Ultimate History of Kmart in Cheyenne - DeepDive24 (Cheyenne, WY) | Optopolis

[@tanionnorford3316]

I see someone using historical aerial views

[@Optopolis]

Who!??!? I wanna know! Lol. That is one of my favorite resources now!

[@tanionnorford3316]

You're welcome that I found that.

[@mdrdprtcl]

I’ve never even been to Cheyenne, but now I know!

[@Optopolis]

My Kmart store in Cheyenne is the first instance I've explicitly heard of where two Kmart stores moved into one. Not sure if its the only instance, but I know it's not super common either.

[@LivingtheDream710v]

Your best deep dive yet! That's so crazy I totally forgot that that was a Kmart! I also had bo idea about the Jonah bank location!!!

[@Optopolis]

Cheers! Once upon a time, I had no idea of the Jonah biz one either. When I first learned of it, it was only through word of mouth, so back then, I could only have imagined what it looked like. The Yellowstone one--I could put 2 n 2 together, but even it isn't as easy to imagine since I'd never seen it as Kmart before.

[@j.taylor3670]

I was wondering why Hobby Lobby seemed to have a garden center area in back...now I know, thanks to Optopolis!

[@Optopolis]

Yep, that would be why! There are many instances of this across the states too--Hobby Lobby has replaced many a Kmart. If you actually go to the rear of the building, you'll also notice they built a new loading dock behind Hobby Lobby. You can even see if from Rue Terre.

[@greeleyman]

Greeley's Super K converted to a call center around 2012, and the employees sent home to work during the pandemic and up until 2022. The building was purchased by Colorado Premium Foods and will produce meat products.

[@Optopolis]

That took a Twist I didn't see coming. I know the Habitat for Humanity restore tooknover part of the building as well, but they moved to JCPenney (I think Exploring Retails with Andrew went into the new store when he did his vid of Greeley Mall). I initially thought that the call center would expand into the rest of the building, but I guess my assumption was wrong, seeing what you mentioned!

[@EverythingStitch]

Bring back some many memories of living in Cheyenne and having Kmart open 😊

[@EverythingStitch]

It would be so cool if three stores could fit in that building of the old Kmart hopefully Burlington can come eventually

[@Optopolis]

@@EverythingStitch It would be, I agree! Who knows, maybe they still are interested. Last I checked, the realty signs that display the Burlington are still posted, and I haven't heard a "no" from Burlington, so maybe they still would if another trnant shows interest. Have to wait and see 🤞

[@rymates15]

Great video!

[@Optopolis]

Much appreciated, RYMATES! 🍻

[@landmind666]

If i remember the last kmart was a Walmart before kmart took over

[@Optopolis]

What okay that's wild. I guess they thought they had Walmart 😂 In seriousness, I'm now intrigued to look into that.

[@transmaster]

I also remember the dinner at Kmart. Never ate at it but is was there.

[@Optopolis]

Based on everything I've seen so far, it seems to me there was a time where the Kmart Cafe was more of a restaurant than-almost-a consessions stand. It was cool that they had the Kmart Grill ad in the local newspaper for the Cheyenne store too, I didn't fully expect to see that. I've heard their sub sandwiches were really good though; if I could somehow visit the old Pershing store today but like it was back then, that'd be one thing I'd want to try!

[@j.taylor3670]

So professionally produced! Well done!

[@Optopolis]

As a kid, I remember visiting the KCafe a few times. I seem to recall getting a pretzel from there. I have many a memory from my childhood, getting toys and clothing from this store. One particular thing I vividly remember getting was the Jolly Rancher Soda.

[@Optopolis]

*the third store

[@AndysRetailExploration]

Very informative video! My old local Kmart was the first store ever to open within the state before they expanded in other cities.

[@Optopolis]

Ah, that's cool!

[@AndysRetailExploration]

@@Optopolis Yup, never knew this until last year or so! I miss going to my local Kmart. It lasted 47 years from 1970 to 2017. Real shame it's gone...

[@carlaldrich7303]

This is great. I didn't know about the other locations. The Dell Range store already felt old when my family moved to Cheyenne in 1998 and barely held on the entire time I lived there (moved in 2008).

[@Optopolis]

It was definitely showing its signs when I was young. I remember most the aisles were already ridiculously wide, got worse in the 2010s. They got to a point where they barely had any electronics at all; I was more likely of finding an Xbox 360 game I wanted anywhere else than at Kmart.

[@twistysunshine]

You've got a great amount of detail in your content, I really appreciate this as Cheyenne history source! Edit: i was wondering if you had any knowledge about the building the restaurant The Office is in right now... when i was very small i remember it being the grocery store my mom took us to before it closed down. The sign had a big red apple on it. This had to be somewhere around the very late 90s very early 2000s

[@Optopolis]

Cheers! On the topic of The Office restaurant, the apple logo you are thinking of belongs to Econo Foods; I distantly yet distinctly remember when they also had a location at Cheyenne Plaza (where Sportsmans is now). I believe the present-day The Office was also Grocery Warehouse... Forgetting what other businesses (if any) at the moment occupied that part of the building. Albertsons also had a location in the building, though I believe it was not the whole thing, and right now, I can't remember/don't know if they were in the part that became The Office or more in the part where Railyard Cafe was recently located. I've heard Smiths (part of today's Kroger/Kingsoopers) was also in the building at one point although I don't know specifics of it or which part of the building they occupied.

[@Optopolis]

Here we go, Groceteria. It's not as detailed as other sources I've found in print form, but it's more detailed than a lot of other sources out there right now; it includes a listing of Smith's at the location of Pershing Plaza. I'm not sure how accurate or lacking it is in some aspects; I need to do more research yet before I can know. www.groceteria.com/place/us-wyoming/cheyenne/

[@twistysunshine]

@@Optopolis wow thanks for all this! Econo does sound right! I couldn't help with which end of that complex it was on, I was too young. This is all really nest tho!

[@shawnmatt9]

Did you see that laramies Kmart isn’t abandoned anymore? This means that none of the former Kmarts in Wyoming are vacant anymore

[@Optopolis]

Yeah, I recall coming across a news post about something going in there. I didn't think much about it, but yeah... I guess that does mean that.

[@Optopolis]

I saw someone bring up the Kmart lists, I suspect referencing Ben Schultz's Kmart lists. The comment seems to be deleted, but I'm addressing it here anyway. That list was made by a person outside of Kmart, by Ben of course. He's assembled it based on loads of data that was already available and also based on input from the retail community. That all being said, it's not perfect, and many dates in there are merely estimates due to the lack of information readily available. On the topic of the official 2002 Kmart list-- In the video, I obviously acknowledged the 2002 Kmart list that showed a different opening date for the Dell Range Kmart than the date given by the local news, Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Because both sources are typically reliable, I can't trust one or the other without further evidence to confirm the exact date. Maybe that doesn't even matter in the grand scheme of things, but I'd rather share the nuance than risk saying the wrong date. I suspect confirmation of this is going to be print and also in the most unexpected, obscure place imaginable, a place such that I or someone will likely randomly stumble upon it when researching something otherwise unrelated.

[@dakotawolf6832]

im glade that kmart is gone they were to high in there prices and there stuff was not that great to have i go a t.v. from there and i think it lasted a 3 month until no good

[@Optopolis]

In the final years of both Kmart and Sears, product quality definitely went down, and selection was less. I remember that the Dell Range Kmart's electronics section was wide open in its final years, and Sears wasn't much better. Not just electronics tho; when I was a kid, I got a belt from Sears that snapped like cardboard very quickly, pretty sure it was the next day using it the way you'd expect. I have other examples, but my point stands. Makes me sad. It's ironic that many products sold at one of their competitors are actually worse in quality; I once got earphones from wallyworld that, I kid you not, between the time I walked out the store and left the parking lot, it was already mostly broken (couldn't hardly hear out of one of the speakers). Granted it wasn't very expensive by any means, I think it is fair to expect it to at least last the whole day, not ten minutes or so. I could probably get better at Kmart... except that in the later years, chances are they didn't have such things in stock anymore.