The Last Kmart in Phoenix | Kmart Store Closing Video Tour | Retail Archaeology

[@laje]

My dad used to be a manager at the 83rd/Peoria/Grand Ave in the 80's. But he had worked for Kmart after being recruited out of college in the early 70's. I grew up in Kmart. Basically. Eating in the cafe. Getting bubble gum ice cream. Running around the aisles and stock rooms. Screaming when the blue light specials would be announced. That was a lot of my childhood. My dad knew the manager of this Kmart back when this store opened in the very late 70's. My mom also told me that before this Kmart was built, this lot was a drive-in movie theater. She went there in high school in the mid 60's. Just a bit of random trivia for ya. I love your videos. Keep it up.

[@JohnMurrayOP]

Laura_Anne I love the drive-in movie info. When you smell buttered popcorn do you think of movies or Kmart?

[@CJbrinkman602]

Laura_Anne was that location where the Camping Store/Final Clearance is now? In Peroria Shopping Center?

[@daddyg2005]

Laura_Anne My mother In law retired out of this store. she worked for Kmart for almost 40 years. she managed the store for a while until she got tired of the corporate bs and stepped down and finished her time out as department manager. the store quickly went downhill. now it seems the only people I see shopping there are the tweekers that live in the motel next door. it's a shame.

[@bg147]

Kmart had the best ham.

[@gabemcknight8933]

+Greg Smith who is twekerrs

[@LGR]

Really glad these stores are being documented like this! And I appreciate the mention :)

[@RetailArchaeology]

+Lazy Game Reviews no problem dude, I've been watching your channel for years 😁 Thanks for watching!

[@stormoninja7869]

Lazy Game Reviews I didn't expect you to be here! Love your videos man. And you too RA!

[@JoelRiter]

Lazy Game Reviews LGR weird to find you stray about the KZbin's! Love you! Now any chance of a Mad Magazine Windows Collection? Oh yea good video here as well, I remember a KMart not being far away from me and my brother telling me it closed reacting with slight interest, not as nice as this one.

[@thomas7529]

Watching this in July 2023 and I’m quite appreciative of how you’ve kept things simple, consistent and straightforward over the years. No crazy clickbait, no gaudy music, and just a clean, chill and informative experience overall. It’s rather rare for KZbinrs to maintain such consistency. Awesome job dude!!

[@TOCC50]

My birthday’s July 3rd

[@JEBVIXXEN720]

My Ex's mother worked at the snack Bar for 25 years at this location. I myself remember buying my Atari 2600 in 1982 from here

[@xorxpert]

J Elaine Brown a Snack Bar for 25 YEARS??? Holy Fxking Shxx. There’s many other jobs you know? A SNACK BAR?? 25 YEARS?? That’s just sad.

[@upstatenewyork]

Wow. That must be weird seeing it on video.

[@sonicmoremusic1]

@@xorxpert Maybe she loved what she did.

[@account4info]

@@xorxpert Selling snacks to the other employees for 25 years isn't so bad

[@xorxpert]

@@account4info Idk, I mean normally, a person would move on to something better within 25 years, but I guess that job was just suitable for her for that long. I'm amazed, yet still shocked lol.

[@capitalisteconomist]

When I was a little kid back in the 90's, radio shack, kmart, sears, etc were the places I went to, especially with my dad. My dad in radio shack was like a little kid in a candy store. he made electronic equipment for pools and he would go to radio shack every couple of days. He knew all the employees by name and would let me check out the rc vehicles. Now both my dad and RadioShack are dead and looks like kmart/sears aren't far behind. Gosh I miss the 90's. Everything was better back then.

[@DarDarBinks1986]

Better my aching ass! It was NOT better back then! You can just get those electronic things off Amazon now, and without having to leave the damn house! Why pine for good old days that never were? THE PAST SUCKED ASS!

[@lavarball6145]

AirCooledMan2006 preach

[@KrysDlite]

Nate Thegreat I’m so sorry for your loss. My mom died last year so I know what you mean and how you feel. You constantly think back on those days when your parents were still around and you ran errands with them. So sad, but I’m also grateful to have those memories on the bad days when I miss her.

[@Jabawokky]

Awwwe😭

[@dominickmarshall8559]

I’m sorry for your loss, good to keep those memories alive tho, brotha!

[@GETINLOSER]

The darkened ceiling tiles. The circular air vents. Oh gosh, this place is old. I am old. :(

[@xplorearizona154]

SGDevotee you should of seen the employees only areas.

[@Sweetumskitty1789]

SGDevotee True it’s also dirty and filled with skeevy ass folks.

[@nslouka90]

reminds me when you could smoke indoors and in restaurants, maybe thats why its all brown

[@martinbaxter2616]

Like fine wine... 😉

[@ThisisDanBell]

Another great video!!!

[@RetailArchaeology]

This is Dan Bell. Thank you! 😁

[@PERRATA]

This is Dan Bell. Hi Dan!

[@-thud-]

This is Dan Bell. Fancy meeting you here...

[@SDChargers93]

hello Dan. u guys make amazing videos .

[@dianadc]

you here too 😂😂😂

[@SuiteKarelia]

Every time I watch a Kmart video I literally hallucinate the "dank Kmart smell" from my hometown store. It's interesting how every single Kmart I've visited has that same smell and how much of a lasting impression it has formed in my mind.

[@jbw9999]

Yes! What was that smell? It was odd.

[@watermelon520b]

@@jbw9999 chemicals, food, dust, carpet, 😅plastic

[@fv9621]

I thought it smelled like spilled icee cherry flavor

[@OverandOutChief1]

Probably deterioration of the boxes, product, fixtures, ceiling and floor tile. Most Kmarts were very old. Woolworths had that same smell.

[@truecrimecases2023]

They had pizza and icees it was amazing

[@JohnVedral]

The store closing and other close out signage belong to the company that is now running the store. The liquidation company now staffs and runs the location and nothing there will be considered K-Mart products and cannot be returned or exchanged at that or another store.

[@SynchroSk8]

That is interesting - I went to the store the day after this video was filmed. The cashier was so super nice. I left hoping that she at least got a bonus for 'going down with the store' - but I think back to the last time I was at this same KMart (a few years ago and I live in the area) and how horrible my experience was with the cashier, to the point where I remember it. So your comment about a company taking over makes more sense.

[@jc1979af]

They also supply the security guards that are mentioned in the video. Liquidating stores become magnets for shoplifters who see the "everything must go" as "steal everything"

[@rich1051414]

Usually when a store goes out of business, they have a buyer lined up with the condition that current employees come included. Due to the inevitability of upper management quitting, it is in your best interest to stick around, as you will then become senior staff after the reopening.

[@JohnVedral]

This store is not being sold. It is being closed. The real estate may be sold to another owner, but that is not always the case. Many times the building is on leased land and the landowner will then attempt to find a new tenant. The liquidation company did not purchase the business or the real estate. They paid a greatly reduced price for the goods and the rights to operate on the property. They then run the liquidation sale, sometimes bringing in unsold inventory from other liquidation sales to pad the stock as they progress through the markdown levels.

[@abigguitar]

5:31 "This kind of pegboard stuff is really old and outdated to me." It's not just the pegboard, it's the dinghy coffee beige shelf coloring, the half shiny, half grey floors with dirty shelving corners, it's the crusty dirty black dust surrounding the huge 70s-style A/C ceiling diffusers, it's the long rows of bare workshop-style fluorescent bulbs to light up the merchandise and it's the hodge-podge patchwork of replaced drop ceiling tiles where a few are white and others look like a yellowed smoker's paradise. This store looks just like 70s supermarkets did back in the day. While supermarkets have somewhat figured out better lighting for its produce, bakery and deli, Kmart never figured this out for its key merchandise. The whole store feels like a time capsule that's way out of place. In some stores, it even smells old.

[@algomaone121]

I lived in a small PA town a few years ago where the supermarket hadn't renovated sconce the mid seventies!! All the wall signs and aisle markers had the vintage character of that time and the color theme (brown-green). It was a time traveling experience to shop there.

[@marjoriemorris5849]

MENT ACLE where is this store? Did they play the old grocery store music? I must go there!

[@jackson5116]

that shelving was from the 90's. Yes, old, but not as old as it could be.

[@cregazw]

@@jackson5116 It's a mixture. We brought in aisles from other closing stores to replace old style.

[@misterhat5823]

Those vents are common in public buildings built in the 60's. This looks like an older store that became a "Big K" and was then downgraded to regular "K" again.

[@livingroomset2084]

Mister Hat It did give me the vintage feeling. I'm not that old but I have played a few games set in the 60s.

[@electron2601]

Yeah Sears, Ames, and many other department stores had them too.

[@jbw9999]

The Kmart stores I went to in TN had those vents. I don't remember seeing them anywhere else.

[@unfazedreview3000]

Dang dude thanks for documenting this! Went to this specific K-Mart as a kid often in the 90s and a little in the early 2000s. It went completely to hell, much like the surrounding area became a lost cause. But really glad you captured it before it closed!

[@bobbyberetta4206]

There hasn't been a Kmart here since roughly 2007. They All became Big Lots.

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

My local K-Mart shut down around 2000 I believe maybe earlier. Been gone for what seems like forever. I do remember them having Sega Dreamcast games so it had to be around 2000-2001.

[@fixman88]

+brian lucore The one in Saint Cloud closed a few years ago and the land became a shopping center; there's a Whole Foods knock-off there called Fresh Thyme.

[@mothra__13]

the only box store in my college town is a kmart. doesnt stop it from being a total ghost town most of the time, though, lol.

[@RedColdRitsu]

Bo88y Beretta Big Lots is good to me. I got my first Sami Zayn figure along with an Elite Dean Ambrose too.

[@scottkrafft6830]

In the Chicago area, there were SO many K-Marts at one time. Now there's only a couple left, but the ones that did survive are doing fairly well.

[@raftash5279]

Your beard is as indestructible as a GNC in dead malls.

[@MatthewBaran]

Raf Tash gnc has to be a front for a cartel or something lol.

[@raftash5279]

Matthew Baran well they do sell questionable powders

[@SeraphinaPZ]

GNC stores show up in the weirdest places too. At 30th Street Station in Philly which is all like food court type stuff and travel stores there's just a random GNC, it makes no sense being there.

[@gavincurtis]

GNC must work out some amazing rent deals. Stores that I have been to are always clean and modern with hardly any foot traffic. No old product either. They are doing something right. After the great franchise wars, it should have been GNC who was the victor, not Taco Bell.

[@williamhaynes7089]

that was a good movie

[@stephanburgess654]

That Kmart logo is still in use in Australia today. Broke my heart to see the garden centre like that. I was a department manager for the garden department in Kmart for 11 years in the 80's. Garden departments back then were huge business until they decided to enclose the nursery section and that killed off the department. Back then we had camera and photo lab, toys dept, furniture, hard wear, paint, sporting good Manchester, a restaurant, electrical, music, sound and vision, footwear, auto, garden dept, pet dept live fish, stationary, jewellery and camping. They were the days.

[@KevinFrasard]

There's a Kmart next to the Kroger I always go to here in MI that just will not die. I want to go in just for curiosity, but don't want to come out depressed.

[@prestondenglish]

Kevin Frasard where at? We've got a few that are gone. I know the Garden City and Fenton ones are gone now.

[@KevinFrasard]

Preston English it's in Clinton Township, at Canal and Garfield Rd. A couple months back, they took the "BIG" out of their sign but it still has no banners saying that they're going out of business. It's really weird man.

[@damiennguyen5143]

Kevin Frasard I'm in Michigan too. I live in Detroit area what about you?

[@BoratWanksta]

@Kevin Frasard Sadly, every Kmart you go inside of has a depressing feel to it in some way. Super Kmarts were not as bad, but they still seemed a little depressing. Sigh, every experimental store concept Sears Holdings(or as I call the parent company, K-Sears!) has tried has been eventually ended, and they never seem to make their stores less dated inside. Say the concepts like Sears Essentials(ex-Kmarts, and then those later became Kmart again, like Elmhurst, IL), Sears Grand, The Great Indoors, etc. OTOH, Target and Walmart invest in improving the inside look of their stores all the time. Even the few Kmarts stores that've gotten more updates on a more frequent basis(i.e. Norridge, and to a lesser extent Addison/Kennedy Expressway in Chicago), have a depressing feel inside. When K-Sears chose to get rid of video game sales at all Kmarts and Sears a few years back, that action alone said a lot! No wonder it's infrequent I ever step foot into any Kmarts, and would rather go to a Target or (even) Walmart.

[@Shonuff42080]

There's a Kmart at canal and Garfield. The only one I can think of is in Roseville on Gratiot ,

[@SpiritBear12]

"The Last K-Mart in Phoenix" Just how many K-Marts did you have in Phoenix?

[@silicon212]

At one point, they were everywhere. "Attention Kmart Shoppers...". The ubiquitous store, now gone.

[@mb8987]

There were quite a few in Phoenix, also the suburbs Mesa Tempe and Glendale had some. Now there's still the one in Mesa and tolleson(west phoenix).

[@williamhaynes7089]

just in the time I lived in Phoenix... (city of phoenix not phoenix area) 43rd ave & indian school, 2nd ave & Roosevelt, 32nd st & Greenway (A Super Kmart) that I can remember.. so they have already closed 3 more in the recent years

[@RaymieHumbert]

A lot of them went away in the 2002 bankruptcy, including my local store. JCPenney now occupies it, actually.

[@tweevers2]

Kmart here in Phoenix area back in the 70's-90's were all over the place.Until Walmart came to the valley in the 90's and started is slaughter of competition.There were a few Targets but they started growing like a weed all over the valley now,there was Sears,JcPenny,Mervyns,Macfrugals, kmarts,Yellow front,J.J.Newberrys,Osco,Revco and Price Club as the places to shop back in the day...

[@pierreklee7490]

Kmart, Sears, JC Penney and Malls in general. Out of the 1500 Malls in the US, less than half will be around by 2023.Going away just like the steel mills did.

[@DarDarBinks1986]

The main reason we have so many malls in the first place is because they were used as mini-tax havens.

[@certifiedfinest5065]

AirCooledMan2006 what do you mean

[@seanhartnett79]

Honestly steel mills aren’t doing too bad. Steel production is up

[@pierreklee7490]

@@seanhartnett79 Did the US have 1500 steel mills?

[@michaelconrad7290]

If this was the K-Mart at 2526 W. Northern Ave, there was an unusual archaeological feature at this site. Just as archaeologists find the ruins of ancient cities were built over the remains of even older cities, this K-Mart was built on the site of one of Phoenix's vanished drive-in movie theaters, the Northern Drive-In. Drive-ins had little gravel-covered concrete ramps in each parking space next to the speaker stand, which tilted the car up a little so the passengers could see over the cars parked in front of it. When they bulldozed the drive-in grounds to make way for the K-Mart construction, they did a lousy job of leveling the soil and/or left the ramps in, so instead of a flat surface when you drive through the K-Mart parking lot, you get a bumpy ride as you drive over the remains of the old drive-in ramps. The past never truly dies.

[@cregazw]

Worked there and never heard of or noticed any of this.

[@drewskiintergalactic3042]

How could any business think it is OK to do no renovations in 35 years in a urban area . K Mart should have gone out of business more than a decade ago instead of hanging on a thread and really dragging there brand into the dirt.

[@NunsOnFire99]

My local Kmart is still going but, as mentioned in the video, is likely soon to be a part of history itself given the state of the company. The K-Mart in the next town over closed a few months back, which is surprising as it was right next to a mall and seemed to have more shoppers than the one that is still open right down the street from me. I have vivid memories of being there in the 80's as a small child when there was a decently sized cafe in the back of the store. "K-Cafe" I believe it was called. Eventually in the early 90's it closed and they opened a large eat-in Little Caesar's restaurant. By the mid 2000's that too was gone and replaced with a Nathan's Hot Dogs stand at the front of the store. And then THAT even finally closed a few years back leaving the store utterly snackless. I remember the blue-light specials and the old ladies ready to throw-down to get there first. I got so much GI Joe stuff from K-Mart for Christmas. It's funny you mentioned the round vents, I always remember pretending they were flying saucers as a kid. Walking into a K-Mart is like stepping into a time-machine.K-Marts here in Pittsburgh are set-up identically to the ones you have in Phoenix even. Other than the eateries changing form, most of them really haven't evolved much in the past 30 years, which while nice in the sense that it gives you that warm and fuzzy familiar nostalgia rush, it isn't quite a modernized shopping experience that offers any kind of true brick-and-mortar competition in the modern retail space. Obviously a very likely the largest contributing factor to their downfall. Even more so than K-Mart though, I truly miss Hills department stores. I think those were more of a regional chain though. Those are all long gone, but my current work office is actually in my old local Hills store (which became an Ames after Hills went under in the late 90's, also now a long-gone retail chain) that I went to weekly as a kid. It's an awesome feeling walking into work every day in the building you know most of your cherished B-day and xmas gifts came from lol Aaaaah, American retail, how I thoroughly embrace the convenience and general modern superiority of online shopping, but still long for that long-lost and now overly-romanticized childhood nostalgia that you stir inside all of us 80's kids.

[@isitshell]

Our Kmart as doing a "summer blowout" and everything is 10-30% off and it's rumored to close. Looks like Kmart is trying to stealthily close ours down.

[@minifigw7145]

Michael p it's a chain wide sale that all non liquidating stores are participating in. Management is trying to capitalize on the fact that people flock to store closing sales by throwing a fake one

[@abigailcarroll6982]

Yep, the beach supply stores in my area all hold a fake out every year. I will legit be surprised if the one behind my work ACTUALLY closes.

[@certifiedfinest5065]

MinifigW wow that’s crazy

[@certifiedfinest5065]

Michael p did it close?

[@certifiedfinest5065]

Abigail Carroll it’s all bs?

[@thedungeondelver]

Well that was depressing. Anyway, yes, I have lots of memories of K-mart when I was growing up. Saturday mornings when mom would need something, or dad would need a car part, or we just wanted to get out of the house for part of the day, those were the best. We'd pile into whatever shitheap car we owned at the time and hit THE SAVINGS PLACE. It was like going to a shopping mall but all in a single store. Dad would find what he needed or if he wasn't shopping, head off to the paperback books, and I'd usually tag along. He'd stand there and read an entire Louis l'Amour western while I laughed my ass off at MAD Magazine. I would usually try to sneak off to the big Atari 2600 demo cabinet and play a few games if other kids weren't hogging it. It was so nice to be in the air conditioning in that place. Remember the wood-grain push carts with the rotating blue cop lights on top, "Blue light special" - I'd always see one parked and want to flick the switch on but I never had the cajones to actually _do_ it. When we were just about done we'd convene at the snack bar in the middle of the store, which was also usually a deli that sold these impossible looking hams with a thick layer of brown sugar and a pineapple ring on them, or turkey, or roast beef or w/e, plus popcorn, candy and a Icees! Sis would get a Coke flavored one, myself, cherry. But if we were staying longer we'd go over to the Cafeteria. Fine dining! You could get a sit-down meal (usually not much better than fast food, as I recall). Dad favored a fish basket, I liked a grilled cheese and fries but later became enamored of patty melts or hot dogs. Mom would have a salad and some fried chicken. I'll have to ask my sister what she'd get, I think she'd go for the hamburger. Anyway, morning done, we'd load up in the car, I'd usually have a Star Wars figure or maybe a Choose Your Own Adventure book or Hot Wheels, and we'd head home for the afternoon. Dad would scrupulously watch our funds like a hawk, and when I'd go digging for the glorious prize in the shopping bags, he'd drawl "Naow don't ask for _nothin' else_ this week." (but it was all good). The commercial clip in the beginning? We had that banana yellow Conair hair dryer - that exact model, I remember the day it broke, years and years and years later - the parents got me my first 2 computers there (first the ViC20 shown in the intro, later a C64), and I think we all (dad included) wore those awful, mushy-feeling Traxx sneakers. After the mid 1980s we just kind of quit going; we'd shop elsewhere, I was growing up and the notion of going out on a Saturday jaunt in flip flops was outgrown. By then I'd just stay at home and do other things. I can't recall the last time I went into a K-Mart aside from picking up a layawayed bike for my daughter - the store was slated for a long, slow, agonizing death so you could still actually lay stuff away despite the coming collapse. I also almost bought a laptop there but it occurred to me that one, Panasonic probably was not the best way to go despite the specs and two, if something was wrong with it there wasn't any real way to return it after a few months so...anyway, I passed. But when we were in the place (which was not the one from my childhood - our neighborhood went ghetto after we moved out, K-Mart and a bunch of other retail anchors pulled up stakes from that shopping center and it became a demilitarized zone with an indoor flea market occupying the K-Mart space), it was even more dirty and depressing than the one you visited. Same lumpen floor, the center aisle deli was closed aside from a foul-looking, dripping self-serve Icee machine (Oh beloved Icee Bear! You weren't meant for such cruelties! Fly away, now, gentle soul! To target! To the Theater lobby! To better places!), same sagging acoustic tiles with distressing looking stains marring them to a one, and that suspicious mouldering smell throughout the place. Technically I never went back although in a way I did when it got occupied by a Halloween costume store and we were looking for stuff for the kids. You know how ephemeral and temporary those places are, how slapdash and ramshackle they're put together? It looked _miles_ better than the KMart had. Anyway, thanks for the video. Pity Zayer's only exists in memories and a few faint commercial clips on KZbin, that's another one I could wax nostalgic about.

[@RetroManVideos]

Great post. Reminds me of my childhood in the South going to Kmart and Zayre. Used to love Kmart. The grill, the deli counter with the sub sandwiches, the records and 8-track tapes. Also remember having to ask someone to unlock the restroom door and this loud buzzer would come on for 10 seconds or so while you turned the knob to the door. Lot of great memories

[@slurpee787]

woah

[@AlgaeEater09]

Those big round vent things are fkn terrifying

[@ChevyCamaroIsBetter]

AlgaeEater08 im glad im not the only one 😂

[@OrangeGamingAndTechHelp]

AlgaeEater08 where

[@BoratWanksta]

Yep, all Kmarts that were this old had weird looking ceiling vents, like what you see at 3:45 . It was standard, when it came to how Kmarts from the 1960s to 1980s were built like.

[@Michael_Livingstone]

Nice to know I wasn't the only one who was creeped out by them.

[@yazzie8557]

Wow I was terrified of those too.

[@delta_cosmic]

there goes my childhood :(

[@ryanthompsonthompson820]

Sonic the alpha i know, they are closing the Kmart next to me in a couple of months......so sad.

[@dorfschmidt4833]

You grew up in a Kmart ? :D

[@ryanthompsonthompson820]

Dorf Schmidt lol

[@delta_cosmic]

Dorf Schmidt of course

[@MrMichaelbsmith6420]

5

[@home-space]

That old k Mart logo is actually used on New Zealands new stores. But it has been modernised in neon so it is a bit retro

[@JaseyRae]

Big Kids Toys same with the Australian stores, as both AU and NZ stores are owned by Westfarmers

[@TheWardog1369]

Big Kids Toys Wesfarmers that owns the Australian and New Zealand Kmart has no affiliation with the US Kmart and knows what they are doing!

[@universalcerberus5863]

I heard that an Australian company paid for the rights and hoped to be popular based on the fact that it was in America at the time. I've never been to AU or NZ, but I did hear that they're successful.

[@mikeshepherd3960]

They have been shipping the same promo materials around to each closing store for 30 years. That's why the closings are staggered. That's why the logos are old. That's why every failing chain that merges (Sears, Hills, Zayre, Ames, etc) all use the same displays.

[@petenielsen6683]

It was not the old Kmart logo at all! It was the one that was adopted in the early to mid 1990s. Kmart was changed from the Samuel S Kresge company in the early 1960s.

[@jackson5116]

"Store looks like it's out of the 80's..." after showing a late-1990's cooler to start the video- news flash those coolers were installed in the BIG Kmart conversion of the late-90's! That was the last time they truly renovated these under Floyd Hall. Yes, the took the cheap approach, and added the coolers, painted, threw up those triangles, changed the signage, but that was also 20 years before 2017.

[@MustardMan7321]

There is one Kmart left in Richmond, VA. It's on the other side of the city from where I live. The last time I was in a Kmart was December 2012. I went with a roommate to one in Fairfax, VA. For some reason he really wanted to get Christmas lights at Kmart; so I drove him there. The store was messy and the aisles were really narrow. They still had an entire aisle devoted to Halloween candy.

[@lakebay972]

Narrow aisles? That's definitely '70s/'80s! hahaha As the 2000s came along, typical K-mart shoppers became a bunch of lard-asses. Unfortunately, the narrow aisles couldn't accommodate them anymore.

[@krisnelson2653]

You drove all the way from Richmond to Fairfax? Lol

[@Deshonrados]

Was there one in Fairfax? I would always go to the one in Chantilly that's located in the Lowe's shopping center there. Not sure if they're the same one though. But they closed that one a while ago

[@stueygriffith4671]

question: WHERE IS K-MRT ON THE RADIO DIAL? a jazzy MUZAK-inspired radio station is SOOOO needed in 2019 America!

[@alb9047]

That is long gone

[@rylandunlap6986]

My kmart is only 10 minutes away, but then a Wal-Mart opened up a year ago. Checked the store, it was empty. Great video you did. That is our only kmart in the spokane area.

[@rjjone2]

I’ve been watching a ton of your stuff during COVID and this particular video is excellent. I have sooo many memories of Kmart growing up. I remember my parents and grandparents shopping there and they would get me some cheap toy and an icee. I also remember using the quarter machines a lot by the front doors. Thanks for capturing all this.

[@ArchSorcerer]

That old Kmart logo looks more like the Australian Kmart logo.

[@chroniclea9058]

That's because it's the new one

[@zachmcewen4048]

the Australian chain does not have any affiliation to our American one except in name.

[@electron2601]

They actually used the same logo when they open a store a few years ago.

[@andysorensen1737]

Last time I was in my still surviving hometown Kmart it was January 2014. They still advertised a "Home video" section.

[@marcuskisto174]

This exact kmart was a childhood kmart for me. kinda sad they're closing out soon but not surprised

[@opheliavalentine6058]

Marcus Kisto Me too! I grew up a couple miles east from there on the other side of the I-17. My childhood neighborhood is so different today. The blockbuster and Starbucks on Northern Ave we frequently visited are now gone. The light rail has also changed the ambient in that area making Northern Ave. highly contested with people. It used to be such a quiet area.

[@upstatenewyork]

Wow. That must be tough seeing this.

[@account4info]

@@upstatenewyork The entire area has gone to hell. metrocenter closed, when the light rail made it to dunlap, so did the finest upstanding citizens from south phoenix. Some nights I fall asleep to the sound of gunshots.

[@upstatenewyork]

@@account4info wow, that's sad to hear. and yet so familiar in these times. what a bummer. thanks for your comment. good to have insights. i hate that you have to fall asleep to gunshots sometimes. life is hard to handle. takes alot of guts.

[@kristyw3407]

This brought back so many childhood memories for me!! Kmart was THE place during the late 70’s - mid 80’s. I remember hanging out in the Barbie 😍section picking out either a Barbie or a Barbie outfit (depending on Mom’s budget) as a reward for being good while she shopped. Every Christmas we’d pick out the cutest decorations for the tree. I remember buying my first record album at Kmart. 💕💕The record department was magical to me.- the shelves with all the 45 singles lined up , looking at the artwork on the 45 sleeves ; I just loved checking those out. ❤️ We must of went to Kmart every Saturday. If me and my cousin went with my grandmother we’d be there all day because man could that woman shop. Lol. So we’d run around the store checking out games and electronics. We had pocket change so we’d eventually go to the cafeteria in the middle of the store while we waited on grandma to finish shopping. I remember trying my first bacon cheeseburger there, which was fantastic. The bacon was a game changer for me! Lol. You could always find cute and fun clothes there. On one trip I tried to get my grandmother to buy me a KISS T-shirt but she had heard the false urban myth rumor about the name meaning knights in satan’s service , so that was a no go. 😂 By the mid 80’s there was a new mall built close by and being a teenager, I gravitated to the mall when it came to clothes. Then we moved to an area that had a Walmart- which initially I did not like. I preferred K mart over Walmart, but unfortunately we could not deny Walmart had way cheaper prices. So over time we’d either go to the mall or Walmart. Thanks for posting the video. Kmart will always hold a special place in my 💜.

[@TheRedDevil_NC]

I loved the Kmart commericals shown at halftime of the NASL soccer games.

[@Disneyfan95]

this Kmart is from 1978

[@Disneyfan95]

+Stevo Makarov no it's not. I checked online

[@BaconBePropane]

TheNascarfan14 looks like the old one near my childhood home, which was probably built the same year.

[@silicon212]

TheNascarfan14 you are absolutely correct. 1978 is when this one was built. I was a child at the time but remember the store opening. Had family that lived nearby.

[@lakebay972]

Yes, the pegboards gave it away.

[@NascarFan-qq4lu]

TheNascarfan14 hey who is your favorite driver? mine is Chase Elliot and Dale Jr.

[@ericfresh]

How does a gate rust that hard in the desert?

[@charliegrs]

It does rain here quite a bit during the monsoon season in the summer. As Im writing this we are under a flash flood warning.

[@MrGuitarjmw]

I grew up less than 2 miles away from this store and now live about 5 miles away. Things do rust here. Today has been raining and we have high humidity during the end of July and most of August.

[@dgardner7259]

Also, the garden department often puts up plastic and vinyl tarps along with trees and tall plants and they spray water frequently to keep them hydrated. The combination will often prematurely rust and deteriorate. it is unusual in Arizona for an iron fence like that to just rust apart without having somethgn that retains water nar it, like bags of fertilizer, plants, etc.

[@Ebolter1]

Chinese metal , don't laugh

[@silicon212]

Not from 1978 it isn't. It is probably due to water from hydrating plants.

[@DaniRadioCat]

My first job was the Kmart in East Greenbush (located right across the river from Albany, NY) on Route 20... worked there in the early 2000s... said Kmart closed in 2014 along with the other ones in the Albany area and was demolished fairly recently in favor of a car dealer moving in (my cousin Dana is looking to get back in the car sales business... the earlier rumor was the Price Chopper supermarket moving in to said lot after demolition but they elected to remain in their 38 year old building further up on Route 20 for their conversion to Market 32)

[@PsychoDon904]

My childhood K-Mart shutdown way back in 2013 and it's a empty building rotting ever since. The last one that I know of in the Jacksonville FL area near my work shut down several months ago and idk if there's any left in Florida which I doubt it.

[@wrestlingotaku6411]

The one on Normandy Blvd? I think they just closed recently.

[@davinp]

My Childhood KMart (in Virginia) closed in December 2014 after 33 years of business. The building sat abandoned until last summer when At Home moved in. Google Maps Street View still shows the abandoned building as they have not updated the picture. I recently saw a commercial on TV that Kmart is having a summer blowout sale

[@PsychoDon904]

WrestlingOtaku Yeah that one. My last visit there was like about 9 months ago.

[@Queen1108]

My childhood Kmart in Hialeah FL just closed last week, but on Saturday I went to a Kmart near Doral that is still open and supposedly there are no plans to close down yet. That might be the last one in Florida.

[@frankiev-tech4630]

wow the 49th street one closed!? WOW and I drive by there everyday and I didn't even noticed...awwww I will always remember myself there shopping in the 80's. The slushi and popcorn days

[@Rick_Foley]

The round vents are so mid-century modern. Going to be sad to see them be lost in demolition.

[@theuselessmember]

Rick Foley I literally cannot remember the last time I've seen one of those in person. Probably in an old mall from when I was in a kid in the early 2000's.

[@fixman88]

+Rick Foley Yeah, those are very old-school; the new Walmart Supercenter where I live doesn't even have a dropped ceiling and you can see all the HVAC ducting and the vents have flat bottoms with eight slots pointing out the sides in all directions; they also have big black stenciled letters on them like "U11". They look very utilitarian, almost military. They also have these mysterious white boxes on the ceiling with handles on them and I haven't been able to figure out what they're for.

[@watershed44]

Rick Foley I think they go back to the early 60s.

[@petenielsen6683]

The round vents are practically new compared to the stores that were originally built as SS Kresge stores and changed over to Kmart in the early 1970s. The one where I worked did not have them and was such a store that was built in the early 60s.

[@jonathancreveling5658]

Kmarts built after the 80s had the "egg-crate" type vents in the ceiling

[@videodoodler]

That Kmart logo on the 'store closing' banner has never officially been used by Kmart in the USA (look at the shape of the 't' - it is different from the original Kmart logo). The logo is actually the Australian Kmart logo, used since 1991. Perhaps some confused graphic designer used an Australian logo by mistake.

[@Chilakkuma]

I scrolled until I found this comment, it's like whoever made the banners just didn't care. Our Kmart is thriving, but I remember them being more like this when I was a kid.

[@nosleeep6094]

i remember shopping at kmart as kid with my grandma and i always loved kmart. and this was back in the mid 2000s. this walmart looked almost just like the one we would shop at. the nostlagia is crazy.

[@jw6948]

Every Kmart I've been in has always been more expensive that it's competitors. Still tho, sad to see them all disappear.

[@747captain]

I love how every K Mart had the same giant round air vents in the ceiling. That was a K Mart signature as far as I'm concerned. That, and they all have/had the same smell.

[@hsucic77]

Wow. Such a shame. Kmart here in Australia is nothing like this. Our stores are awesome and bright and vibrant and addictive

[@chevymontmarlo]

Lucky you

[@electron2601]

Yeah it's a completely different chain.

[@jhhone]

Can I still SHIP my pants at Kmart?

[@ChevyCamaroIsBetter]

Howard Stern huge gas savings.

[@lynnpayne9519]

You can but don't use the bathroom.

[@sundownsigns]

Attention K-Mart shoppers! We are closing, FOREVER.

[@joechevy2035]

When I see a store closing sale, I stay away. Store closing meains mark everything up higher than their successful competitors and try to fool you into thinking you're getting a "bargain."

[@upstatenewyork]

Haha!

[@seanhartnett79]

Honestly I passed on a liquidating game stop because I game on steam on a computer. And it was a pandemic

[@silicon212]

This K-mart was built in 1978. The one in Mesa was built in 1993.

[@kittysushi9915]

It looks like it was built in the late 70's! Good information!

[@lakebay972]

Yep, the pegboard gave it away.

[@deendrew36]

Crazy! In my city, the Kmarts were all gone by the mid to late 90’s.

[@account4info]

You can tell the age of a Kmart store by the thickness of the layers of dust

[@manuelmejia7568]

The Kmart in Phoenix is a standard design that I have seen at other parts of the country. That yellow closeout logo you showed was a 1970s vintage font.

[@electron2601]

Actually it's a slightly updated font that the Astralian Kmart chain used.

[@DanielBlasVevo]

o live in Phoenix and its sad to see this happen i remember when i used to go there 😳

[@xplorearizona154]

Royal Blas That area will be full on homeless people soon. I work the street advertising crew that closed it. Lots of homeless then. The one in Mesa on Power road closed today.

[@flamingpikachu4479]

I remember back in 2012 or 2013 in this same Kmart I was shopping and when I saw the abandoned Kmart it makes me sad I had a few memories

[@zachhendrix01]

The Kmart store by my house is hiring.

[@zachhendrix01]

Jacob Smith I don't know, I guess they're still going (the store near me)

[@lindal3132]

can u give me application

[@shadowwolfess4504]

Zach Hendrix I feel bad for whoever's ignorant Enough to apply, be hired, then get kicked off cause of how close to entirely collapsing the Kmart company is to leaning to.

[@xplorearizona154]

Zach Hendrix this one was hiring up until the day it closed.

[@trooper326]

@@xplorearizona154 "Congratulations your hired" (looks at watch) "Sorry we going to have to let you go."

[@tatea3890]

haha I just had a tire blowout on the I17 and I was in this KMarts parking lot.

[@BurtBowers]

I want the K sign...

[@shipped_my_pants_3000]

I remember going to KMart with my family after we saw Return Of The Jedi in a theatre in 1983, and buying some action figures.

[@DDBurnett1]

This Kmart doesn't look that bad, to be honest. The shelves appear decently stocked and *gasp* there's TVs for sale in the electronics section. I'm comparing it to the Kmarts in and around Portland, Oregon, which will probably closing as well in the near future.

[@NPUTsReviewsandStopmotion]

There is only about 5 left in Texas and none here in Houston, and we are the 4th largest city by pop. in the U.S

[@SpearM3064]

Ours is still open. (Wake Village, TX.)

[@lakebay972]

There's one in the DFW area. It's in ghetto Duncanville and it looks like something from a psycho slasher movie.

[@williamhaynes7089]

phoenix has 0 left now, last one closing and were top ten city in population as well

[@lightdark00]

Kmarts never survived in big cities within the past decade. Too much completion. If a city is the right smaller size, with no Walmart too close, that's prime Kmart territory.

[@dukeco3390]

Support your local kmart!

[@marssinner8707]

Our Kmart makes me so uncomfortable, it’s such a ghost town and makes me feel like I’m in the 80s lol every time I go in there I think about how boring it’d be to work there

[@Krysdavar]

lol I worked at Kmart In 1989-1990, and they played "Red, Red, Wine" over, and over, and over, and over. Still remember that, and is why I still hate that song. :-(

[@SynchroSk8]

Right? I was an associate at PetSmart in the early 2000's and there are a few songs that I have flashbacks on when I hear them now.

[@snowandice8804]

Krysdavar When I worked there in 1999 and again in 2003 they would always play "Stay the Night" by Benjamin Orr. Good song, though.

[@Firevine]

I worked at a Regal Cinemas as my first job back in 1997, and I hate Total Eclipse of the Heart for the same reason.

[@MaxRoc21]

Krysdavar i worked in Starbucks for 6 months & i listened to almost all christmas songs non stop for a month lol

[@Krysdavar]

Yuck, thank garsh x-mas wasn't popularized 'as much' back in the late 80's/early 90's.

[@pizzaboi2822]

Guam Kmart will NEVER die!!! Not even a North Korean nuke can kill it! Business is strong here!!! Guam Kmart was built in 92' about 3 years before I was born. And Guam Kmart is our biggest most busiest store. (No Walmarts or targets here) and Guam Kmart looks nothing like that Kmart. Our Kmart looks great.

[@godzillazona_9695]

It's now the 5th largest city as of this year. Nice video btw, I might check it out soon

[@seanhartnett79]

Where?

[@acidpurewarrior]

Thats the 2004 kmart logo. Either remodeled or its actually one of the newer stores but after they opened the last kmarts they started to neglect their stores so that store might of never been taken care of

[@Satoshi9801]

Perhaps they just changed the sign on the building and maybe some banners in the store.

[@InfinityPets]

Two of my Kmarts closed and one became a Walmart and the other became a Korean Market so there's only two left in my county a believe.

[@MatthewBaran]

I have a Kmart near my work that had a going out of business sale 3 months ago, but now the sign is gone. I'm not sure why they're staying open, but someone is paying the bill lol.

[@brookegallo5625]

Wow kinda weird seeing this my grandma lives quite close to that k mart and I always drove past it, kinda weird seeing the inside

[@Satoshi9801]

I haven't been to Kmart since I lived in Ohio. Now I live in the Phoenix area, in South Tempe to be exact, so unless I were to drive out to Tolleson or Superstition Springs, which I don't know why I'd do, I won't be going to Kmart anytime soon. (Maybe I might visit this store before it closes in October, but I doubt it.) Anyway, this video made me cry at how neglected this store was. If Eddie Lampert has children, I just hope he doesn't treat them like Kmart and Sears. At least you can be arrested for child neglect, but unfortunately, you can't be charged with retail neglect.

[@judcrandall6762]

What Eddie Lampert is doing to Sears and Kmart isn't retail NEGLECT - it more like retail RAPE!!!

[@Satoshi9801]

Jud Crandall You're right. I vastly understated it.

[@williamhaynes7089]

your kmart was at baseline and priest, its now a home depot

[@Satoshi9801]

@@williamhaynes7089 I never would have guessed it was once a Kmart till I looked it up. Same with the one in Ahwatukee that's now JCPenney.

[@windogewizardly1170]

I see somebody's still getting used to the new camera. Either way man good job as always!

[@calmfulspider]

One near me was closing and I got a nice pair of PJ pants for $1.

[@certifiedfinest5065]

TheLizzerd did it fall apart yet?

[@marcosaperez16]

my kmart became a biglots

[@burdickd2]

My Kmart became the local welfare office.

[@IGotThePooDoo]

Fitting.

[@jopen488]

Big Lots is better :)

[@MasaomiKida251]

My K Mart is still empty after a few months closing but the Big Lots next to it since it was a joint building is still up.

[@watershed44]

Marco Perez I wonder if there is some kind of arrangement between K Mart and Big Lots, perhaps much of the existing merchandise in the K Mart is just sold to Big Lots and then cleared out that way. Could be.

[@ChiselMouse]

Guess I'm just old fashioned, but I have to admit that the type of shopping trends that are responsible for a lot of the recent retail downfall totally escape me. People don't want to shop in stores or malls that aren't brand new or recently decorated. I say who cares what it looks like...I'm just going to buy toothpaste or socks or whatever. And though I get that you can find things cheaper online, I want to see them in person before I buy them. Yeah, I know, what a dinosaur.

[@Satoshi9801]

I understand. I don't want brick-and-mortar to die either. Why should I have to wait for a delivery truck when I can just drive somewhere and get it myself? Unfortunately, it seems like it's getting harder to find what I want locally.

[@popcorn7135]

My local Kmart got demolished not to long ago

[@dukeco3390]

Are you going to be ok?

[@oscarcarrillo6984]

That store already closed. I went to that location a couple of weeks ago and it was a Ross and the building looked brand new.

[@RetailArchaeology]

+Oscar Carrillo That sounds like the main and Lindsay store in Mesa. That one's been close for a long time. This one's in Phoenix.

[@HoLDoN4Sec]

that place is so dead, in this video the first time you see people other than yourself is at the 14:30 minute mark with the security guy and then 14:55 with few people . lol

[@account4info]

The only cars in the lot are from the people that worked there. That store held on until a walmart opened at metrocenter a mile away

[@SilentwolfRAWR]

I believe they're closing them based on how much money they make.

[@siouxmoux3]

How many Kmart's left in in the world

[@howardstern9129]

John Riopel 145

[@777jones]

3.50

[@stevenlarabee3439]

365 and the stores in Australia that much kmart are left

[@cowtippingrocks]

Rain man: "Kmart sucks"

[@Almighty_cornholio]

The last Kmart in phoenix... I say good riddance

[@cregazw]

Likewise

[@MvdL56]

Hey fyi, there is a kmart in tucson, Address: 7055 E Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85710.

[@bchristian85]

Wal-Mart put K-Mart out of business long ago. Both K-Marts in my town have been gone since at least the late aughts. I can't really remember the last time I went so I don't know exactly when it closed.

[@clink76]

what's the affiliation with Sears? Were they bought out?

[@gryff1n76]

What's neat is that I saw a Kmart ad during this, not on KZbin but on my TV

[@Maximara]

The K-mart near where I grew up (Columbus, OH) closed back in the 1970s and was turned into an indoor flee market for a while (it is currently abandoned). Las Cruces, NM had two, one of which closed in 2013 and was converted into a church while they kept the smaller one by the interstate open but it didn't have much traffic even during Christmas and was closed Sept 2017.

[@account4info]

What was the restaurant that was on the north side of the Kmart before it was the dynasty that closed due to a fire?

[@Maximara]

@@account4info No idea what it was before it was Dynasty Super Buffet Chinese Cuisine. I wasn't even in that part of Las Cruces (originally lived near I-25 on main) until 2001 and other then bell rising for the Salvation Army didn't give either K-mart a second thought.

[@TorquilMcLeod]

The Kmart store cassettes are great.

[@randys7512]

That is the second liquidation for that store, it closed in 2001 and was reopened about a year later, the auto repair is sublet to some independent mechanic and the village inn in front closed 2003-2004 ish. Other Kmarts that closed in the late 90's early 2K's were Bell and 19th ave and 32st and Cactus which is interesting because kmart demoed their old store on the same site and built a brand new store on the same location which strangely was open less than 3 years as K mart, then was the great indoors, sears outlet and other sears related brands no one frequents.

[@miami4253]

I think the only retail businesses in my area that have stayed open at the same location since the '80s are JC Penny, Sears, and a locally-owned book store. All the grocery stores have flipped as well.

[@Shonuff42080]

I swear the last Kmart I went into look liked the one in the commercial only dingy.

[@rampaget8437]

Loved the old Kmart music

[@1998MonroeNYColonial]

Kmart used to have exclusive models of Lakewood manufactured box fans such as the K-223, P-23, P-48, and what not sold back in the 70's and 80's. You can find vintage fans like those videoed here in KZbin.

[@AnArchyRulzz]

When you can't run a business selling cheap Chinese bullshit you know there is something fundamentally at issue with the economy. These companies were rocked by the 2008 recession and we are just now seeing the after effects, compounded by the fact that people have less money to spend than they did before 2008 and you have a recipe for disaster. People blaming all of this retail decline on the internet and Amazon are way oversimplifying the case. Like anything it is multifaceted and nuanced

[@duaneshuster6366]

Good video keep us updated: We lost our Kmart years ago in Greensburg Pa 15601 next to Greengate Mall on us rt 30 westbound. They had one I'm latrobe pa that moved about a mile and it's fading fast but it is not the classic Kmart style.

[@zlikurac4840]

We dont live in the 70s anymore guys if you need to buy something big you go to amazon or something online if you want groceries you go to walmart, costco or whatever you have and that is why every big store chain is gonna go bankrupt sometime later or earlier

[@jyudat4433]

9:12 shoutout to LGR!!

[@RetailArchaeology]

+brian2559 he's one of my most favorite KZbin content creators 😁

[@fyourfeelings3946]

I remember the days when mom and dad could smoke inside the store while shopping

[@AnintuneProductions]

Great Video! I'd love to see the follow up video, I hope you had a chance to catch the final days of that location.

[@evangelionsimba]

So did you make it back to the store yet?

[@ccateni28]

The Manchester, CT one (never been to) was closed in 2002 due to BANKRUPTCY, but the Vernon on is still intact and operating.

[@hurech272]

No deli? I remember the closest Kmart to where I grew up had a deli right in the center of the store.

[@pillow6191]

I love how kmart australia (owned by wesfarmer instead of Kmart US) is growing more then this place is dieing.

[@dragon-sb6hc]

My mom worked at Kmart from 70 to 95. Everything i wore was from there especially blue light specal lol