworth’s used to be.

9

None that I can think of. Kinda sad, no?

And what happens when they all merge and become Kwaltargmart?

Hey, who would have thought that Kmart and Sears…? (and IMO, Sears went slumming there–Kmart to me is bottom of the barrel. In the words of Rainman, “Kmart sucks”).
We now have Kohl’s, but it doesn’t strike me as a big box store–certainly it is not marketed as one. I cannot imagine a Super-Kohl’s or Kohl’s Greatland where one can pick up milk as well as new shoes.

10

We have Shopko in Minnesota, too. Also Pamida.

11

Well, I was gonna say Pic’n’Sav but further research reveals it’s been bought by Big Lots.

12

Out here in SoCal we used to have Zodys and Fedco. Zodys was like K-Mart but in a big square store, while Fedco was a “members-only” discount store that precluded Costco and Sam’s Club.

13

I miss Uncle Bill’s and Zayre’s. And Kresge’s.

14

Here in central Illinois, we have Shopko and Meijer, as well as Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart.

15

If I’m not mistaken, Ames was what became of Murphy’s Mart. We also used to have a store called GeeBees around here.

16

How about The Andersons? I know there are a few here in Ohio and they are like Wal-Mart.

17

I’ve seen some Shop-Ko’s and Pamida’s around Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. They seem to be on the downward slide though.

18

When I was growing up in a small West Virginia town, I used to love to go to Fisher’s Big Wheel.

19

Kresge’s = Kmart.

A couple years ago I worked in a store that was in the former Jamesway building, and I was the only person who worked there who remembered Jamesway at all. Everybody else was either too young (and only two or three years younger than me!) or not from around there… Ames must have gone down very recently, because two years ago there were still a couple of them in the upper Hudson Valley.

20

Carson Pirie Scott, Marshall Field, T.J. Maxx. Those are more the traditional department store model than the all-in-one discount/department/grocery/supermarket model like WallyWorld or Target, though.