Kmart in the 70s & 80s - Why We LOVED IT

it's the well-known brands and it's a savings it's a good good day to be in Kart Kart we have it and we have it today there are currently only two Kmart stores that remain open in the United States and embarrassingly one of them was forced to relocate all its operations in the former Garden Center, while the main area of ​​the building was rented to a more profitable tenant. This was certainly a humbling experience for a company that as recently as the 1980s reigned supreme as the king of American Discount stores. Just a few decades ago, Kmart operated more than 2,400 stores in all 50 states, and to millions of American families, shopping at Kmart was a monthly if not weekly event, join me on a trip back in time before the bankruptcies and before the great KS, let's go back to the days of Kmart coffees, mint green cigarettes and reserved orders, attention Kmart shoppers for the next few minutes, there will be a special blue light in the history room as we revisit the Golden Age of Kmart, the letter k in Kmart comes from the name of its founder Sebastian launching a kesy a man who if not the owner would probably have been a customer known for his stinginess kesy was said to wear cheap suits until they fell apart and put paper in his shoes when the souls wore out born on a farm outside of scranton, Pennsylvania in the 19th century.

Sebastian Kesy was raised on the principles of hard work and frugality, two traits that would serve him well in 1899, at age 34. Sebastian used his savings to open a chain of five diamond stores which he called SS. By the 1950s, Kesky had grown to 694 stores and was the second largest variety store chain in the United States, second only to Woolworth's, but the retail world was evolving and Kesky was determined to evolve with it on 1 March 1962 in a Detroit suburb. 4,000 curious customers lined up waiting for the grand opening of the country's first Kmart in Gard City Michigan as they entered.

Shoppers would find more than 75,000 feet of deals in a variety of departments including clothing, kitchen items, home improvement, sporting goods, electronics, cameras, jewelry, toys and much more. The store was a success and by the end of the year Kmart would open 17 more stores in cities across the country. In the 1960s, the availability of such a wide range of merchandise within a single store was new to most shoppers in decades past. Only retailers with such a wide variety of products would have been department stores like Seedar, which at the time were mainly located in larger city centers.

With the introduction of Kmart Suburban Shoppers were able to avoid the trip to the city and buy almost anything they wanted. They needed it in a convenient location near their home, and parking would be less of a hassle than at a downtown department store, since Kmart stores offered plenty of free parking in their own lots. Kmart continued to expand and by the early 1970s they had over 800 stores in operation. Racing across the country, giving them a seemingly insurmountable lead over any of their competitors in 1976, Kmart made history by opening 271 stores in one year. Kmart now had more than 1,000 stores with $8.4 billion in sales and remained the second largest retailer in the United States, only Sears was larger.

The great thing about Kmart was that it really did have something for everyone, families could go there for almost all the usual household needs and with the convenient locations and ample parking it was easy enough to stop and grab just the one or two items they needed. Of course, it was necessary that once you were inside a Kmart, there was a good chance that you would stay, unlike traditional department stores, Kmart made shopping carts available to its customers to use with the convenience of a cart, customers could carry more items without being overloaded, allowing them to spend more time browsing and filling those shopping carts when it was small.

I knew what to expect when we stopped at Kmart to do a couple quick things, as soon as my mom pulled out a shopping cart I knew we were going to be there for a while, but shopping with mom at Kmart wasn't that bad, although rolling around in the shopping cart seat while my mom perused the racks of polyester pants wasn't very exciting. They usually gave me a bag. of delicious popcorn from Kmart and maybe a cherry ice cream sundae to go with it. Flash Forward, a few years when I was old enough to graduate from the kitty seat and could roam around on my own, my life got even better as Kmart always had plenty of stuff to put away.

Kmart's toy department was larger than other stores and had better prices and traditional toy stores. Personally, I prefer to spend most of my time sorting matchboxes and hot boxes. The Wheels cars hanging from the dashboard were about 78, a Hot Wheels car was a prize I was sometimes lucky enough to take home, then just down the hall from the toys was the pet department with tropical fish, parakeets and hamsters, heading toward the Kmart Auto Center was a wall of playable car stereos and speakers. at volumes guaranteed to annoy every other shopper in the vicinity, when the Atari home gaming system came out, there were usually a ton of kids in the electronics department lining up to play Pitfall Missile Command or any other new game plugged into the console, a Sometimes you could also get a sample version of a portable LED sports game like Mattel Football One or Football 2 or Basketball or Soccer or Baseball.

Other interesting departments worth visiting were sporting goods, bicycles, records and tapes and the Photography Department. Equipped with cameras, binoculars, telescopes, and super eights, of course, of course, Kmart was also the place everyone went to do their back-to-school shopping. I remember starting many of my elementary school years decked out in a pair of new, stiff jeans and a pair of colorful suedes. sneakers remember these equipped with a Trapper Keeper my spiral notebook and my Star Wars lunch box I was ready to start the New Year all items courtesy of Kmart I need a break from all those sales just park your shopping cart outside the cafeteria at the back of the Store and sit down to a hot dinner of Salisbury Fried Chicken Steak or Meatloaf served with mashed potatoes and gravy along with a toasted bun and butter, and the more time you spent in the store, the more Sometimes I would hear those familiar words. the speaker caught the attention of Kmart shoppers followed by a description of the latest Blue Light Special, no one knew it at the time, but the 1980s would be the end of Kmart's reign as the nation's top discounter.

In November 1990, Walmart would surpass Kmart to become the nation's largest discount store. number one retailer after that things started to get ugly literally all the familiar details that made Kmart Kmart began to disappear in 1990 the logo was changed from the cursive red K and turquoise Mart to a capital letter K with Mart written on the inside along with the uniforms logo. and store signs were also changed to red and white, the Blue Light Special was eliminated in 1991, a later partnership with Little Caesars resulted in the elimination of most Kmart cafes and eventually most stores from Kmart were rebranded as Big K, which claimed to have new designs, brighter lighting. wider hallways and spotless floors, but it was too little, too late.

In January 2002, Kmart with its 2,114 stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it turns out that the new big box stores couldn't compete with Walmart's wider selection or rock-bottom prices and couldn't match the style and quality of Target and if you ask me, the updated stores just didn't have the personality or charm of the old stores, if you can call it that, they were a bit bland and uninteresting after the bankruptcy of 2002. Kmart found itself under the control of the Billionaire investor Edward Lamper, whose hedge fund ESL Investments now owned a majority stake in the company in 2005. Lampert would leverage Kmart's assets to buy another struggling retailer.

Sears' expenses were drastically reduced for both organizations and with almost no money. Reinvesting in the business, sales continued to decline for both companies, followed by more store closures and in 2018 a second bankruptcy was filed from a peak of 2,486 stores and 350,000 employees. This former American retail giant has been reduced to just a handful of hidden stores. Kmart operates three stores on the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croy, in some unlikely locations separated from the nearest Walmart by 1,000 m of ocean, making it the largest private employer in the US Virgin Islands. In the US, a Kmart can be found on the island of Guam. as well as the Hamptons on New York's Long Island, located in one of the richest zip codes in the country, this store apparently caters to millionaires and non-millionaires alike and of course there is the Miami location that doggedly holds its own. float while running your store without The narrow confines of the old Garden Center For most of us, Kmart is now just a memory, but as for me, when I look back at Kmart, I'm not going to remember the big KS with its bright lights and wide hallways, my mind will be wandering those beige tile floors under the rows of fluorescent lights eating popcorn and listening for the next special blue light signal, the nostalgic musical montage, you can get help at Kmart stores, they understand that Kart is your thrift store where your doorstep buys you more.

They give a helping hand to your dreams and G stores understand that moving like this is good, you get even more satisfaction in Kart, that is your value store. Kart is your thrift store. Security, report to section 3. Security to section 3. Kart is more than any shop you have. known before Kmart means you get quality, it's friendly and warm and the service doesn't take long a visit and you will agree Kart is everything a big star should be quality at discount prices satisfaction you will always see K attention Kmart buyers if you guys enjoyed it I bet you'll like this video too, just click to watch it.

Attention please, smoking is not allowed on the sales floor for your comfort. Smoking is only allowed in the snack bar area.