R.I.P. K-Mart

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Attention, Kmart shoppers: It's the end of an era.

The blue light is officially set to turn off once and for all at the last full-size Kmart in the U.S. According to the Associated Press, an employee confirmed that October 20 is the last day the Bridgehampton, New York, location will remain open.

 

[leodisflowers]

Sad day.

 

[HBK4life]

Attention, Kmart shoppers: It's the end of an era.

The blue light is officially set to turn off once and for all at the last full-size Kmart in the U.S. According to the Associated Press, an employee confirmed that October 20 is the last day the Bridgehampton, New York, location will remain open.

 

[Charlie Marlow]

A-Mart and T-Mart’s oldest brother

 

[GaRed]

Damn sure have some good memories of that place, heck I miss the 70's .

 

[SomedayHusker]

A-Mart and T-Mart’s oldest brother

Seems like more of a middle child 🤔

 

[drubendall]

Attention, Kmart shoppers: It's the end of an era.

The blue light is officially set to turn off once and for all at the last full-size Kmart in the U.S. According to the Associated Press, an employee confirmed that October 20 is the last day the Bridgehampton, New York, location will remain open.

It seems when a company has a competitor come into their space, they are rarely successfully in fending it off, at least in the retail or restaurant industry. When they are coming, you are cooked.

But I can’t imagine an upstart could come along and dig Walmart’s grave. Maybe it’s possible. Sears and Kmart certainly got curb stomped.

 

[schuele]

I remember when Sears and K-Mart announced their big "merger" a few years ago.

I likened it to a stone and an anvil pairing up as swim buddies.

 

[drubendall]

Damn sure have some good memories of that place, heck I miss the 70's .

Me too. There were all of these local or regional retailers in groceries, clothing, homegoods or hardware where you actually knew the owners because they were on site. That is pretty much a thing of the past everywhere with exception to a few boutiques

 

[dinglefritz]

It seems when a company has a competitor come into their space, they are rarely successfully in fending it off, at least in the retail or restaurant industry. When they are coming, you are cooked.

But I can’t imagine an upstart could come along and dig Walmart’s grave. Maybe it’s possible. Sears and Kmart certainly got curb stomped.

Walmart did it in part by somewhat deceptive advertising. A client of mine was a KMart manager 25 years ago. He pointed out how WalMart would “price compare” products and invariably the Walmart version would be a certain percentage smaller. Walmart’s marketing campaigns were very effective but now they’re battling Amazon. Walmart kicks HyVee’s ass on pricing on many things. HyVee’s niche is customer service and their meat counter in our area is their number one profit center.

 

[cornhustler]

Always been a S-Mart guy, "shop smart, shop S-Mart."

 

[RBigredMax]

They gave us this little gem and I will forever be grateful…

 

[goldencohusker]

I remember when Sears and K-Mart announced their big "merger" a few years ago.

I likened it to a stone and an anvil pairing up as swim buddies.

No kidding. Look no further than how they combined to drive probably their best known brand for quality, Craftsman hand tools, into the ground. Sears thought no one would notice if they moved the production of Craftsman tools from the US to China and discontinue the lifetime warranty. Kmart then enters the picture and completes the devalue of the brand by selling at their retail outlets where no quality tool brand would ever expect to be found before offloading it to Black and Decker. A group of marketing 101 students could have probably come up with a better strategy than the Sears/Kmart brain trust.

 

[The_Man_Behind_The_Man]

I worked part-time at K-Mart. It was my first experience in retail. It was ok. K-Mart’s problem was poor supply chain. We never had enough of the items prior to a big sale. Always had to do rain-checks. I would go back in time if I could. Being young, having fun, and when the Huskers were really good and on their way to being Elite!

 

[Big bo fan]

Sad day.

Kmart has been closed for years the last store just closed .

 

[TFrazier]

Kmart has been closed for years the last store just closed .

 

[drubendall]

I worked part-time at K-Mart. It was my first experience in retail. It was ok. K-Mart’s problem was poor supply chain. We never had enough of the items prior to a big sale. Always had to do rain-checks. I would go back in time if I could. Being young, having fun, and when the Huskers were really good and on their way to being Elite!

I mostly remember just wandering the aisles aimlessly during the Christmas season, trying to find useless crap to give family members.

Then we got a little Caesars, which was a nice addition, but that wore off quickly because their pizza is and always has been terrible.

 

[schuele]

No kidding. Look no further than how they combined to drive probably their best known brand for quality, Craftsman hand tools, into the ground. Sears thought no one would notice if they moved the production of Craftsman tools from the US to China and discontinue the lifetime warranty. Kmart then enters the picture and completes the devalue of the brand by selling at their retail outlets where no quality tool brand would ever expect to be found before offloading it to Black and Decker. A group of marketing 101 students could have probably come up with a better strategy than the Sears/Kmart brain trust.

When Sears was still upright but clearly losing its traction as a major retailer, it should have salvaged its still-popular brands like Craftsman tools, Kenmore appliances and Die-Hard batteries by supplying them to retailers where people actually shopped - like Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy, etc. Instead they waited way too long to do anything proactive and ended up selling off those brands just to raise some cash - probably so they could give parachutes to the head dinosaurs.

 

[drubendall]

When Sears was still upright but clearly losing its traction as a major retailer, it should have salvaged its still-popular brands like Craftsman tools, Kenmore appliances and Die-Hard batteries by supplying them to retailers where people actually shopped - like Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy, etc. Instead they waited way too long to do anything proactive and ended up selling off those brands just to raise some cash - probably so they could give parachutes to the head dinosaurs.

Whoever came up with the name Diehard is a legend in my book. Damn that is good.

 

[schuele]

Whoever came up with the name Diehard is a legend in my book. Damn that is good.

Advance Auto Parts sells those batteries now. I bought one a few years ago but I can't really vouch for the quality because I sold the car a couple of years later. It was definitely a better battery than the piece-of-crap original that Subaru put in the car in the first place, but not sure if they are as good as the old days.

 

[NikkiSixx]

I'll go ahead and post my K-mart history.. as an enterprising 12 year old, I attempted to steal a telescopic fishing rod, multiple lures, line, weights, and tackle inside a tackle box, placed inside a plastic bag and stapled with some old k-mart receipt that I brought along for the heist.

I got about 3 steps out the door and never made it to my getaway bicycle before I was busted, mother & police called and ended up having to come on a weekend and polish the chrome on all the shelving units in the main store all day on Saturday and Sunday.

This was the K-Mart on 108th & Maple.. those were the days... but I sure as hell didn't try anything like that again.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

I'll go ahead and post my K-mart history.. as an enterprising 12 year old, I attempted to steal a telescopic fishing rod, multiple lures, line, weights, and tackle inside a tackle box, placed inside a plastic bag and stapled with some old k-mart receipt that I brought along for the heist.

I got about 3 steps out the door and never made it to my getaway bicycle before I was busted, mother & police called and ended up having to come on a weekend and polish the chrome on all the shelving units in the main store all day on Saturday and Sunday.

This was the K-Mart on 108th & Maple.. those were the days... but I sure as hell didn't try anything like that again.

"get away bicycle..." Bahahaha

 

[NikkiSixx]

"get away bicycle..." Bahahaha

yep, I had it stashed in the bushes behind the store.. there was trail back there that led to an apartment complex that I could 'lose them' in before making the 2 mile trip out to fort and 120th streets.. lmao

 

[schuele]

yep, I had it stashed in the bushes behind the store.. there was trail back there that led to an apartment complex that I could 'lose them' in before making the 2 mile trip out to fort and 120th streets.. lmao

You are the victim of bad timing. It was too early back then to sue K-Mart for the emotional trauma, and now it’s too late.

 

[BTF69]

I worked part-time at K-Mart. It was my first experience in retail. It was ok. K-Mart’s problem was poor supply chain. We never had enough of the items prior to a big sale. Always had to do rain-checks. I would go back in time if I could. Being young, having fun, and when the Huskers were really good and on their way to being Elite!

Rain checks and layaway! Remember that?

I lived about 2 blocks from one growing up, in the summer, it was not unheard of for me and my friends to ride our bikes (and sometimes steal shit) from K-mart 4-5 times a day.

The one near me had a cafeteria, we would eat stuff there. We would walk around, look at the toys, later the taps and then CD's near "the end".

I remember it when it started to become "uncool" to have Kmart stuff. I remember when I found out it was closing, it turned into a grocery store, Dominicks, for a bit. Now that spot is a much smaller Aldi with a few other more speciality stores that were brought in.

I still remember the old joke...

What did the bird say when it flew over K-Mart??


"Cheap, cheap, cheap"

 

[BTF69]

I'll go ahead and post my K-mart history.. as an enterprising 12 year old, I attempted to steal a telescopic fishing rod, multiple lures, line, weights, and tackle inside a tackle box, placed inside a plastic bag and stapled with some old k-mart receipt that I brought along for the heist.

I got about 3 steps out the door and never made it to my getaway bicycle before I was busted, mother & police called and ended up having to come on a weekend and polish the chrome on all the shelving units in the main store all day on Saturday and Sunday.

This was the K-Mart on 108th & Maple.. those were the days... but I sure as hell didn't try anything like that again.

Ha! I also got busted by a K-Mart "Loss prevention specialist"

My buddy got away on his bike but I did not...I can still remember seeing one of the workers up front looking at me and my friend funny as we were walking out, I realized later it was because he saw the K-Mart cop following us. I do wonder how much following he did that day, we did a lot of work to steal some tapes.

Mom got called, I denied it and said I bought the tape from another store. So to prove i stole it, he said he would ring it up and when the price showed, it would be clear I stole it.

So he rang it up, I still remember it "FILE NOT FOUND", he rang it again "FILE NOT FOUND" he apologized to me and my mom and let me go, with the tape I stole! Unreal luck

 

[drubendall]

Advance Auto Parts sells those batteries now. I bought one a few years ago but I can't really vouch for the quality because I sold the car a couple of years later. It was definitely a better battery than the piece-of-crap original that Subaru put in the car in the first place, but not sure if they are as good as the old days.

I’ve never put much thought into my battery while living in Nebraska, but growing up in some cold Minnesota winters as a kid, people definitely cared about the name on the battery

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

Waaay hack in the day when we had a KMart open up near us (Stoney Brook Blvd location, now a U-Haul atore) My best friend at the time (who since died cause he tried to outrun a train at a crossing in Carter Lake and didnt make it) decided it would be cool to be the first custumers thru their doors so we got there early and waited for the grand opening....doors were unlocked and we were the first official customers that walked thru their doors. Remember watching them cut the ribbon to.

I remember buying shotgun shells there in middle school...then later $.99 cans of freon when I got into buying and selling cars...they all had carburetor's back then and almost all of them had chokes that were out of adjustment and to adjust em correctly the assembly had to be cold so I'd pirece a can of freon and hit it. Went from a 90 degree day to below freezing in 10 seconds...haha. They had a solid automotive section.

 

[BTF69]

Waaay hack in the day when we had a KMart open up near us (Stoney Brook Blvd location, now a U-Haul atore) My best friend at the time (who since died cause he tried to outrun a train at a crossing in Carter Lake and didnt make it) decided it would be cool to be the first custumers thru their doors so we got there early and waited for the grand opening....doors were unlocked and we were the first official customers that walked thru their doors. Remember watching them cut the ribbon to.

I remember buying shotgun shells there in middle school...then later $.99 cans of freon when I got into buying and selling cars...they all had carburetor's back then and almost all of them had chokes that were out of adjustment and to adjust em correctly the assembly had to be cold so I'd pirece a can of freon and hit it. Went from a 90 degree day to below freezing in 10 seconds...haha. They had a solid automotive section.

My god, I forgot about that, they had the automotive section and garages and guns!

I also bought a bowling ball from there!

I remember the "sporting goods" section of the store never had anyone working there, it was always a ghost town. You would have to find someone and ask for help. And it was way in the back, totally off on its own.

 

[wholeo]

I can't even remember when Kmart closed in Kearney along with Alco & Hinky Dinky.

 

[drubendall]

My god, I forgot about that, they had the automotive section and garages and guns!

I also bought a bowling ball from there!

I remember the "sporting goods" section of the store never had anyone working there, it was always a ghost town. You would have to find someone and ask for help. And it was way in the back, totally off on its own.

There is a modern parallel today when it comes to electronics in Walmart or Target. You rarely find anyone there. if you do, and they are knowledgeable, that’s like finding a unicorn. my only conclusion is that the expect people to know what they want and make their own decision because of price. I’m looking at 10 laptops and make my best guess. Ive heard of HP. That should be a good one.

 

[BTF69]

There is a modern parallel today when it comes to electronics in Walmart or Target. You rarely find anyone there. if you do, and they are knowledgeable, that’s like finding a unicorn. my only conclusion is that the expect people to know what they want and make their own decision because of price. I’m looking at 10 laptops and make my best guess. Ive heard of HP. That should be a good one.

Back in the day as a kid, I worked at at Service Merchandise (if anyone remembers those) and back then our dudes in the Electronics were ALL ABOUT it, and I think they got commission too.

I worked in "sporting goods" which turned out to be the toy section.