"Dollar Bargain"/Bargain Warehouse, Sheffield/Elyria, Ohio

[jason83080]

Oh, the rage...  >:(

When the news of 'Bargain Warehouse' opening in the old, abandoned Super Kmart came about in 2010 or 2011, I, for one, was intrigued, just because the building had been sitting there since 2003's closure, untouched by anyone. Sure, Litehouse had bought out a portion of the building, but the rest was just sitting there, empty. Why didn't Walmart move in to be next door to Sam's Club? Who knows?

Anyway, the first trip in there was fun, because there were some novelty things in there. Also, it was close to Christmas, and the thoughts of gag gifts ran through my mind. Who wouldn't enjoy opening up a talking Dr. Laura doll, or some Jonas Brothers pens (which, I think, I bought seven or eight packs of, because, at $1 each, I can afford to lose them at work)? Sure, there was a vast amount of less-desirable merchandise in there, but it was still fairly new, and the building was basically a Super Kmart, without the food: The produce coolers were being used to house merchandise, and it still LOOKED like a Kmart on the exterior. Sure, they didn't have running water, but, y'know, it was the first week. Maybe it hadn't been turned back on yet?

Since then, the store had to have changed hands NUMEROUS times. I think they were "going out of business" three or four times, with the last one being last Christmas. Clearly, the last one was a last-ditch effort to make SOME money off of things, because they were selling "complete kitchens" (with 1950s-era ranges, coil burners and all), office furniture (some of the file cabinets still had paperwork in them!), and, I think, some of the old KCafe equipment, because there was some out-of-place cooking equipment that was carted outside with a hefty $4,000 price tag attached. ("Bargain," indeed!)

The prospect of this store finally closing - and taking their outdated food and leaking batteries ("some of them are still good," the sign used to say) with them - filled me with joy. Maybe, something decent could move in: Giant Eagle's Good Cents stores could begin their takeover of Lorain County! It's the FOOD SIDE of the building, so the cooler workings are already there! (FYI, the dairy cooler is still intact at this place, way in the back corner, complete with 2003-era price tags. It's surreal.)

Come to find out, there have been commercials going on for "the all-new Dollar Bargain," with TESTIMONIALS from people that (supposedly) shop there, heralding how wonderful of a store it is: "Swimsuits for a dollar!" "It's a fantastic store!" My grandma had gotten wind of this, and actually made me take her there, under protest from a smarter me, because I know that, through probably a dozen owners, it's been the same exact store, to varying degrees of junk lying around. "No, no! It's an all-new store! Someone bought it and cleaned it up!" We pulled in, and, as soon as I saw the now-faded lettering hanging off of the poor old Super Kmart exterior, I knew what we'd be in for: More of the same stuff that was there LAST YEAR, but now it's only 89 cents, instead of a dollar. (Mind you, this is stuff that couldn't sell when it was SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OFF last year. Yes, people didn't want to pay a QUARTER for this stuff.) As soon as we walked in, that now-familiar smell of mold, dirt, and poor ventilation hit us. I've dubbed this scent "the smell of savings," because, you know, almost everything there is 89c or less! BARGAINS! Who needs running water or heat?

I'm only ranting because, in searching for the commercial, I found an article that actually PRAISES this place in its current condition! "You'll find something good if you dig deep enough in the bargain bins!" I've been visiting in almost every phase of this place - largely out of morbid curiosity, most of the time - and I once saw a bee fly out of one of those bins while a lady was digging through it. I'd be afraid of what I'd find if I dug through those ratty old boxes. (That PC software "speed dialer" phone book program from, like, 1993 was definitely a highlight... Oh, and the Discovery Zone ["DZ! Where kids want to be!"] balloons that I found last year and just threw away because I never even opened them were another highlight.) Here are the commercial and the write-up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aWq314L-Yg

http://heatherlovesthings.com/2014/06/bargain-warehouse-aka-bargain-dollar/

[Hudsons81]

I actually live in one of Ohio's neighboring states (Michigan), but still, with the condition you described, it seems that this "Dollar Bargain" may already be headed down the death spiral, just like Bargain Warehouse did. Perhaps this may be an opportunity for Good Cents to finally move in? I don't think Meijer or Menard's may move into the old Super Kmart, because if they do, Litehouse will have to be kicked out no matter what. But I think another good opportunity for the "Dollar Bargain" space may be a Shopko Hometown-yes, they exist in Ohio, though I doubt Shopko's even planning on expanding into the urban areas right now, even though their home market of Green Bay, Wisconsin is sorta urban.

[jason83080]

At Home / Garden Ridge has been working on the space since January. I'll get to see what they've done to the old Kmart building - odds are pretty good that it's been gutted and reconstructed, so it's probably unrecognizable now, outside of the exterior, which (as of writing this) still has the now-faded Kmart teal tile squares - when they open on the 14th of this month.

I'd say that it's a pretty good bet that there's now heat/AC and running water.  :D