K-Mart

[giantsfan2016]

In 1999 a small 86,000 Square Foot Big KMART opened in Bristol, Connecticut the city where I grew up. I don't remember if it was before or after I started my senior year in high school. (I started my senior year at the end of August 1999). They took over the old Caldor. It didn't last very long. They closed in January 2003 (on the same day as the 30 year old Southington location). The most notorious thing that happened to the KMART is when some crazy guy crashed his pick up truck through the entrance. The newspaper said he was angry because the store was closed for the night. Anyway while smaller than the Southington Big KMART (which was 95,000 square feet) Bristol had self checkout, but Southington did not.

Before ultimately opening in the old Caldor in 1999, KMART had previously looked at two other sites in Bristol. They had looked at demolishing an old and abandoned industrial building in the Forestville section of town. They had also looked at building a store attached to the Waldbaum's Food Mart in the Bristol Farms Plaza, but the owners of the property next to the plaza did not want to sell.

For several years Walmart had been attempting to build a store on Farmington Avenue (where they ultimately opened in 2000ish). It went through the courts for years. Walmart officials had stated if they weren't going through the courts to get the Farmington Avenue store built they would've bought Caldor's lease and opened a small store there.

For me personally there was no love lost when the Bristol Big KMART closed. In July 1999 they began hiring for the soon-to-open store. I applied for a position there. I figured it would be a good after school job. I had not worked anywhere before. I thought being a Cashier at KMART after school would have been the perfect job for someone who had never worked before. Unfortunately they told me "We can't hire you because you never worked anywhere before."

The Bristol and Southington Big KMART's have been Price Chopper grocery stores since January 2004.

[danfifepsu]

I remember when Kmart was nearly on equal footing with Wal-Mart when it came to competition between the two in the 1980s and 1990s.
When Kmart filed for Chapter 11 in 2001, Kmart lost its way after 2002, now it's "Everything Kmart does, Wal-Mart does better..."

yes like I said how small Kmarts electronics are. and Kmarts prices are high too. I feel Kmart lost its way before 2002, like 1994 when it started closing stores. the first to go where in smaller rural markets in the bread and basket states where a Walmart was there.
Plus as Kmart filed for bankruptcy more and more of their stores were becoming Supercenters, and Kmart didnt make it w that format. They had plans to open in the Carribean islands in 2002 but bankruptcy halted that.

I can recall love going into Kmart more years ago.

Whats made Kmart not remodel their stores?

I do recall Kmart making small interior/exterior renovations to their stores in 1997. Most of the Kmart stores became Big Kmart stores, which included among many things, a bigger pantry department and a Penske auto repair shop.

Kmart could not afford to remodel most of its stores in 2002, except for the prototypes in Peoria, Illinois and White Lake, Michigan.

They abandoned those plans to renovate all their stores to that green concept in favor of another store concept in 2005, a year after they introduced Kmart's new logo. I guess it hasn't been easy for Kmart to keep up with Wal-Mart and Target.

All the Green PRototype ones CLOSED. They only renovated a few stores into the 2005 look, but some of those closed. For Kmart in peoples eyes its "Why ya need Kmart when you got Walmart down the road"

the 1997 Big Kmart remodel was not significant, it was only adding a food pantry aisle.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

the 1997 Big Kmart remodel was not significant, it was only adding a food pantry aisle.

The Big K renovations also brought more attention to other areas of the stores, such as the electronics department, clothes, toys (Kmart Toy Mania), housewares, etc.

At the same time, Kmart added Penske Auto Centers to their stores.

That was also during the same era that Rosie O'Donnell and Penny Marshall were the celebrity spokespeople featured in their commercials.

[JimSawhill]

In 1999 a small 86,000 Square Foot Big KMART opened in Bristol, Connecticut the city where I grew up. I don't remember if it was before or after I started my senior year in high school. (I started my senior year at the end of August 1999). They took over the old Caldor. It didn't last very long. They closed in January 2003 (on the same day as the 30 year old Southington location). The most notorious thing that happened to the KMART is when some crazy guy crashed his pick up truck through the entrance. The newspaper said he was angry because the store was closed for the night. Anyway while smaller than the Southington Big KMART (which was 95,000 square feet) Bristol had self checkout, but Southington did not.

Before ultimately opening in the old Caldor in 1999, KMART had previously looked at two other sites in Bristol. They had looked at demolishing an old and abandoned industrial building in the Forestville section of town. They had also looked at building a store attached to the Waldbaum's Food Mart in the Bristol Farms Plaza, but the owners of the property next to the plaza did not want to sell.

For several years Walmart had been attempting to build a store on Farmington Avenue (where they ultimately opened in 2000ish). It went through the courts for years. Walmart officials had stated if they weren't going through the courts to get the Farmington Avenue store built they would've bought Caldor's lease and opened a small store there.

For me personally there was no love lost when the Bristol Big KMART closed. In July 1999 they began hiring for the soon-to-open store. I applied for a position there. I figured it would be a good after school job. I had not worked anywhere before. I thought being a Cashier at KMART after school would have been the perfect job for someone who had never worked before. Unfortunately they told me "We can't hire you because you never worked anywhere before."

The Bristol and Southington Big KMART's have been Price Chopper grocery stores since January 2004.

Marc, typical thinking from KMart. You need experience to work for them, but they don't hire kids. Stupid morons. I worked at KMart  Manchester when I was 16, I also worked at Pathmark (before it became ShopRite) at the same time.

[buzz86us]

I was at my local KMart in Schenectady NY and they removed the BIG part of the sign without repainting behind it so now it looks really ghetto

[danfifepsu]

I was at my local KMart in Schenectady NY and they removed the BIG part of the sign without repainting behind it so now it looks really ghetto

the last Kmart in Albany area.

[buzz86us]

that is actually one of the top performing stores so i am guessing it won't go out until the entire chain goes tits up

[retailisking]

Word has it another 15 or so Kmart closures will be announced on Thursday - no idea as to what locations those will be. One or more distribution centers could also be on the chopping block. Stay tuned...

[danfifepsu]

Word has it another 15 or so Kmart closures will be announced on Thursday - no idea as to what locations those will be. One or more distribution centers could also be on the chopping block. Stay tuned...

Which ones, and it never ends. a business friend of mine said "they should just cut their losses and move on".

[retailisking]

The photo is of a similar concept, except reversed - a mini-Kmart inside a Sears in Brooklyn, NY

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/mini-sears-could-be-coming-to-a-kmart-near-you

[Kmart4life]

How much more stupid can Eddie Lampert get? For crying out loud just go Chapter 11 and wind it all down!

[danfifepsu]

How much more stupid can Eddie Lampert get? For crying out loud just go Chapter 11 and wind it all down!

Honestly, will it work? And what makes Kmart think they will survive when they are down to 300 stores, many states out of the biggest markets, spread out. Some Markets lost both Kmart and Sears.

[Kmart4life]

http://www.theledger.com/photogallery/LK/20180622/PHOTOGALLERY/622009984/PH/1

[JJBers]

How much more stupid can Eddie Lampert get? For crying out loud just go Chapter 11 and wind it all down!

Honestly, will it work? And what makes Kmart think they will survive when they are down to 300 stores, many states out of the biggest markets, spread out. Some Markets lost both Kmart and Sears.

The longer and longer this whole thing keeps going, the more and more I think they're not even going to ever file for bankruptcy. I think they'll just hit a combined 300 stores before liquidating that.

[danfifepsu]

How much more stupid can Eddie Lampert get? For crying out loud just go Chapter 11 and wind it all down!

Honestly, will it work? And what makes Kmart think they will survive when they are down to 300 stores, many states out of the biggest markets, spread out. Some Markets lost both Kmart and Sears.

The longer and longer this whole thing keeps going, the more and more I think they're not even going to ever file for bankruptcy. I think they'll just hit a combined 300 stores before liquidating that.

combined number of stores is how many Toys r us / Babies r us had when they filed. 300 is not feasible. all their stores are not well lit too. I have saw a rodent in one in South Lake Tahoe this week.

[M.R.CALDOR]

Not sure if this was already posted, but heres some updated info on the old Kmart in Cromwell, CT.
https://www.middletownpress.com/middlesex-county/article/Marshall-s-under-way-at-old-Kmart-among-new-13027539.php

[jaredski09]

Random update on some former/current Kmarts...

South Burlington, VT former K-Mart is being transformed into a flagship 67,000  sq ft Hannaford Supermarket (Hannaford owns the building, and currently has a 35,000 sq ft store behind it) and 2 other yet to be named tenants. They just got the project passed and will start construction soon. Ironically Martins Food Store (which Hannaford bought in the mid 1990s) was originally in the K-Mart plaza years ago until they moved to their current location out back. No Kmarts left in Vermont since the Rutland and Bennington ones closed. Vermont was never a Kmart State (Ames and now Walnart), let alone any big box state (we are finally getting our first Target this October in the mall Sears is in). Still have one Sears left in the state in South Burlington. That one actually does pretty well for a Sears.

Claremont, NH former K-Mart is currently being transformed into a Hobby Lobby. It is close to being open. They renovated the heck out of the building and just finished paving the lot (was just there yesterday).

West Lebanon, NH K-Mart is still open. That’s one of the nicest Kmarts I’ve been in due to it being completely renovated around 2011 due to massive flooding at that plaza. They also just opened a new “Sears Appliance Store” Store within a store section in the garden shop indoor area (A Sears Hometown Store closed a few years back in the plaza neighboring this Kmart). This K-Mart seems to always be steady, but not busy by any means. I talked to one employee and they are massively understaffed. They currently only have 22 employees for a store that is supposed to have 67 employees. They have had a now hiring banner outside on a fence at the store since at least 2007. They normally only have 2 registers open out of 18 lanes. They have a “que” line checkout like they have at TJ Maxx. They also have the same system TJ Maxx uses to tell customers which lane to go to, but they haven’t used it since 2011 since they usually only have 2-3 checkouts ever open. The employees are usually pretty nice here.

Hooksett NH K-Mart is also still open. Very old store. Only ever has half the lights on in the store and it’s dark! It’s a smaller Kmart and looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 90s. Still has original garden shop sign. Never really busy. Lots of items in stock though. Some of the stock is old though! I was looking at socks and half the packages said they were manufactured in 2007-2010! Talk about not merchandising the shelves haha  I’m surprised it’s lasted this long. Probably because there’s no Target or Walmart in the very immediate area.

[danfifepsu]

Random update on some former/current Kmarts...

South Burlington, VT former K-Mart is being transformed into a flagship 67,000  sq ft Hannaford Supermarket (Hannaford owns the building, and currently has a 35,000 sq ft store behind it) and 2 other yet to be named tenants. They just got the project passed and will start construction soon. Ironically Martins Food Store (which Hannaford bought in the mid 1990s) was originally in the K-Mart plaza years ago until they moved to their current location out back. No Kmarts left in Vermont since the Rutland and Bennington ones closed. Vermont was never a Kmart State (Ames and now Walnart), let alone any big box state (we are finally getting our first Target this October in the mall Sears is in). Still have one Sears left in the state in South Burlington. That one actually does pretty well for a Sears.

Claremont, NH former K-Mart is currently being transformed into a Hobby Lobby. It is close to being open. They renovated the heck out of the building and just finished paving the lot (was just there yesterday).

West Lebanon, NH K-Mart is still open. That’s one of the nicest Kmarts I’ve been in due to it being completely renovated around 2011 due to massive flooding at that plaza. They also just opened a new “Sears Appliance Store” Store within a store section in the garden shop indoor area (A Sears Hometown Store closed a few years back in the plaza neighboring this Kmart). This K-Mart seems to always be steady, but not busy by any means. I talked to one employee and they are massively understaffed. They currently only have 22 employees for a store that is supposed to have 67 employees. They have had a now hiring banner outside on a fence at the store since at least 2007. They normally only have 2 registers open out of 18 lanes. They have a “que” line checkout like they have at TJ Maxx. They also have the same system TJ Maxx uses to tell customers which lane to go to, but they haven’t used it since 2011 since they usually only have 2-3 checkouts ever open. The employees are usually pretty nice here.

Hooksett NH K-Mart is also still open. Very old store. Only ever has half the lights on in the store and it’s dark! It’s a smaller Kmart and looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 90s. Still has original garden shop sign. Never really busy. Lots of items in stock though. Some of the stock is old though! I was looking at socks and half the packages said they were manufactured in 2007-2010! Talk about not merchandising the shelves haha  I’m surprised it’s lasted this long. Probably because there’s no Target or Walmart in the very immediate area.

Even Before 2011 that Kmart in Lebanon was always one of the nicest and the store told me its one of the top 25 in the country

Hooksett's store also has a funny smell, but it will likely be one of the last to go.

Theres one in Salem NH too.

How ya feel Milford Ct's store is closing? some I saw predicted that would be next. That leaves Watertown and Vernon only in CT.

[AmesNewington]

I'm not surprised about Milford. Like Waterbury (at the time) a Sears not slated to close yet is still in business in the same town. I AM surprised the other 2 in CT weren't on the list. Also, the shopping center Kmart is in also has a Job Lot and Dollar Tree. That certainly didn't help Kmart, because you can get just about anything at the other two stores that you can get at Kmart and cheaper. I am glad that Vernon is safe for now, but I can already see there is very little effort being put in to Kmart. If Sears Holdings were to stay in business long term, I now think they will phase out Kmart and focus on Sears. But more than likely, the end of the corporation is coming soon.

[danfifepsu]

I'm not surprised about Milford. Like Waterbury (at the time) a Sears not slated to close yet is still in business in the same town. I AM surprised the other 2 in CT weren't on the list. Also, the shopping center Kmart is in also has a Job Lot and Dollar Tree. That certainly didn't help Kmart, because you can get just about anything at the other two stores that you can get at Kmart and cheaper. I am glad that Vernon is safe for now, but I can already see there is very little effort being put in to Kmart. If Sears Holdings were to stay in business long term, I now think they will phase out Kmart and focus on Sears. But more than likely, the end of the corporation is coming soon.

Sears has ramped up their closings to where they could close too and their stores are in the footsteps aS Montgomery WArd. 

A guy I know said of Kmart they need to cut their losses and move on! I agree, there is nothing you can get at Kmart that you cant get at Walmart.   Whatll happen to the Florida Keys as thats all they have. I hope a Smaller Walmrt but Key west  it becomes a Target as KEy west has that demographic and itd be a smaller Target.  Kmart has as many stores as Ames did in the end, low 300. what if Kmart gets to 200 somethin stores. Woolworth did that, had thousands of stores and closed them in waves till they got to a few hundred.

[shore72]

Today I stopped in the Big Kmart on Limestone Rd in Wilmington, DE. As I walked the aisles I was amazed at the selection of items on the shelves: who are these vendors who keep shipping this stuff, and who is going to buy it all? This location is fairly well kept, overall. I noticed that the bags of mulch stacked outside in the garden center haven't seemed to move since my last visit early this summer. Some bags had split and had very large plants growing out of them. I noticed a broken down forklift amid the clutter in the fenced-in lot on the side, with a cheerful sign stating " Garden Center Now Open!"

I was looking for a snack and decided on a box of off-brand wheat thins, on sale for 84 cents. I never keep track of surprise points or whatever else Sears Holdings offers, but I typed in my phone number and, I'll be darned, the crackers were free! It made me wonder what else I could have walked away with for nothing. I really have to wonder how much longer they can keep bleeding red like this.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Kmart is starting to carry t-shirts with their classic 60s/70s/80s logo on them:



https://www.kmart.com/men-s-graphic-t-shirt-kmart-logo/p-A027906555?rrec=true#Imagezoom

[danfifepsu]

Kmart is starting to carry t-shirts with their classic 60s/70s/80s logo on them:



https://www.kmart.com/men-s-graphic-t-shirt-kmart-logo/p-A027906555?rrec=true#Imagezoom

I got mine at 1 in Chicago last month.

[danfifepsu]

there is an article that Kmart is trying to have a restructuring plan to avoid bankruptcy. does anyone really think they can avoid bankruptcy?

[nysw3636]

Kmart Poughkeepsie, NY (Arlington) is closing in December.

[BillyGr]

Kmart Poughkeepsie, NY (Arlington) is closing in December.

For those at all familiar with the area, this is the one on Route 44 just outside the city.  Only since there seemed to be a bit of confusion in other postings with one that closed a couple years back, at the opposite end of Poughkeepsie in the former South Hills Mall.

[TheFugitive]

there is an article that Kmart is trying to have a restructuring plan to avoid bankruptcy. does anyone really think they can avoid bankruptcy?

No.  A restructuring plan IS bankruptcy (Chap. 11 instead of Chap. 7 liquidation).
They will get one bite of the apple on that, which I expect will fail.  Nobody survives
their second Chap. 11 filing (Ames didn't).

This will at best delay the inevitable for two or three years.

[retailisking]

No.  A restructuring plan IS bankruptcy (Chap. 11 instead of Chap. 7 liquidation).
They will get one bite of the apple on that, which I expect will fail.  Nobody survives
their second Chap. 11 filing (Ames didn't).

This will at best delay the inevitable for two or three years.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy these days is less of a sure thing in avoiding liquidation for a retail concern.

[danfifepsu]

there is an article that Kmart is trying to have a restructuring plan to avoid bankruptcy. does anyone really think they can avoid bankruptcy?

No.  A restructuring plan IS bankruptcy (Chap. 11 instead of Chap. 7 liquidation).
They will get one bite of the apple on that, which I expect will fail.  Nobody survives
their second Chap. 11 filing (Ames didn't).

This will at best delay the inevitable for two or three years.

for me Kmart is too far gone! their stores look same as 30 yrs ago and many states have like 3 to 5 left, many markets they pulled out of. They have not updated their product mix.  Most dont even survive the first bankruptcy.

[TheFugitive]

No.  A restructuring plan IS bankruptcy (Chap. 11 instead of Chap. 7 liquidation).
They will get one bite of the apple on that, which I expect will fail.  Nobody survives
their second Chap. 11 filing (Ames didn't).

This will at best delay the inevitable for two or three years.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy these days is less of a sure thing in avoiding liquidation for a retail concern.

Because vendors have gotten smart and no longer wish to play that game.
The only reason you'd cut a break to a chain that owes you vast amounts of money
is because you think they'll survive and hope to do business with them in the future.

I don't think anyone believes Kmart is going to survive long term.