Kmart and Sears both have a very depressing vibe to them when you go inside. They're always deserted, unorganized, and just feel like sketchy gas stations compared to Walmart
i said convenience store, but i know exactly what you mean. bloated up convenience store. they need a remodel and new store smell. cause the smell is what i hate the most.
I worked for both of those companies and there is a good reason it feels depressing. Imagine working at Sears and you get a raise based off evaluation... At a department store! And the best you can get is a Quarter. Yet people hired off the street make more money because the company doesn't bump older employees up in pay if the scale has changed..... Which in turn gets people breaking things or stealing a lot. Or just not caring about their job. And can you really blame them?
i feel like Some would go further and say that being a participant in 21st Century Late-Stage Capitalism is like being inside of the belly of a dying whale. And half of us haven't even accepted or want to accept that the poor damn thing has been pulse-less for a while now.
I’m surprised even that many are still active. No disrespect cuz I love Kmart but I can barely find one in 50 miles of my house and it says it’s permanently closed when I go to google which doesn’t make sense
Our K-Mart managed to stay open until late 2021, baffling the entire town. Looking at the shots in this video feels like I'm there again, it was exactly like that. They also hadn't maintained their parking lot since 1994, potholes and cracked asphalt everywhere. I have no idea how they made enough money to stay open that long unless it was a front for a drug operation xD
Same,My Kmart was surprisingly much well-maintained and didn't have the greentext thing company man said. It's Nathan's Hot Dog store however wasn't open.
They stay open because the rents are surprisingly cheap in most strip malls for the large retailer. You need a big box store in the strip mall to bring in traffic for the liquor store, pizza place etc that they share the strip mall with. They usually charge the big box stores close to nothing and make their money on the smaller stores in the lot It makes sense if you think about it, think about your big big store/super market strip mall. Would you ever go there at all if it wasn’t for the big lot store/supermarket ?
that's how the one in my town was up until they closed in Jan of 2020. Parking lot was borderline destroyed and a car dealership used half of their lot for used cars. Place felt like a capsule of the early 2000s and I remember so many nights going to it when I was a kid.
I used to be a KMART worker & I was a “Attention Kmart shoppers,” announcer years ago. Just recently the Kmart in my area closed. I did my final purchase. The end of an era.
I worked at Kmart during highschool and loved my job. Worked in layaway and announced some Blue Light Specials. It was always the best place to get jewelry. I miss Kmart 😔
Kmart shutdown here in my area just 1 or 5 months ago. Update: now something else is being constructed there. Probably another small mall or something like that.
I worked at K-Mart in 1985 when I was in high school. That first Christmas, the store was packed every day. We could barely keep up. The next year, a Walmart opened nearby. I remember the store being nearly empty the next Christmas. It was depressing.
K Mart was never depressing. And they had merchandise that Wal Mart and Target still doesn't carry. It's too bad they went out. But Wal Mart and Target will fail eventually since they're always out of anything you'd expect them to have in recent years (2022). Macy's, the old one from the early 20th century on the other hand is gaining ground. Macy's should reopen K Mart. Together, they would put these overrated Wal Marts and Targets out of business..
@@wesleycook7687 K-mart definitely had a better selection of certain things...not everything. I don't even bother with Target or Wal-mart now as they stopped carrying a lot of stuff I used to go there for (I didn't WANT to go there, but everything else was out of business) Now I just get everything on amazon...Target and Wal-mart can go belly up too for all I care.
It’s a shame. I have fond memories of getting an Icee and looking at toys. In the 70’s, Kmart was a giant here. I didn’t even know Walmart existed before about 1984.
one of my teachers used to work at k-mart he told us a story about working there, after a few days of working there he did the whole bluelight sale thing and it was on socks so he said "attention k-mart shoppers bluelight sale on right socks we'll even throw in the left sock for free" (or something along those lines) then he got fired
I remember when kmart bought Sears we thought it would save us. It did not. I worked there over 12 years ago and met my husband there while he was in the appliance dept. We are still together, kmart does have a soft spot for me. Alot of memories.
Same. Our Little Caesars had an old Zenith TV on a cart and you could pick over 100 VHS tapes of your choice to watch while you ate your pizza. We always chose between Chicken Run, A Goofy Movie, Great Mouse Detective, Iron Giant and Pokemon the 1st Movie. Good times!
You are not alone it may not be a popular opinion but I always loved to early 90s look & feel of K-Mart, modern is not always good... It was unique that they didn't modernise the store like every one else. Everytime I visited the store it was like going back in the 90s....
My mother was a Personnel manager at a Kmart in the '70s and '80s. At first, it was a good job, but then the corporate culture changed, and the district mangers would come in and pressure them to fire the experience staff because they thought they could get new employees (at minimum wage) to do the same job. They couldn't. Eventually they offered my mom a payout to retire, and she did. She was glad she got out when she did. Personally, I liked it when Walmart and Kmart were competitors, because if you couldn't find something at one store, you knew that you probably could find it at the other. Eventually, I stopped going to Kmart, because they NEVER had what I was looking for, and because they were starting to get that dingy look.
Ours still has one, but I think it's been closed a few months now. The whole store will be closed in September, and going inside, it's just half empty shelves everywhere. Got a few packs of black licorice twizzlers for really cheap though. Should go again and see if they still have any left. Really, it's a sad and depressing atmosphere, and I honestly feel bad for them.
I was lucky enough to take business and investment classes as part of my enrichment courses during high school. hearing him mention stuff like the debt-equity ratio, the current ratio, revenue and net income, etc all light up the financial geek in me.
@@AlexKS1992 Bro, not saying your wrong, but you are comparing the biggest collaboration of human knowledge and ideas to a school. It's not pathetic, but yea sometimes it can feel like maybe you can spend your time better lol. Then again some people have amazing schools that go above and beyond so yunno case by case basis haha!
I worked in the hardware and paint department at a K-Mart in Pittsburgh in 1988. We got paid every Friday in cash. That's where I met Randy "Macho Man" Savage, who was shopping there with his wife. Fun memories.
I moved to Indianapolis in 1988 and my first job was working at a Kmart store.. I was there two years... work in the back of the store at receiving. one thing I sure remember was like you said every Friday we would line up in the office and get our pay envelopes, and yes they did pay in cash. I always like that because you didn't have to go somewhere to get a check cashed.
Worked at Kmart from 95-04. In 2004 they decided that stores that made under $30 million/yr would no longer have an overnight stock crew and that anyone who worked full time on that crew would be laid off and offered a chance at returning as a part time employee with a pay cut and loss of benefits. When I started, you made an extra 50¢ an hour if you worked Sunday and they were closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. A year after I started they did away with the Sunday differential and switched to only being closed on Christmas. Then they went to being open 24 hrs starting 2 weeks before Christmas and staying open until 8 on Christmas eve. They also would make employees stay for 30 minutes to 2 hours after their shift ends to straighten the store for the next day. Then the employees would have their hours cut to make up for them being kept after their scheduled hours. The reason you never find anyone in the departments to help is because they don't have anyone there. You have one employee covering 4-5 departments because corporate constantly cuts the operation budget. They implemented a 10 foot rule that said you must greet every customer within 10 feet as an effort to deter shoplifting because they didn't have security on duty at most hours. In 2002 when they filed bankruptcy, many employees lost everything because Kmart would invest the retirement pensions of its full time employees in company stock so when Kmart was delisted from the NYSE people saw the value of their stocks go from around $3 down to less than 20¢ before the NYSE took action. They also had a really bad case internally where employees were being discriminated against based on age and gender. I personally was given a $2/HR raise because I was being under paid as a department manager. With all the shady practices I saw while employed there, I am honestly surprised if there are any stores left.
I worked for Kmart from 1975 until 1996 THAT COMPANY SUCKS, One of the happiest days of my life is when they went belly up . The stories I could tell ! Stayed that long bc they were basically the only game in town and after a certain amount of years I just didn’t want to start over . They treated a lot of people like 💩
@@PoorlyDoneGamingI think a lot of companies initially facing a downturn do these knee-jerk reactions that seem like a good short term solution, but just contributes to the downward spiral
Yeah I mentioned this in another comment, but I remember when the Kmart closed in my town. It lasted from 1989 until 2002 I believe. In the weeks and months leading up to the closure lots of longtime employees were out front protesting because some of them were making well over $20 an hour and Kmart wouldn't let them transfer to the next closest store which was out of state where the cost of living is much lower so Kmart couldn't really afford to put them on payroll.
I went into a kmart a couple or so years ago and it was quite an experience. The clothing sections were completely untouched with everything being very ugly/cheap looking, the grocery section was sparse with only some really strange looking off brand foods and snacks, half the stores lights were out so it was unusually dark, and the holiday section was packed with ridiculously overpriced items that looked like they were made 20 years ago. And what was even weirder was that despite everything being ridiculously overpriced and the store being scarily dark and dingy, there were actually a surprising amount of people in the store. Like enough that they had 2 registers open. It was a very odd experience.
I remember one time in Kmart I saw a Lego set twice Msrp yet someone still bought. Towards the end of its lifetime Kmart pricing was wack. They probably wanted a temporary influx of cash so they could reconsolidate which is why some stores stayed opened toll recently.
That was actually one of the biggest reasons why I still loved going to K-mart. It felt like I was going back to the 80's and early 90's, and it always reminded me of my early childhood.
I work at a subway inside of aWalmart, and from what I can tell, alot of Walmart's are understaffed and are completely trying to move into a self checkout/automated cashier model. They have maybe 3 people on registers in the entire building.
The last K-Mart by me closed in 2017 but the inside of the store looked like it gave up sometime in early 2000s. It literally felt like walking into a time portal going in there everything just felt 10 years behind and they really didn't have much of anything worth going for. The little cafe in the front looked dingy as hell and closed but somehow was always open, the workers seemed to not give a damn anymore, it was just a very depressing vibe in there. Also didn't help that Target opened up right across the street lol
Yep. My local K-Mart closed in late 2013 or 2014 and even then it felt pretty outdated. I don't know why but the few memories I have of it, it always reminded me of an old office that hadn't had much maintenance done in years. I seem to remember everything being yellowish.
All of the Kmart and Sears locations in my area shut down during the 2008 recession except one. It lasted until 2016-2017, but it looked abandoned. It was a ghost town, no one even noticed they were having a going out of business sale. I went in there and the building was literally falling apart. A month after it shut down, it was condemned by the city because it was a collapse risk, and would cost far more than it was worth just to get it up to fire code, let alone restored back to something nice.
The last one in my city shut down in 2017 and the last few years that place looked like it wasn’t even trying anymore. The last K Mart I went to was in Oct 2018 in NYC and now it’s closed.
Coulda sworn you were talking about the K-Mart near me until you mentioned a new Target. Sad how similar everyone's experiences seem to be. Used to love going to K-Mart for a new Hot Wheel and some Little Caesar's while my parent's shopped.
People tend to focus on the damage Walmart did to Kmart, but Kmart got hammered from another angle: the dollar stores. I wondered myself why I quit going to Kmart when ours went out a few years ago. Then it dawned on me: I had been going to Dollar General whenever I didn't feel like putting up with Walmart's crowds, lines, traffic, and lack of parking spots.
There was a dollar store right next to my local k mart. And a huuuuuge Walmart about 20 minutes further. We used to shop at K, but eventually all the cheap basic stuff we needed (cleaning supplies, paper towels etc) we got at the dollar store, and food we got at Walmart because it was cheaper (this was 2009ish so money was tight) the Kmart basically was stuck in limbo, not cheaper than Walmart or the dollar store, and when things started going bad, the stores became very run down understaffed and overall kind of ghetto feeling, it almost started to look like a rundown time capsule because everything they sold looked just a little bit out of date, and the parking lot was always filled with old rusty cars like oldsmobiles and plymouth minivans. We only ever got toys there because it had a big toy isle and none of the toys were that expensive.
I agree with you Tony. The Dollar stores such as Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Five & Under, the 99 Cents only stores in Ca,NV,AZ & TX ate away at the low priced end of K Mart stores was what helped bring down K Mart, and K Mart in 1975 & 1976 took over many W.T.Grant stores after W.T.Grant went bankrupt in 1975. In the late 1990’s I called K Mart Junk Mart as they started going downhill.
I rarely, if ever shop at a Wal-Mart store anymore. Too pricey on many items and registers are usually always backed up (remember the scam they had about three in a line we'll open another register? Oh, and the biggest of them all....Buy American? Now Wal-Mart is just a big Chinese front company.)
@@richardcline1337 I only go there to buy grocery and some car stuff like oil and sometimes earbuds, sometimes Publix is my go to place for groceries that's about it since I don't buy games there anymore as the game quality are down the toilet drain and the games Walmart sells are all garbage or shit I'm not looking for so I opt for steam and free downloads for games and old games now
Target and Walmart killed Kmart. Kmart didn’t seem willing to evolve, so as the years went on their stores looked like 90s throwbacks. My grandmother was the personnel manager for a decade, so it was always fun to go into the store and find her working.
The only direction they were willing to evolve was trying to mimic the competitors. Every time we had a meeting, it was about how Walmart was doing things like this, and Target was doing things like that, they just wanted us to try to copy everything. Even as a teenager working there in 1996 I saw things faltering, as they had given up innovating entirely.
Last time I was in a Kmart was like 2008 and I remember going to check out the video games. There was literally a playstation 1 game on the shelf sealed for 59.99$ (I think it was Legend of Dragoon, not even in a glass case or anything, just sitting on a random shelf It was like I stepped into some suspended void dimension
The last time I visited one was in 2017. It was a ghost town and half of their shelves were empty along with like 6 employees in total. Their photo center boarded off and their little caesars completely bare except for their counter and bars separating it from the store.
I worked at a Kmart. Ran blue light specials in the camera department. They always paid your salary in CASH each week. They thought that making you walk through the store with a pocket full of cash would get you to spend your pay in store. Good times.
quinnjim omg I thought my k mart was the only one that did that when it was still open. We'd get our pay in cash and ours pushed for employees to shop there. The only downside was our food court had been closed since 2004 so no one really bought things when they were paid
Lol... I worked there in the mid 80's and mine did the same thing! This video makes me sad actually for some reason. I loved running the blue light specials in sporting goods and automotive! Created such a fun experience for the customers.
What happened to K-Mart? My Grandmother got old and passed away. When she was alive and active, she went there EVERY WEEKDAY. After her death, the funeral home requested some articles of clothing for her, we made SURE they came from her K-Mart.
The people running the company drained it of all its resources the ceo was flying in a private airplane all the time while the company was going bankrupt.
Antonini (previous CEO) was hated in the Detroit area. They felt he didn't care about K-Mart enough to make the necessary changes. It's like with Border (RIP), they had strong business universities in the area (UofMich, Wayne State) but refused to consult them. IMHO, K-Mart should have been doing what Target is now, making smaller stores that would fit in downtown spaces (like they did at Michigan State University) and bring back quality merchandise. Trying to be a Meijers/Wal-Mart wasn't the smartest thing to do either. I now walk into a Meijers and weep for what they once were (one stop shopping, now they look like a poor Wal-Mart copy).
I worked at Kmart the summer of 2017. We had to line the display shelves high on the walls with toilet paper and paper towels because there was nothing to make them look full. Your video is spot on - the coolers, all of it looked like it was frozen 2+ decades before. We also couldn't afford enough staff or security so we got robbed all the time (the loss prevention we did have would throw people on the ground and tackle them - that was insane). There were still a few employees who had worked there for decades and talked about when kmart was the best retail job, you got paid vacation on your birthday, all of that. It also attracted a lot of shady people, promising no promotions and no salary raises. The assistant manager was a gang banger and he'd get in fights in the store. It was just insane, I quit when LP throw a customer down and they pulled out a knife a short distance from me. The "blue light special" was just a shelf near the entrance with a fake blue light and some random discounted shit. Now the building just sits and sometimes it's a spirit halloween.
Here's why they went out of business: 1.) *Almost half the store was just clothing,shoes and jewelry.* 2.) *Around a quarter of the store was gardening and outdoor goods.* 3.) *The food selection was way too small.* 4.) *Electronics were insanely over priced. They would charge $59.99 for a 5 year old game that is $19.99 or less anywhere else in town.* 5.) *Check out lanes were too long with not enough cashiers.*
What's funny is many companies are starting to do away with their jewelry. Target started it years ago and Meijer (stores around Michigan and surrounding states) is dumping millions into redesigning aging stores and also doing away with jewelry. Guess if you want that bling, you have to go to a real jeweler like you should have to begin with :P
Kmart always felt off, even back in the 80’s. The music played in the store was weird and sounded like it was coming from back room and the store shelves were always a mess. You could pick up something, drop it off in another department and come back a week later and it’s still there. Kmart was also eerie quiet, even with a bunch of people shopping there.
Not true in MY experience. I LOVED working there. The music was popular top 40 music, playing overhead throughout the store. I was a teen, and I would literally dance and step through the aisle on the main floor to songs like "What have I done to deserve This", ....and while working in the stockroom room upstairs....to swingout sister songs....I was a teen who favored shopping at Hudsons, because I liked lux & popular personal favorites like LeChateau, Bennetton, Nine West for leather shoes, heels, and flats in varying colors. But....Kmart seriously had the BEST shampoo and conditioner ....a strawberry scented Unicure brand...I miss that!!....My hair was SO healthy. I was attending Cosmetology School at the time, and the instructor kept asking me what shampoo I used. SHE had said that my hair looked so great/healthy. I told her Unicure. She couldn't believe it, but it was true!! Lol...She expected me to say Paul Mitchell or whatever but no...it was a keratin shampoo that was on sale for like 2 for $1.00...!!! Now you can only find the blue shampoo (or conditioner) if any is left...and its SO expensive. I remember the blue-light specials! They had those a lot when I was working! The store was typically quite busy. I wonder if Walmart's debut had anything to do with Kmart closings. My personnel manager was amazing. The best!!....She loved to give me extra hours, and I was available to willing to cover for people who needed their days off. The customers were great...I made a speed game of ringing up sales as quick as I could....to empty the line at the front register where I worked....but...lol...customers just moved into MY lane to get rung up.... because it went faster. I had interesting experiences. One lady customer had a really cute short hairstyle. ..I told her so. And she had said that she cut it HERSELF!...It was SO even!....and she wasn't even a hairdressser.. Bluelight specials brought through my line ......that people purchased.... were some really NICE items that cost hardly ANYTHING!!...Items for $1.00, $ .25. , $ .50. Ect....$2.00, $3.00...I wanted to be the shopper at that moment. "Are there any more?"...I'd ask. I had the BEST floor manager who oversaw the floor operations of straightening shelves, when I wasn't at register. He was ALWAYS ALWAYS So positive and encouraging and appreciated the work we did. My brother remembers this, because he began working there, too. We loved getting to know the peers of our generation that we worked with. It was a fun place to work. During that time....it was even our social scene. Times were SO fun. I had dressed up as Mary Poppins, being the doorgreeter....for Halloween. Touching sad memories too....of a sad customer friend of mine, who came through the store door & foyer one day, that was in tears, because her brother had just been found dead, having committed suicide. And where did she go?....Kmart. Her usual Go-To place. She found a hug from me...who felt so bad for her. She had always been so kind and cordial to me. As she felt I was to her. I had met this woman (about my mom's age) at Camera and jewelry dept. where I had worked....she developed her pictures there often...I went to Beauty School where her daughter was a student, also. I felt I was there that day...her sharing her grief with me...on the day she needed that. I met some fun friends working at Kmart. When you're a teen...its common to "pick on' a store like Kmart, working there... ...(to be cool, maybe?)...but we still shopped there for essentials, we had great times working together..... and the memories. One day, I had to go to the stockroom upstairs....to fetch or bring merrchandise to/from camera & jewelry dept. where I worked.....I was up there for the task, and when finished, I locked the "cage" as it was called...as usual....and went back downstairs, returning to my dept. ...tending to film developing files (remember when we had regular cameras to take pictures?.....and people wore wristwatches every day?) So there I was...working at my counter.....and who comes along.....(.lol...).. but one of my friends who worked in neighboring dept.......Without a word...she approached me with .....(lol).....such a serious and no-nonsense infuriated (but not-so -threatening but pretending to be..)....look on her face, and as she approached my clueless face of (what?) ...she took hold of my neck and shook me.......and breaking silence to yell...""You locked me upstairs for 2 HOURS !!!! " (or was it 3? I think it was 2.) I was like..."Wh-at?--What are you talking about?" She said "You left and locked the cage on me!!!!!!.....and I was stuck in there for ! 2 !! hours because of you locking me in!!!....I was like "no....I ..didn't......."...still unsure of what she meant. YES!!!" She insisted..." I was poking a PENCIL through the lock. through the cage.....and yelling....., "Help!!!Help!!!........for TWO HOURS!!!...and no one heard me!! No one came!!!! (Just to picture this makes me laugh every time) Oh my gosh!! lol. It had been SO quiet in that storage "cage" (the size of a quite-small room packed with items) ...that I had seen nor heard Nothing while in there..... I had no reason to think anyone else was in there. When I recovered from my bafflement of why she was literally wringing my neck......I couldn't help but laugh and say "No way!....oh ....(-?)-..(-!-).....I'm sorry!!!.....Oh my gosh.....2 HOURS? !?!! amidst giggles....and said "Are you making this up?"..... "NO!!" She insisted,........(lol)...... still quite exasperated with me..... I honestly thought that I was ONLY one upstairs at the time. And to lock the cage upon leaving was the thing to do....But I had ......LOL.....NO IDEA that she was being locked in. Lolololollol...I guess its a good thing that SOMEONE obviously "rescued" her, because else she would have been in there ALLnight!!!.... Her parents were regular customers and would chat and visit with me, sometimes. They were really nice people. There was an Englishman who had a really perfectly curled mustache (like out of a storybook) that regularly had photos developed at my counter. He was really nice, too. And a couple of high school girls came in .....to regularly develop film. We had such fun!.....They were so nice!.....a couple of years later, I was at an event, and they were in the neighboring room with one of the guys that i had worked with, celebrating a special event!...That was fun to see them again. K-Mart wasn't just a popular place to shop. It was a place where people met, laughed, grieved,shopped and/or worked..... And ....lol....get locked in a cage by me. My experience as an employee there was SO good in So many ways! One day .....upcoming...was a day when the district mgr. was to visit...so naturally most people were on their toes about it. The day arrived...and the manager...and district manager walked through the main aisle. ...In a few hours, I would leave my shift to go home. Getting to my car.....I found that I had car trouble. Bummer...But there, in those moments, ....parked across from me, was the district mgr. !!.....He was leaving , too.....I found a helpful aid in him and his kindness, who assisted me. My car at the time was not cool -looking. But it was fast! A 78Tbird In that job, I was awarded and appreciated.....even a customer got me recognized for help he or she received. In this video, there is mention of Joe Antonini, the kmart CEO.....who signed a poster that I was given years ago, after a photographer came through my line at work one day and asked me to model. (I was like....oh wow!).... "Dress for Success" was the theme.
storytime: i fell in a kmart once. cut my face up pretty bad after tripping on a pipe they never removed, and slamming into a shelf. i was about fourteen. i ran out crying, holding my face and bleeding excessively. not one employee seemed concerned or asked if i was alright. i went back a few days later, and they still hadn't cleaned up the area. hated kmart ever since
I liked Kmart. They had more unique things that Walmart and Target didn’t have. I really loved their gift sets around Christmas and their deli was the best.
Kmart's quality dropped too. I remember walking through the store and seeing toys and clothes everywhere unorganized. Same thing is going on at JCPenny's.
Not to mention they decided to axe all of their department managers. That happened in the one in my town. And they suddenly started using way more temps.
I worked for a kmart in Illinois back in 2006-07 and I was personally responsible for getting it closed down. They had some serious safety code voilations and I kept mentioning it to the store manager and the last reply I got was " Shut the eff up and go back to work". So, I finished my work and went home and called OSHA and reported it. They came out and basically handed the manager his ass. Four safety code voilations. They had to spend $34k just to not get shut down and at the end of the year, they got shut down anyway.
In Australia Kmart is on fire. They have even bought Target in Australia. So much so that Target stores are closing and are becoming online only and the existing Target stores are getting converted to Kmart. So depends where you live.
It should be noted that "Target" in Australia is not the same as US Target -- they license the name and the logo, and carry some of the same items (e.g. Stella McCartney) but have different ownership.
The problem with sears, radio shack, K-mart etc. and most auto parts stores is this! when you need something the answer you get is "We don't have it but, We can order it" Well let me tell you I can order it my self. And none of them really thought that the internet would take off.
Unfortunately, by not ordering with your local stores (electronics or retail), there was no proof that there was a demand, in your area, for a product. Without the demand, a company will not ship more product there. Then you will not find the products you need there. It's a downward spiral.
I still love Kmart ❤️ I love the old school registers and the “outdated” look of the store. It’s so nostalgic to me. I’m gonna drive an hour tomorrow just to shop there.
I remember going to Kmart growing up. There was one literally within walking distance from my old house in Chicago. I remember it used to be a venture if you remember those stores. Kmart was such a great place to buy things back then. My mom still has a shirt she bought from there a long time ago. Just sad many of these stores are disappearing at such a fast rate. Most of this is because of corporate greed, as well as a giant retailer that we call Amazon. Just wish we could bring these great retail stores back to life
I’ve been a Kmart employee for over a year and recently my store shut down after being one of the oldest kmarts in the country. As an employee I can tell you there is a lot behind the scenes that people don’t see. At least at my store, we were placed in a very poor part of town. A big turn off to people was the people themselves who shopped there. There were many times that bad things happened such as stealing TVs, drug deals, and someone even got hit by a car all while I was at work. This was a huge reason why people didn’t like the Kmart I worked at. Our biggest audience were the regulars who loved Kmart. People don’t know but the shop your way program is actually a very good deal. They send you money to use in the store all the time and it’s great. I got to buy a kuerig coffee machine for my dorm room for $10 because of it. The regulars loved this but it was a hard sell to people who came in just because they had to. It’s sad that they went out of business because they were a great company to work for. The employees loved to work together and they’d even have little work parties for Memorial Day and Christmas that were really cute. While they didn’t offer much in the way for competition with target and Walmart, with the proper resources I believe they could offer deals and revamp their stores enough to attract more business. If they weren’t going out of business I would definitely recommend a job at Kmart but unfortunately I stuck with my store till the end and am now out of a job
Even AT&T went down the tubes in 1985, they cut the work force and closed company schools. They started cutting costs everywhere downsizing work crews. The old way of doing things went out the window, quality etc.
@EyesInTheDark1 I worked at the Kmart in Ottumwa. We waited over 2 years knowing we would eventually close. Target soon followed and now all we have is Walmart. We save our money for Jordan Creek and also the outlet mall in Altoona.
As a former employee I can tell you exactly what happened to Kmart. They're stuck in the 90s with how they do everything all the way down to the cash registers everything is from the 90s and it's killing them
I remember when Kmart closed here in Menomonie, Wisconsin back in 2014. It may have had higher prices, but it was another option to shop at compared to Walmart.
My dad was a store manager between the late 60s and mid-90s when he was forced to retire. The big mistakes they made were: making the stores sell identical products. My dad's store made most of their money from the beer wall and lumber. When K-Mart stopped selling these products, it gutted his store's sales. Second, K-Mart forgot its customer base. K-Mart is the original Wal-mart, but in the early 90s, they decided they would try and rebrand and challenge stores like Macy. No one was going to confuse K-Mart for high quality, and they priced out their customer base. Last, their last store expansion. With the first two changes, expansion was a bad idea.
You are so right about outdated technology. I went to a Kmart around 2010 or 11 and they had the Jimmy Neutron movie on VHS! Not DVD, not Blu Ray - VHS! In 2010!
I actually saw last year Target had a season of Stranger Things on VHS. I think it was a nostalgia gig since Stranger Things is a show based in the 80s. Like they were thinking people would buy it as a collectors item. Only thing I could conclude as I have not bought a VHS tape in 20 years. Hell I don’t buy DVDs unless I have absolutely no choice (some things are only on DVD). Honestly any movie I somewhat like I am buying on 4K Blu Ray in 2021.
Video Game Montage Wal-Mart's personal attempt at fighting off Amazon's shipping competition. I think they coughed up $3Billion to acquire it if I recall correctly. If you order from Wal-Mart, Jet.com will ship it.
K Mart was everything when I was a child. The toys, Little Caesars restaurants, ICEE slushee cups at the cash registers you’d get on your way out, kid machines with candy, fake tattoos and prizes. They also had cute kids clothes that we’d shop for. I have so many memories at K mart. And even as an adult at my first apartment in 2016 I would shop there for household items and Christmas decor/pajamas. It was depressing to see how outdated it became. Now recently both K marts in my city are closed down 😪
I worked at a kmart warehouse in 2017. We never had anything to do, even in peak season, it only lasted a few days and immediately went back to being dead. We swept most of the time.
Today, I went to one of the last Kmart stores left in my area. It's a "Big Kmart". After seeing this video and having not been there in years, I was expecting it to be sad and depressing, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was nothing amazing and it was a bit dated, but overall it was a good experience and I did get a few things at reasonable prices. It was pretty cool.
I think Kmart lost what is known as its mind share. When people need something if there is a Kmart or Sears nearby its still not the first place or even the second place they think about. So most people only end up there after striking out at another store.
K-Mart closed in Canada years ago. The stores became Zellers (a Hudson's Bay company), which closed to make way for Target Canada, which closed in less than a year after opening. The store nearest me is now a Walmart.
I used to enjoy going to KMart for the very reason you don't - going into a KMart was like journeying back in time, not to 1994, but back to the 70's. The feeling of nostalgia was palpable. Plus, the place was always empty, and for a misanthrope like me, being able to shop without constantly having to encounter and avoid colliding with people was a blessing. Now, I do a lot of my shopping at Walmart. Between the crowds of people and the merchandise stacked in the walkways that one has to struggle to avoid, it is generally a miserable experience. If there were a KMart near where I live now, I would still go there.
I agree. Kmarts had that nostalgic smell and the food in the Kmart eatery was great. Their clothes didn't run small like everywhere else and the lines moved faster than crappy modern Walmart. I always shopped at our local Kmart until it closed in 2017. I was sad to see it go. I still have a popular flea mart near me which has a Kmart vibe but it's only open on weekends. Otherwise I try to stay away from the creeps at Walmart and usually hit a dollar store instead now that Kmart is a memory 😔
I remember as a child whenever I walked into a K-Mart; the store smelled of popcorn and sold Icee's. They had bubble-gum machines and small amusement rides outside the store.👍😁❤
K mart was very good to us during two hurricanes in Puerto Rico 2017 it provided us with free electricity to charge our cellphones and other equipment.. Had lots of bottles water to sell. God bless K mart in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Food is great in their Lunch room
@@prettybullet4646 I was there too, the lunch room was pretty good, and the bathrooms didn't have to much shit and piss on the floor, just enough turds on the floor where you could just kick them out of the way.
In Arecibo the roof came off at the back of the building, because they are right in front of the ocean. The winds were just so strong... They opened up the store and a substantial about of the merchandise, including the whole area where lay aways are managed, were covered in mold and quarantined. You walked around and it was uncomfortable to breathe so I can't imagine what the employees went through... My dad had to wait a few more months before he could pick up his layaways and they smelled terrible. It's clear that k mart is struggling to survive so I'm just wondering how on earth they managed to keep going after hurricane María. I could have sworn they would leave, like so many stores did, after María.
In Kmart's declining years, an issue customers had at checkout was the list of questions the cashier would pose to the customer at checkout, such as: "Do you want to purchase repair/replacement insurance on the item?" "Can I have your phone number and email address?" "Would you be interested in signing up for a Sears credit card?" "Would you prefer a paper receipt or having it emailed to you?" (and there were other additional questions I don't recall) You can see the time consuming nature with asking multiple questions, along with the additional time delays with the customer at the register mulling over his/her decision making with each question . . . it can jam up the waiting line at checkout. It gets the customers frustrated, and most likely, the next shopping trip they will take their business elsewhere. It's a pity that Kmart got itself bogged down with such BS, as in most cases I was satisfied with the assortment of items they carried, and they were conveniently close by.
Same routine at Kohl's. In a weaker moment I did sign up for the credit card. They rewarded my customer account by billing me a late charge of $27.00 on the first and only purchase that wasn't due for another three weeks. Good luck with the customer service number.
Kmart by me shut down and it looks to be a different business because people are always there but there’s no signs, name of the building, or much of a parking lot
It's funny how we remember our dads' spontaneous jokes, isn't it? My dad would retell a joke he heard on Johnny Carson or wherever: I just flew in from Los Angeles, and boy, are my arms tired!
I was actually really disappointed when the Kmart in our area finally closed it’s doors. I live in a pretty rural area, and the closest Walmart is almost a 40 minute drive. But if we’re being honest, the convenience was about all it had going for it. It was no longer the bright, fun department store I remember as a child in the late 90’s. Instead it was a last resort when you didn’t feel like driving any further.
When I was little it was a "magical" Experience. They had popcorn machines at the end of the checkout line with GOOD popcorn. Just before the place you entered the checkout, counter with red and blue Slurpee machines. It was a blast!
Yes Adventure their Popcorn smell was as good as the movie theaters and so was the popcorn . I remember their Cafeteria having some good food . Of course that was in the day before the pink gel and Angus Beef scam ! In Stephen King's time travel novel 11 22 63 , when guy first went into late 50's he noticed the bad pollution but sat a diner and ate and took a swig of milk or root beer or something. He said " Yes everything smelled bad back then but it sure tasted good .!"
me and my brother used to make a whole day out of k mart! eating at lil ceasars..and watching movies on the tvs in electronics..the employees used to let us..then we when to circle k to play street fighter on the arcades!
This is very true. My mom worked at our local wal mart when it first opened and was competing with the k mart. Her managers would regularly send employees to K Mart to buy "hot items" that they were sold out of to sell at a loss so they could draw more customers in.
I know this is five years old but I wanted to share my experience. I was in the last Kmart still open in the entire country on the last day before it closed its doors forever. I seem to recall it was November, 2017. I may have the date wrong but not by much. It was in Albertville, Alabama. The place was in shambles and much of their items seemed a bit overpriced considering they weren't gonna survive anyway. I managed to find a wheeled luggage carrier that was missing a piece. The girl I was dating at the time told me to go back and get my money back but I was willing to live with it. Still, we did anyway and the manager gave me a great deal on it. I still use it all these years later. Not long after it closed, they leveled the building. It was surreal experiencing this tragic history considering Kmart used to be a big deal years earlier.
My Kmart started dying when their restaurant closed. Our Kmart had a dinner attacked that while technically a separate business had an open wall to the Kmart. You could go to dinner at the dinner and then walk right into Kmart to shop. Then the diner closed after something about rent and code with the open wall. I dont remember it all. But almost immediately the number of people you saw in the store dropped. It felt depressing like he said in the video
As A kid growing up in the seventies, I have great memories of K-Mart. I remember my mom taking us Christmas shopping there every year and I was always so excited to see all the Christmas decorations. Or school clothes shopping every August. And as a treat my mom would buy us snacks/lunch/dinner at the cafe they had in there.
When I lived with my parents, we always went to Sears. But people moved to other parts of town, and K-Mart/Sears didn't follow them like Wal Mart did. I remember when we went Friday evening because all the other days, stores would close at 5pm.
Want to know what happened to Kmart? As former employee I can tell you. People stopped shopping there. Why? Because people want service and Kmart stopped offering that by cutting employee hours. Like most of my co-workers, I was hired as a full time employee. Right after Walmart opened in our town Kmart corporation decided that it would be a good idea to reduce 90% of us to part time status. That was a big blow after 14 years of loyal service. We not only lost hourly pay, but also all of our benefits. But we were expected to do the same amount of work on those reduced hours and cover the checkouts as well. A lot of my co-workers just stopped caring. They forgot that the corporation wasn't our real boss. The customers were. As I told my manager when I submitted my resignation, "Without customers, we've got no reason to be here." And the customers stopped shopping at Kmart. Why shop there when you can get the same merchandise at the same price somewhere else and be treated as though you are not a nuisance when you ask for help?
Agreed. I worked at Kmart for a paid internship my last semester in high school, and was without question the most miserable working experience ever. They hammered in how expendable you were from orientation. In Michigan, the Kmart I worked at was "right to work" also known as "you're our bitch". After getting my hours shuffled around without my knowledge, and getting threatened to be fired because I didn't show up for a shift I was unaware of having, I quit right on the spot. Boss said I could never be rehired for Sears affiliate stores after that, to which I replied "eh."
A long time ago I worked for Kmart... to save money my store would cut the air conditioning off in the middle of the summer... over 80 degrees in the store... they would also turn out the lights in the parking lot hours before the store closed in an effort to save money... we also had to bring in outdoor items that were in the front of the store... lawn equipment..BBQs.. Etc... after we had already clocked out... their motto was "you don't have to wait in long checkout lines"... that was true because everyone was shopping at Walmart
I worked there for about a year in the late 80's. The store management was corrupt and employees were treated like crap. In the electronics department, items were purposely understocked so that customers would have to order them and the few favorite employees would always make out the orders (and get the sales commission). No matter how hard you worked, the supervisor would always find something "that wasn't done". K mart definitely crumbled from within.
Back about 1967 I worked at Kmart, but the department I worked in wasn't owned by Kmart, but Kmart least space to independent companies. Automotive was independent, so was Sporting Goods and Jewelly. All four if my sisters work at Kmart until the 1970s. Later I worked for Walmart in management. I knew Mr. Walton quite well (We all called him Mr. Sam). In one meeting he told us his goal was to surpasses Kmart and leave them in the dust. When this all changed at Kmart I don't know, I did recruit some of Kmarts employees to come over to Walmart.
*leased space *All four of *I later worked / Later, I worked *meeting, he told *was to surpass Kmart *know, but I *Kmart's employees ...etc. C'mon, mate! You're old enough to know better. If you're gonna tell a tale, at least make it decent enough to read through. :l
@@mousermindLooks like you understood exactly what the poster said but for some reason you felt the need to flash your spelling nazi badge. Looks like the poster used their phone to post comment using the swipe method and we’re using an iPhone as well since they’re notorious for autocorrect spelling errors unlike Windows Phones and Android phones using swipe method.
What this article missed are these two words "Eddie Lampert," the CEO of Sears Holdings. He is playing a shell game with both Sears and KMart. He intentionally cut the budgets for the stores, not allowing repairs, blocking stock purchases, cut staffing funding, for the very reason to drive away customers and ruin the company so he can line his own pockets. He also owns a property development company that is loaning huge amounts of money to Sears. Then when Sears, his left hand, cannot pay the debt, he gives his second company the buildings ~for a SONG~ which most Sears/KMart locations are owned outright and do not belong to the malls, so just the land alone is worth much more than his second company pays. Then he leases out the floor space for twice, three times, the amount that Sears was making, and the money flows into his second business. He murdered the company, now he is looting the corpse. He is being sued by Sears shareholders, but in the meantime, the company has been gutted. www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1
PREACH. A written article kept asking questions about where Lampert went wrong. Wrong questions. Nothing went wrong. Everything has gone to plan. It just doesn't occur to normal people how someone can so methodically and callously dismantle a business which has been entrusted to their stewardship. It's like he's a surgeon gradually selling off someone's organs while keeping them just barely alive.
Thank you for this! I was hoping someone would point to the fact that Sear/K-Mart is being cannibalized by their CEO. He's got his Golden Parachute going, so WTF does he care? It's just peoples jobs, right? They can go work for whomever else is still out there.... Sad.
I was expecting this to be included as to the down fall of SHC, but it was just focusing on the previous issues K Mart had prior to Lampert. Sure they were in a downward swing, but the "restructuring" was nothing more than a land grab by Lampert and purchasing Sears was an effort to sell off its brands like Craftsmans, Lands End and Kenmore.
Firestormlover Looks like the feds need to take a look into his dealings - and if there is indeed any wrongdoing criminal charges just might be filed by our government and Congress.
I got my first Nintendo NES and SNES from Kmart. Along with countless amount of school supplies in elementary and middle school. Kmart, you'll forever be in my heart.
onebadlt123 Same here. My mom got me Earthbound at Kmart in 1995 along with a truckload of School Supplies and clothing lots of clothing in Elementary School until the 10th grade. RIP Kmart.
When I was a kid, going to Kmart with my mom was always a blast! Ours had its own "Harvest" cafe, a huge Icee machine, and the blue light special. Good times!
As someone who did LOTS of work for K Mart I always believed the decline was a result of then CEO Joe Antonini who made a conscious decision to "upscale" K Mart and get rid of the lower income customers that had made K Mart a staple of the American shopper. This is the time when the stores underwent expansion and started acquiring store locations on prime real estate that often times required signing 99 year lease's only to discover that these new location were not profitable and had to be closed. Joe plan to upscale also resulted in the handing over of those lower income shoppers to the open arms of Wal Mart, not a good move. I've always believed that Wal Marts greatest asset was Joe Antonini.
I knew the K-Mart by me was in trouble when they couldn't sell shovels and sleds in a blizzard. People were driving over and hour in every direction looking for the in demand items. Meanwhile K-Mart was fully stocked. lol.
Ha, we noticed this during The Great Eclipse of 2017. We were in Union, Mo, dead center of the longest period of totality (at least in the ballpark), and decided hey, we should get some lawn chairs...we went to 3 local walmarts and a Farm & Home, every place had the same story: "sorry, we sold out of lawn chairs this morning, it was a mad rush!". We decided to try a local smaller market farm/home store, can't even remember it's name 4 months later, and they had dozens of chairs of all different sizes and types, as many as you'd want. But no one thought to look there, they just went to the big national chains.
I worked in a Little Caesars inside of a Kmart that closed, and it was one of the best jobs ever because we were our own little group, we had a private backroom, and we could do quite literally almost anything we wanted back there. (crazy stuff happened back there, crazy stuff.) The Kmart managers never went back and checked on us unless we called for them, and even then they would usually send someone from service desk. Most of the people that worked at Kmart were in their late teens to mid twenties, even a couple of the managers. But at Little Caesars(We call it "The C") we were all in our twenties except for 2 or 3 guys that were 18 or 19. We were such a close community, everyone knew everyone's business. We all had our ranks we gave each other based off skill and how long we'd been there, but among the veterans were the guys you could always trust to make the group the best pizzas and off menu items that we would all develop together. Our entire C gang would go out to eat and do stuff, we were all pretty great friends, I even met my two best friend there whom I talk to nearly daily and hang out with fairly often. Unfortunately our store closed down and everybody went their own way. It's a small town so we're all still pretty close, even those that live further away. But Kmart's merchandise was awful, they had no laptops, cameras from the early 2000's, and outdated electronics. The display TV's were all washed out, staticy, or had off coloration in the picture. the display mattress we had was covered with all kinds of stains, mostly dark and brown. Most of the merchandise was overpriced, the clothes were terrible quality, and the grocery section never had anything you were looking for, and the garden center was nearly always closed. Many customers would tell me they were sad to see Kmart close, but every employee there knew it was for the best.
+Natsu Dragneel That sucks, I know how closely they watch you guys at those. Before we were even closed a standalone LC opened up literally across the (small) parking lot from us. After we closed a good friend of mine who I was working with went to that LC and he was telling me that they have cameras and an all glass walk-in with cameras. At ours there was one camera, and that was just on the register and it was just a cheap home quality one,
Our local Kmart closed at the beginning of 2020, it was probably one of the last remaining stores. I drove by yesterday and saw that the building is being demolished (as well as an old Pizza Hut that was right next to it.) It's really sad to see them go... In 2024, Kmart has only 2 stores left in the USA, one is in Miami and the other is in Bridgehampton, New York. UPDATE: The Bridgehampton store is closing, leaving only the partial store in Miami.
McLean - because K mart has cash problems, its is MORE likely that they will get hacked and or credit card fraud, I can bet their Online security has not been updated either.
An Alien from outer space The IBM registers at Sears were installed in 2005, I was part of the IBM team that implemented the deployment of the equipment. To my knowledge, unlike other retailers, the registers haven't been current registers haven't been upgraded with more RAM or other aspects since.
Overpaid CEO's! That's what happened to KMART. Also add home office buyers that didn't know how to stock the stores with merchandise that customers wanted and could use. Former KMart employee.
Incompetent and over compensated CEO's left K Mart and Sears vulnerable to Eddie Lampert. A former Goldman Sacks investment banker that had run auto parts stores before taking over K Mart and leveraging it to get Sears. The creditors have finally sued Lampert for striping assets of both companies, this year. K Mart and Sears lost to Wal-Mart over a decade ago and most everything since has been the wrong choice by leadership. Former K Mart employee.
Yep. Ruined K-mart and left with a golden parachute. Workers were getting paid so low that the $$$ from the parachute could have paid ALL the workers hourly wages for years!
Yep smooth talking CEO shysters have ruined so many American companies and have stolen from the american worker. 30 to 40 years ago CEO pay kept going up and worker pay leveled out. These clowns sitting on the board of these companies get their buddies CEO jobs and they all sit on other boards doing the same for each other, scammers all of them.
@@stevent9179 I could write a wall of text on K-Mart Australia and how they changed. But a decade ago, they were heading the same way as K-Mart in the states. But rather than trying to keep beating the dead horse of a failing business model, the company effectively rebooted itself. They revamped their product line, re-adjusted their pricing to ensure they were competing in the right market niche and combined it all with a brand revamp, store refreshes, a very successful advertising campaign while actively and aggressively embracing multiple facets of the internet.
The radioshack in my town used to be right next to gamestop so when my parents would go to radioshack i would always go to gamestop or goof around in radioshack
Plain and simple, K Mart acquired too much too soon. Plus when all things went to China, all lost except Walmart. And K mart did not have the return policy that Walmart has. 99% chose Walmart. Still, even now in 2018,you just cant't get stuff made here, it's all made some where else and it's total trash . 80% of your clothing winds up in the lent trap in a short period of time.
I think more important,kmart aquired a bunch companies that didnt pull any weight and pretty much died on the vine...borders? Sports authoity? How much has sears contributed since the aquisition. It sounds like wal mart out-kmarted kmart to be the new low price leader and neither kmart nor sears seem to have an online presence. All the cheap import stuff sucks, but thats what people want and wal mart is still number one with their cheap import crap.
Y'all are wrong af every returned item goes back to that factory and Walmart gets kickback/credit so it would be stupid af to put that product on the shelf...and to bring back our companies would mean paying o so much for every single item you pay I mean $50+ for a fucking shirt bcuz of how much the employees make
Yes you're right but every where you go the tag says Made In China. It doesn't matter what store it is. Plus in a lot of towns, Walmart put all the rest out of business. Sure do miss the old days.
I just went to Kmart last week. I was able to buy bathroom accessories and towels for a great price. I also bought ceramic pans, cutting boards, and a few other kitchen items. I walked out paying around $100.00 During Christmas, they have great deals on decorations and ornaments. I honestly have to admit that I did kinda forget about Kmart for a while, but I try to go there a little more frequently nowadays. They even still have layaway. It definitely helps when you don't have a lot of money.
Eguzzisme layaway is for people who have already proven to credit card company that they are irresponsible with money and can't be trusted to pay back debts. Fuck off with your Bullshit. Man up. Fix your credit. The Fuck is the difference between layaway and actually saving up for what you want? The fact that with layaway you can "finally afford" to buy last year's model at this year's prices? Jesus christ. You make me think Kmart when out of business because consumers got much wiser about spending after the little recession we had. "it helps at Christmas time" the Fuck you mean it helps? What, you sleep all god damn year then wake up like "oh Fuck it's December?" Seriously, what do you do all year that you can't keep track of the fucking date. You have 24 hours to ask yourself what day it is. Every day. And you somehow forget for 300 days CONSECUTIVELY? Nigga that's seven thousand, two hundred hours IN A ROW that you literally have no clue what day it is. Man, I feel for you... I wish you the best of luck
Eguzzisme BTW Walmart has interest free layaway also. From September to January. (and lower prices) 😣😕 But I still fail to see how saving $10 a week is harder than paying $50 a week. If that's your thing, I guess.. Go for it
I used to work there in 2013 for a few months as a cashiers. The registers would always crash, and a lot of the items wouldn't ring up as the correct price, so that meant calling for a price check every single time and calling for an override for the price change. It was very frustrating for me and the customer. As a customer I wouldn't want to shop at a store that took forever to check me out and didn't give me my items at the correct price. Also the rewards program was annoying. You had to get a phone number every single time or else you'll get your hours cut. The supervisor used to tell us to use these fake numbers which was against the rules. It wasn't that bad of a place to work it was super easy, it was just annoying and unorganized.
I worked there as a cashier summer of 2016 and had the same exact experience. Our whole register system went down for over an hour one day and continuous price checking and waiting with the customer was the worst.
i worked there 2010-2012 and I have to say you are exactly right. I had to call for price checks left and right, and basically had to beg customers to get the rewards program which annoyed the fuck out of them, which is why pretty much no one shops there anymore.
Marilyn Zavala Don't even get me started on the layaway system. Unorganized, dirty, messy, and just flat out depressing. No one at the store near me wants to bother with working there.
Last time I was there I was annoyed at the rewards program offering. I used to shop at K Mart for the diversity but now they are basically more for less in a bad way. More hassle, less products and service. The comment about price checks is also spot on, can't go one trip without a common item having to need a price check. Shelving cluttered and not at all tidy or organized. Some items don't even have a price on them so I end up taking the item to the clerk to just find out the price. My last reason is that it takes a very long time to check out when it is seemingly empty and you should be able to get in and out quickly.
"Shelving cluttered?" Surely, you mean the shelves themselves are messed up and too close together. Cause my local store sure is far from having too much on the shelves to choose from... In fact, they replaced the sad little electronics area with some bed samples last year, and even those look dirty, broke down, and bad...
Back in the 80s, after Sunday school my mom used to take us kids to Kmart. I used to run straight to the toy section. I loved it there. I will always remember those days.
Kmart and Sears both have a very depressing vibe to them when you go inside. They're always deserted, unorganized, and just feel like sketchy gas stations compared to Walmart
Hot Cosby Same, at least they can put in a little effort.
i said convenience store, but i know exactly what you mean. bloated up convenience store. they need a remodel and new store smell. cause the smell is what i hate the most.
I worked for both of those companies and there is a good reason it feels depressing. Imagine working at Sears and you get a raise based off evaluation... At a department store! And the best you can get is a Quarter. Yet people hired off the street make more money because the company doesn't bump older employees up in pay if the scale has changed..... Which in turn gets people breaking things or stealing a lot. Or just not caring about their job. And can you really blame them?
Hot Cosby honestly
when Walmart is the sketchy gas station though lol
The last time I went into Kmart, it was almost depressing. It was like being in the belly of a dying whale.
Depressed vore
I agree. The last time I went in there was in 2013. It was depressing and obvious that the company was going off the deep end.
it’s been ten years since I been there.
The whale blubber would be in cosmetics💄
i feel like Some would go further and say that being a participant in 21st Century Late-Stage Capitalism is like being inside of the belly of a dying whale. And half of us haven't even accepted or want to accept that the poor damn thing has been pulse-less for a while now.
As of August 2021, there are under 20 Kmarts currently operating in the U.S.
I’m surprised even that many are still active. No disrespect cuz I love Kmart but I can barely find one in 50 miles of my house and it says it’s permanently closed when I go to google which doesn’t make sense
@@suna9555 there isn't one in an 1,000 mile radius of my home
@@m00nlight73 shit I don't even know if the one I like is open for sure
@@m00nlight73 I wanna go to the one in my area so bad but I'm not sure if it's even open
Kmart is doing well in Australia lol
Our K-Mart managed to stay open until late 2021, baffling the entire town. Looking at the shots in this video feels like I'm there again, it was exactly like that. They also hadn't maintained their parking lot since 1994, potholes and cracked asphalt everywhere. I have no idea how they made enough money to stay open that long unless it was a front for a drug operation xD
Marshall Mi?
Imagine being like "I'd never buy clothes from KMart, but man, they have the best weed in town!"
Same,My Kmart was surprisingly much well-maintained and didn't have the greentext thing company man said. It's Nathan's Hot Dog store however wasn't open.
They stay open because the rents are surprisingly cheap in most strip malls for the large retailer. You need a big box store in the strip mall to bring in traffic for the liquor store, pizza place etc that they share the strip mall with. They usually charge the big box stores close to nothing and make their money on the smaller stores in the lot
It makes sense if you think about it, think about your big big store/super market strip mall.
Would you ever go there at all if it wasn’t for the big lot store/supermarket ?
that's how the one in my town was up until they closed in Jan of 2020. Parking lot was borderline destroyed and a car dealership used half of their lot for used cars. Place felt like a capsule of the early 2000s and I remember so many nights going to it when I was a kid.
I used to be a KMART worker & I was a “Attention Kmart shoppers,” announcer years ago. Just recently the Kmart in my area closed. I did my final purchase. The end of an era.
I worked at Kmart during highschool and loved my job. Worked in layaway and announced some Blue Light Specials. It was always the best place to get jewelry. I miss Kmart 😔
Thank you for your service :))
Adriane Halaby I announced blue light specials too. It was the highlight of my shift lol
Kmart shutdown here in my area just 1 or 5 months ago.
Update: now something else is being constructed there. Probably another small mall or something like that.
My towns Kmart closed like 4 years ago. Rip Kmart :(
The empty Kmart lot in my hometown turned into a high school....we didn’t see that coming
LOL In my town when the largest high school was relocated and rebuilt, the area was made into a shopping center with Walmart and Home Depot
In my town, my Big Kmart(yes, a Big Kmart, not a normal Kmart) was replaced by a Coastal.
Gary Wilson never heard of coastal
@@Mischa21xo You can search the term "coastal" or "Coastal" on the internet.
Janet Ge that doesn’t get weird near me they swapped a dine in Pizza Hut and are making it a daycare AND MacDonalds is right next to each other
I remember Walmart was the place you could get McDonalds and a happy face sticker. And target always smelled like popcorn 🤤
yes i remember that too
@@coresung5954 bruhhhh you right
Oh yeah I remember Walmart giving kids stickers before they leave
Our Kmart had little cesars pizza
Our Walmarts in North Dakota have Subway's but yeah that's about it
I worked at K-Mart in 1985 when I was in high school. That first Christmas, the store was packed every day. We could barely keep up. The next year, a Walmart opened nearby. I remember the store being nearly empty the next Christmas. It was depressing.
Happiness - Depression
K Mart was never depressing. And they had merchandise that Wal Mart and Target still doesn't carry. It's too bad they went out. But Wal Mart and Target will fail eventually since they're always out of anything you'd expect them to have in recent years (2022). Macy's, the old one from the early 20th century on the other hand is gaining ground. Macy's should reopen K Mart. Together, they would put these overrated Wal Marts and Targets out of business..
@@wesleycook7687 K-mart definitely had a better selection of certain things...not everything. I don't even bother with Target or Wal-mart now as they stopped carrying a lot of stuff I used to go there for (I didn't WANT to go there, but everything else was out of business) Now I just get everything on amazon...Target and Wal-mart can go belly up too for all I care.
It’s a shame. I have fond memories of getting an Icee and looking at toys. In the 70’s, Kmart was a giant here. I didn’t even know Walmart existed before about 1984.
Wow, walmart had great& different stuff inside the store, metri detroit we had meijer department store too
one of my teachers used to work at k-mart he told us a story about working there, after a few days of working there he did the whole bluelight sale thing and it was on socks so he said "attention k-mart shoppers bluelight sale on right socks we'll even throw in the left sock for free" (or something along those lines) then he got fired
Wooooow. That's quiet a clever and funny way to gain a customers attention.
That's fucked up
Ah I see you're a man of culture as well
Hm. *Press bluelight special button* kmart: ya fired
Your funky fresh frog friend bruh that’s a funny joke. Managers can’t take a joke smh
that's bullshit, buncha uptight-ass managers that can't even handle a Dad Joke. What miserable lives they must lead :/
I remember when kmart bought Sears we thought it would save us. It did not. I worked there over 12 years ago and met my husband there while he was in the appliance dept. We are still together, kmart does have a soft spot for me. Alot of memories.
My aunt met her husband while both were working there as well
So sad!
When Kmart had little Caesars pizza my family would hang out there weekly to get a pizza and go shopping. I actually really miss Kmart
Little Caesars is trash 🗑
@@frankwest9304 Little Caesars is good when you don’t have someone in your ear telling you it’s bad.
Same. Our Little Caesars had an old Zenith TV on a cart and you could pick over 100 VHS tapes of your choice to watch while you ate your pizza. We always chose between Chicken Run, A Goofy Movie, Great Mouse Detective, Iron Giant and Pokemon the 1st Movie. Good times!
@@frankwest9304
What's you're reasoning?
You are not alone it may not be a popular opinion but I always loved to early 90s look & feel of K-Mart, modern is not always good... It was unique that they didn't modernise the store like every one else. Everytime I visited the store it was like going back in the 90s....
My mother was a Personnel manager at a Kmart in the '70s and '80s. At first, it was a good job, but then the corporate culture changed, and the district mangers would come in and pressure them to fire the experience staff because they thought they could get new employees (at minimum wage) to do the same job. They couldn't. Eventually they offered my mom a payout to retire, and she did. She was glad she got out when she did.
Personally, I liked it when Walmart and Kmart were competitors, because if you couldn't find something at one store, you knew that you probably could find it at the other. Eventually, I stopped going to Kmart, because they NEVER had what I was looking for, and because they were starting to get that dingy look.
I remembered little caesars pizza was inside of kmart back in the day
aldo rodriguez really? When?
The Kmart that was in my city had a little Caesars too
Confederate Pride there's one about 10 miles from my house that still has it
Ours still has one, but I think it's been closed a few months now. The whole store will be closed in September, and going inside, it's just half empty shelves everywhere. Got a few packs of black licorice twizzlers for really cheap though. Should go again and see if they still have any left. Really, it's a sad and depressing atmosphere, and I honestly feel bad for them.
Elias Escobar same
This man alone has taught me more about finances than my schooling ever will.
Fr
The sad thing is the Kmart in our town closed in 2017
I was lucky enough to take business and investment classes as part of my enrichment courses during high school. hearing him mention stuff like the debt-equity ratio, the current ratio, revenue and net income, etc all light up the financial geek in me.
I've learned more from RUclips than school and that is downright pathetic.
@@AlexKS1992 Bro, not saying your wrong, but you are comparing the biggest collaboration of human knowledge and ideas to a school. It's not pathetic, but yea sometimes it can feel like maybe you can spend your time better lol. Then again some people have amazing schools that go above and beyond so yunno case by case basis haha!
I worked in the hardware and paint department at a K-Mart in Pittsburgh in 1988. We got paid every Friday in cash. That's where I met Randy "Macho Man" Savage, who was shopping there with his wife. Fun memories.
I moved to Indianapolis in 1988 and my first job was working at a Kmart store.. I was there two years... work in the back of the store at receiving. one thing I sure remember was like you said every Friday we would line up in the office and get our pay envelopes, and yes they did pay in cash. I always like that because you didn't have to go somewhere to get a check cashed.
That's pretty darn cool man. Cash sounds a little sketch for a company to do tho.
😮
Oh Yeah!
Was he buying Slim Jims?
Worked at Kmart from 95-04. In 2004 they decided that stores that made under $30 million/yr would no longer have an overnight stock crew and that anyone who worked full time on that crew would be laid off and offered a chance at returning as a part time employee with a pay cut and loss of benefits. When I started, you made an extra 50¢ an hour if you worked Sunday and they were closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. A year after I started they did away with the Sunday differential and switched to only being closed on Christmas. Then they went to being open 24 hrs starting 2 weeks before Christmas and staying open until 8 on Christmas eve. They also would make employees stay for 30 minutes to 2 hours after their shift ends to straighten the store for the next day. Then the employees would have their hours cut to make up for them being kept after their scheduled hours. The reason you never find anyone in the departments to help is because they don't have anyone there. You have one employee covering 4-5 departments because corporate constantly cuts the operation budget. They implemented a 10 foot rule that said you must greet every customer within 10 feet as an effort to deter shoplifting because they didn't have security on duty at most hours. In 2002 when they filed bankruptcy, many employees lost everything because Kmart would invest the retirement pensions of its full time employees in company stock so when Kmart was delisted from the NYSE people saw the value of their stocks go from around $3 down to less than 20¢ before the NYSE took action. They also had a really bad case internally where employees were being discriminated against based on age and gender. I personally was given a $2/HR raise because I was being under paid as a department manager. With all the shady practices I saw while employed there, I am honestly surprised if there are any stores left.
I worked for Kmart from 1975 until 1996 THAT COMPANY SUCKS, One of the happiest days of my life is when they went belly up . The stories I could tell ! Stayed that long bc they were basically the only game in town and after a certain amount of years I just didn’t want to start over . They treated a lot of people like 💩
@@siriusstar99tell some stories!
This sounds alot like when I worked for Toys R us in 2013
@@PoorlyDoneGamingI think a lot of companies initially facing a downturn do these knee-jerk reactions that seem like a good short term solution, but just contributes to the downward spiral
It funny when people think they know what they are talking about
As of May 2020, there are only 34 Kmarts left.
And how many of those will survive COVID?
@@TimmyTickle very few or none
assuming everyone here is american
tried to go to the one in NC, and apparently it was closed. They haven't updated the site, so probably none actually open
@Salvador Cortes ah ok. is it old and dilapidated?
My dad worked at K Mart for over 30 years. He gave his life to that store. Our family was devastated when the K Mart closed.
May I ask if he was properly compensated when they closed? The one here in Springfield Il had a lot of employees upset and disgruntled.
@@Kikibrat2 yes he was compensated but it felt like it wasn't enough. It didn't last long enough for him to find another good paying job.
Thirty ....years..hahahaha
Working retail for over 30 years? Oh that wouldn't have been fun
Yeah I mentioned this in another comment, but I remember when the Kmart closed in my town. It lasted from 1989 until 2002 I believe. In the weeks and months leading up to the closure lots of longtime employees were out front protesting because some of them were making well over $20 an hour and Kmart wouldn't let them transfer to the next closest store which was out of state where the cost of living is much lower so Kmart couldn't really afford to put them on payroll.
You failed to mention how the CEO sold off fully owned buildings to himself then leased them back to the stores draining profits and equity
Yep the real reason Kmart failed is the C level executives were crooks.
Corruption is a plague that must be purged....
He talks more about the CEO in the Sears video.
Eddie lampert is the biggest crook in all of this.
Why is that allowed? :(
I went into a kmart a couple or so years ago and it was quite an experience. The clothing sections were completely untouched with everything being very ugly/cheap looking, the grocery section was sparse with only some really strange looking off brand foods and snacks, half the stores lights were out so it was unusually dark, and the holiday section was packed with ridiculously overpriced items that looked like they were made 20 years ago. And what was even weirder was that despite everything being ridiculously overpriced and the store being scarily dark and dingy, there were actually a surprising amount of people in the store. Like enough that they had 2 registers open. It was a very odd experience.
I remember one time in Kmart I saw a Lego set twice Msrp yet someone still bought. Towards the end of its lifetime Kmart pricing was wack. They probably wanted a temporary influx of cash so they could reconsolidate which is why some stores stayed opened toll recently.
Got my vote Kmart chothes& shoes were very bad ; Kmart had great goods toys ; layaway; 🍿 popcorn
When I was little (around 2010), Kmart's clothing section was fire 🔥. It was like barbie/bratz's wardrobe in real life.
i honestly like the fact that KMart hasn't updated their stores because it gives it a little bit of nostalgia.
No it's cuz they couldn't afford it
@@yoshatabi I know, but I personally like the look of it.
i imagine they'd have sleeper machines if they were still one of the best retailers
@@The4MusketeersYT Aight, I'ma go look
That was actually one of the biggest reasons why I still loved going to K-mart. It felt like I was going back to the 80's and early 90's, and it always reminded me of my early childhood.
I always remember KMart as a store the size of Walmart, but with 2 cashiers.
I work at a subway inside of aWalmart, and from what I can tell, alot of Walmart's are understaffed and are completely trying to move into a self checkout/automated cashier model. They have maybe 3 people on registers in the entire building.
I remember when super k opened in my town. They had a video rental store and a cafe inside, it was pretty high class for the 90s 😂
The super k in my town was huge. Bigger almost double the near wm duper center. 23 cashier+ full restaurant + deli cafe (no fast food concesionary)
Walmart is the same way
your walmart’s have more than 2 cashiers?
This is an oddly satisfying channel.
Oddly?
Yea cuz it takes u bacc
NKWTI I know right
History is fun
It's like a whole new behind the scenes look at all these places I've known about but never had the know how or time to investigate on.
The last K-Mart by me closed in 2017 but the inside of the store looked like it gave up sometime in early 2000s. It literally felt like walking into a time portal going in there everything just felt 10 years behind and they really didn't have much of anything worth going for. The little cafe in the front looked dingy as hell and closed but somehow was always open, the workers seemed to not give a damn anymore, it was just a very depressing vibe in there. Also didn't help that Target opened up right across the street lol
Yep. My local K-Mart closed in late 2013 or 2014 and even then it felt pretty outdated. I don't know why but the few memories I have of it, it always reminded me of an old office that hadn't had much maintenance done in years. I seem to remember everything being yellowish.
All of the Kmart and Sears locations in my area shut down during the 2008 recession except one. It lasted until 2016-2017, but it looked abandoned. It was a ghost town, no one even noticed they were having a going out of business sale. I went in there and the building was literally falling apart. A month after it shut down, it was condemned by the city because it was a collapse risk, and would cost far more than it was worth just to get it up to fire code, let alone restored back to something nice.
The last one in my city shut down in 2017 and the last few years that place looked like it wasn’t even trying anymore. The last K Mart I went to was in Oct 2018 in NYC and now it’s closed.
What happened to K Mart was Sears Holding
Coulda sworn you were talking about the K-Mart near me until you mentioned a new Target. Sad how similar everyone's experiences seem to be. Used to love going to K-Mart for a new Hot Wheel and some Little Caesar's while my parent's shopped.
People tend to focus on the damage Walmart did to Kmart, but Kmart got hammered from another angle: the dollar stores. I wondered myself why I quit going to Kmart when ours went out a few years ago. Then it dawned on me: I had been going to Dollar General whenever I didn't feel like putting up with Walmart's crowds, lines, traffic, and lack of parking spots.
There was a dollar store right next to my local k mart. And a huuuuuge Walmart about 20 minutes further. We used to shop at K, but eventually all the cheap basic stuff we needed (cleaning supplies, paper towels etc) we got at the dollar store, and food we got at Walmart because it was cheaper (this was 2009ish so money was tight) the Kmart basically was stuck in limbo, not cheaper than Walmart or the dollar store, and when things started going bad, the stores became very run down understaffed and overall kind of ghetto feeling, it almost started to look like a rundown time capsule because everything they sold looked just a little bit out of date, and the parking lot was always filled with old rusty cars like oldsmobiles and plymouth minivans. We only ever got toys there because it had a big toy isle and none of the toys were that expensive.
I agree with you Tony. The Dollar stores such as Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Five & Under, the 99 Cents only stores in Ca,NV,AZ & TX ate away at the low priced end of K Mart stores was what helped bring down K Mart, and K Mart in 1975 & 1976 took over many W.T.Grant stores after W.T.Grant went bankrupt in 1975. In the late 1990’s I called K Mart Junk Mart as they started going downhill.
I rarely, if ever shop at a Wal-Mart store anymore. Too pricey on many items and registers are usually always backed up (remember the scam they had about three in a line we'll open another register? Oh, and the biggest of them all....Buy American? Now Wal-Mart is just a big Chinese front company.)
@@richardcline1337 I only go there to buy grocery and some car stuff like oil and sometimes earbuds, sometimes Publix is my go to place for groceries
that's about it since I don't buy games there anymore as the game quality are down the toilet drain and the games Walmart sells are all garbage or shit I'm not looking for so I opt for steam and free downloads for games and old games now
Spirit Halloween is like the decomposer of the ecosystem. They eat up after what has been left.
At least spirit is a good store
Dollar Hat the decline occurred when they introduced fortnite items
Spirit Halloween is party city in disguise.
They are, in essence, a component of the vulture (or scavenger) business
There was a spirit which used to be a toys r us... I want to head to New Jersey
You are the first person I have ever heard pronounce 2004 as "twenty-oh-four"
it makes me slightly uncomfortable
it upset me deeply
I hear it said like that and say it all the time
It makes more sense than saying two thousand and four or one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine
@@Zoidberg420 If anybody ever says 1999 as one thousand nine hundred ninety nine I'm staying tf away from them
Target and Walmart killed Kmart. Kmart didn’t seem willing to evolve, so as the years went on their stores looked like 90s throwbacks. My grandmother was the personnel manager for a decade, so it was always fun to go into the store and find her working.
K-Mart killed itself. Walmart and Target were just there to resp the benefits of the demise.
The only direction they were willing to evolve was trying to mimic the competitors. Every time we had a meeting, it was about how Walmart was doing things like this, and Target was doing things like that, they just wanted us to try to copy everything. Even as a teenager working there in 1996 I saw things faltering, as they had given up innovating entirely.
Walmart and Target didnt kill Kmart.
Kmart killed itself by not keeping up and evolving.
It's only 3 left now🤦🏾♂️
Kmart killed itself by spending too much and too fast to expand, instead of trying to update.
When you said "Twenty-Oh-two" and so on, you broke my brain Sir.
Is that like time, Midnight and seven? Or Midnight and Six........................... duh
@@jimcoulter5877 YEAH
I came to the comments specifically looking for this. Wasn't disappointed.
@@scrollright4015 me too I'm like is anyone else gonna acknowledge how he is saying twenty o - after every year
Kahldria Leighsun and did u hear him say twenty oh four like wth does that mean 🤣
Last time I was in a Kmart was like 2008 and I remember going to check out the video games. There was literally a playstation 1 game on the shelf sealed for 59.99$ (I think it was Legend of Dragoon, not even in a glass case or anything, just sitting on a random shelf
It was like I stepped into some suspended void dimension
I remember in Target was the store that smelled like popcorn everytime u walked in or out. And walmart was the place you got a happy face sticker 😂
The last time I visited one was in 2017. It was a ghost town and half of their shelves were empty along with like 6 employees in total. Their photo center boarded off and their little caesars completely bare except for their counter and bars separating it from the store.
Dude that game was awesome!
legend of dragoon was awesome
I went to Walmart in another town recently and they had a ps2 snowboarding game on sale for like $20
I worked at a Kmart. Ran blue light specials in the camera department. They always paid your salary in CASH each week. They thought that making you walk through the store with a pocket full of cash would get you to spend your pay in store. Good times.
quinnjim omg I thought my k mart was the only one that did that when it was still open. We'd get our pay in cash and ours pushed for employees to shop there. The only downside was our food court had been closed since 2004 so no one really bought things when they were paid
Lol... I worked there in the mid 80's and mine did the same thing! This video makes me sad actually for some reason. I loved running the blue light specials in sporting goods and automotive! Created such a fun experience for the customers.
quinnjim smart!
quinnjim Did you bougth something on the way out?
Not every time...
5 Years later, and still a quality video. Can't believe Company man came this far.
What happened to K-Mart? My Grandmother got old and passed away. When she was alive and active, she went there EVERY WEEKDAY. After her death, the funeral home requested some articles of clothing for her, we made SURE they came from her K-Mart.
wow your grandmother was a kmart dream customer :)
RIP
That's depressing.
@@dirkdiggler8093 you're a fucking loser
That K-Mart probably loved her.
The people running the company drained it of all its resources the ceo was flying in a private airplane all the time while the company was going bankrupt.
Exactly! Lampert is NOT a well respected name in the retail industry!
Antonini (previous CEO) was hated in the Detroit area. They felt he didn't care about K-Mart enough to make the necessary changes. It's like with Border (RIP), they had strong business universities in the area (UofMich, Wayne State) but refused to consult them.
IMHO, K-Mart should have been doing what Target is now, making smaller stores that would fit in downtown spaces (like they did at Michigan State University) and bring back quality merchandise. Trying to be a Meijers/Wal-Mart wasn't the smartest thing to do either. I now walk into a Meijers and weep for what they once were (one stop shopping, now they look like a poor Wal-Mart copy).
Narcissist alert
I can’t believe this is Company Man’s oldest video, it feels really well made
Thanks Isaiah.
Wow I did not expect a reply at all
The music is funny. Good video tho
@@slavdog3180 Isaiah Thomas
@@barakobama9743 that’s the person I’m named after lol
I worked at Kmart the summer of 2017. We had to line the display shelves high on the walls with toilet paper and paper towels because there was nothing to make them look full. Your video is spot on - the coolers, all of it looked like it was frozen 2+ decades before. We also couldn't afford enough staff or security so we got robbed all the time (the loss prevention we did have would throw people on the ground and tackle them - that was insane). There were still a few employees who had worked there for decades and talked about when kmart was the best retail job, you got paid vacation on your birthday, all of that. It also attracted a lot of shady people, promising no promotions and no salary raises. The assistant manager was a gang banger and he'd get in fights in the store. It was just insane, I quit when LP throw a customer down and they pulled out a knife a short distance from me. The "blue light special" was just a shelf near the entrance with a fake blue light and some random discounted shit. Now the building just sits and sometimes it's a spirit halloween.
Here's why they went out of business:
1.) *Almost half the store was just clothing,shoes and jewelry.*
2.) *Around a quarter of the store was gardening and outdoor goods.*
3.) *The food selection was way too small.*
4.) *Electronics were insanely over priced. They would charge $59.99 for a 5 year old game that is $19.99 or less anywhere else in town.*
5.) *Check out lanes were too long with not enough cashiers.*
What's funny is many companies are starting to do away with their jewelry. Target started it years ago and Meijer (stores around Michigan and surrounding states) is dumping millions into redesigning aging stores and also doing away with jewelry. Guess if you want that bling, you have to go to a real jeweler like you should have to begin with :P
Brandon Keller xD
Brandon Keller Well what if I just want something that looks good but doesn't 5 car payments?
I remember buying my first Xbox 360 from my local Kmart in 2010. I got a job there this month and the gaming consoles are all gone.
Opposite Lock I remember buying Shadow of Mordor on the Xbox one there....
*The case was literally empty....*
Kmart always felt off, even back in the 80’s. The music played in the store was weird and sounded like it was coming from back room and the store shelves were always a mess. You could pick up something, drop it off in another department and come back a week later and it’s still there. Kmart was also eerie quiet, even with a bunch of people shopping there.
That sounds exactly like the Kmart I remember.
from what ur saying kmart seems like a backrooms level
Facts
@@eliasmarbina2279 As someone who probably hasn’t went a K mart once I agree with your statement
Not true in MY experience.
I LOVED working there.
The music was popular top 40 music, playing overhead throughout the store. I was a teen, and I would literally dance and step through the aisle on the main floor to songs like "What have I done to deserve This", ....and while working in the stockroom room upstairs....to swingout sister songs....I was a teen who favored shopping at Hudsons, because I liked lux & popular personal favorites like LeChateau, Bennetton, Nine West for leather shoes, heels, and flats in varying colors.
But....Kmart seriously had the BEST shampoo and conditioner ....a strawberry scented Unicure brand...I miss that!!....My hair was SO healthy. I was attending Cosmetology School at the time, and the instructor kept asking me what shampoo I used. SHE had said that my hair looked so great/healthy. I told her Unicure. She couldn't believe it, but it was true!! Lol...She expected me to say Paul Mitchell or whatever but no...it was a keratin shampoo that was on sale for like 2 for $1.00...!!!
Now you can only find the blue shampoo (or conditioner) if any is left...and its SO expensive.
I remember the blue-light specials!
They had those a lot when I was working! The store was typically quite busy.
I wonder if Walmart's debut had anything to do with Kmart closings.
My personnel manager was amazing. The best!!....She loved to give me extra hours, and I was available to willing to cover for people who needed their days off. The customers were great...I made a speed game of ringing up sales as quick as I could....to empty the line at the front register where I worked....but...lol...customers just moved into MY lane to get rung up.... because it went faster.
I had interesting experiences. One lady customer had a really cute short hairstyle. ..I told her so. And she had said that she cut it HERSELF!...It was SO even!....and she wasn't even a hairdressser..
Bluelight specials brought through my line ......that people purchased.... were some really NICE items that cost hardly ANYTHING!!...Items for $1.00, $ .25. , $ .50. Ect....$2.00, $3.00...I wanted to be the shopper at that moment. "Are there any more?"...I'd ask.
I had the BEST floor manager who oversaw the floor operations of straightening shelves, when I wasn't at register. He was ALWAYS ALWAYS So positive and encouraging and appreciated the work we did.
My brother remembers this, because he began working there, too. We loved getting to know the peers of our generation that we worked with. It was a fun place to work. During that time....it was even our social scene.
Times were SO fun.
I had dressed up as Mary Poppins, being the doorgreeter....for Halloween.
Touching sad memories too....of a sad customer friend of mine, who came through the store door & foyer one day, that was in tears, because her brother had just been found dead, having committed suicide. And where did she go?....Kmart.
Her usual Go-To place.
She found a hug from me...who felt so bad for her.
She had always been so kind and cordial to me. As she felt I was to her. I had met this woman (about my mom's age) at Camera and jewelry dept. where I had worked....she developed her pictures there often...I went to Beauty School where her daughter was a student, also.
I felt I was there that day...her sharing her grief with me...on the day she needed that.
I met some fun friends working at Kmart. When you're a teen...its common to "pick on' a store like Kmart, working there... ...(to be cool, maybe?)...but we still shopped there for essentials, we had great times working together..... and the memories.
One day, I had to go to the stockroom upstairs....to fetch or bring merrchandise to/from camera & jewelry dept. where I worked.....I was up there for the task, and when finished, I locked the "cage" as it was called...as usual....and went back downstairs, returning to my dept. ...tending to film developing files (remember when we had regular cameras to take pictures?.....and people wore wristwatches every day?)
So there I was...working at my counter.....and who comes along.....(.lol...)..
but one of my friends who worked in neighboring dept.......Without a word...she approached me with .....(lol).....such a serious and no-nonsense infuriated (but not-so -threatening but pretending to be..)....look on her face, and as she approached my clueless face of (what?) ...she took hold of my neck and shook me.......and breaking silence to yell...""You locked me upstairs for 2 HOURS !!!! "
(or was it 3? I think it was 2.)
I was like..."Wh-at?--What are you talking about?"
She said "You left and locked the cage on me!!!!!!.....and I was stuck in there for ! 2 !! hours because of you locking me in!!!....I was like "no....I ..didn't......."...still unsure of what she meant.
YES!!!" She insisted..." I was poking a PENCIL through the lock. through the cage.....and yelling....., "Help!!!Help!!!........for TWO HOURS!!!...and no one heard me!! No one came!!!!
(Just to picture this makes me laugh every time)
Oh my gosh!! lol. It had been SO quiet in that storage "cage" (the size of a quite-small room packed with items) ...that I had seen nor heard Nothing while in there.....
I had no reason to think anyone else was in there. When I recovered from my bafflement of why she was literally wringing my neck......I couldn't help but laugh and say "No way!....oh ....(-?)-..(-!-).....I'm sorry!!!.....Oh my gosh.....2 HOURS? !?!! amidst giggles....and said "Are you making this up?".....
"NO!!" She insisted,........(lol)...... still quite exasperated with me.....
I honestly thought that I was ONLY one upstairs at the time. And to lock the cage upon leaving was the thing to do....But I had ......LOL.....NO IDEA that she was being locked in.
Lolololollol...I guess its a good thing that SOMEONE obviously "rescued" her, because else she would have been in there ALLnight!!!....
Her parents were regular customers and would chat and visit with me, sometimes. They were really nice people.
There was an Englishman who had a really perfectly curled mustache (like out of a storybook) that regularly had photos developed at my counter. He was really nice, too. And a couple of high school girls came in .....to regularly develop film. We had such fun!.....They were so nice!.....a couple of years later, I was at an event, and they were in the neighboring room with one of the guys that i had worked with, celebrating a special event!...That was fun to see them again.
K-Mart wasn't just a popular place to shop. It was a place where people met, laughed, grieved,shopped and/or worked.....
And ....lol....get locked in a cage by me.
My experience as an employee there was SO good in So many ways!
One day .....upcoming...was a day when the district mgr. was to visit...so naturally most people were on their toes about it. The day arrived...and the manager...and district manager walked through the main aisle. ...In a few hours, I would leave my shift to go home. Getting to my car.....I found that I had car trouble. Bummer...But there, in those moments, ....parked across from me, was the district mgr. !!.....He was leaving , too.....I found a helpful aid in him and his kindness, who assisted me.
My car at the time was not cool -looking. But it was fast!
A 78Tbird
In that job, I was awarded and appreciated.....even a customer got me recognized for help he or she received.
In this video, there is mention of Joe Antonini, the kmart CEO.....who signed a poster that I was given years ago, after a photographer came through my line at work one day and asked me to model. (I was like....oh wow!)....
"Dress for Success" was the theme.
storytime: i fell in a kmart once. cut my face up pretty bad after tripping on a pipe they never removed, and slamming into a shelf. i was about fourteen. i ran out crying, holding my face and bleeding excessively. not one employee seemed concerned or asked if i was alright. i went back a few days later, and they still hadn't cleaned up the area. hated kmart ever since
😁
That should've been a lawsuit, I mean that probably would've been the final nail in the coffin for Kmart right then and there.
chris why dident you sue them or your mom
You should have sued you would have walked away with a nice settlement.
Wow, you messed up. You could have had a settlement with a nice chunk of money
I liked Kmart. They had more unique things that Walmart and Target didn’t have. I really loved their gift sets around Christmas and their deli was the best.
Kmart's quality dropped too. I remember walking through the store and seeing toys and clothes everywhere unorganized. Same thing is going on at JCPenny's.
Not to mention they decided to axe all of their department managers. That happened in the one in my town. And they suddenly started using way more temps.
I recently went thru the local JCPenny here, it wasn't pleasant. It was clean, but just seemed... Ehhh... depressing.
ZONEOFEVIL 915 ayyyy that’s diesel patches profile pic
@@roddysboxsinternsbrother ayyy
ZONEOFEVIL 915 One word answer : Amazon.
I legit thought Kmart closed down years ago. The fact that they have any stores open is shocking to me.
There's a Kmart near where I live in Miami, FL.
I also thought they closed down! Haven't seen one in years.
Kmart is still a huge store in my country.
@@LordBadenRulez Austraila?
@@SnomxSalt the little brother down south.
I worked for a kmart in Illinois back in 2006-07 and I was personally responsible for getting it closed down. They had some serious safety code voilations and I kept mentioning it to the store manager and the last reply I got was " Shut the eff up and go back to work". So, I finished my work and went home and called OSHA and reported it. They came out and basically handed the manager his ass. Four safety code voilations. They had to spend $34k just to not get shut down and at the end of the year, they got shut down anyway.
Nice! Good for you. Dishonest companies that do things like this should be held responsible.
Good job! Hope the manager didn’t try to hunt you down. That’s actually happened in some cases.
Good job, you caused a ton of people to lose their job! I bet that makes you feel really important and proud!
Tom Tobin I love this
@@baxatakbaxatak2014 that actually happened? 0_0
I actually get pretty excited when I see a Kmart and I HAVE to go in. Probably just a personal nostalgia kick, but I enjoy Kmart.
In Australia Kmart is on fire. They have even bought Target in Australia. So much so that Target stores are closing and are becoming online only and the existing Target stores are getting converted to Kmart.
So depends where you live.
IKKKK AUSSIE SQUAD!!!! Lol the big kmart looks like big w! And it much more better in AUS than America!
I'd prefer KMart over Target ANY day.
I always felt that Target was over-hyped, ....
.....and pricier for ...why?....
made no sense.
Things really are upside down over there
That so weird to hear Kmart is good in Australia. Hear in the U.S. there closing down the last Kmart
It should be noted that "Target" in Australia is not the same as US Target -- they license the name and the logo, and carry some of the same items (e.g. Stella McCartney) but have different ownership.
The problem with sears, radio shack, K-mart etc. and most auto parts stores is this! when you need something the answer you get is "We don't have it but, We can order it" Well let me tell you I can order it my self. And none of them really thought that the internet would take off.
Unfortunately, by not ordering with your local stores (electronics or retail), there was no proof that there was a demand, in your area, for a product. Without the demand, a company will not ship more product there. Then you will not find the products you need there. It's a downward spiral.
@@bonilla1240 exactly! If they see no demand then there will be no hopes for adding that product to the local store!
My name is Kara Martin and Kmart used to be my nickname as a child in the 90s. Not a cool nickname, but cooler then than it would be now 😆
Kmart 😎 story 👍🏽 hi
WEEZER PFP?! CAN WE BE FRIENDS?
@@-Teague- I think Rivers Cuomo will allow it!!
@Don Clark @downbadpatrol
Wow perfect name that best fits the store's company
I still love Kmart ❤️ I love the old school registers and the “outdated” look of the store. It’s so nostalgic to me. I’m gonna drive an hour tomorrow just to shop there.
Did you ever drive a hour to shop there?
Are there any left to drive to?
I remember going to Kmart growing up. There was one literally within walking distance from my old house in Chicago. I remember it used to be a venture if you remember those stores. Kmart was such a great place to buy things back then. My mom still has a shirt she bought from there a long time ago. Just sad many of these stores are disappearing at such a fast rate. Most of this is because of corporate greed, as well as a giant retailer that we call Amazon. Just wish we could bring these great retail stores back to life
Seek help buddy
I’ve been a Kmart employee for over a year and recently my store shut down after being one of the oldest kmarts in the country. As an employee I can tell you there is a lot behind the scenes that people don’t see. At least at my store, we were placed in a very poor part of town. A big turn off to people was the people themselves who shopped there. There were many times that bad things happened such as stealing TVs, drug deals, and someone even got hit by a car all while I was at work. This was a huge reason why people didn’t like the Kmart I worked at. Our biggest audience were the regulars who loved Kmart. People don’t know but the shop your way program is actually a very good deal. They send you money to use in the store all the time and it’s great. I got to buy a kuerig coffee machine for my dorm room for $10 because of it. The regulars loved this but it was a hard sell to people who came in just because they had to. It’s sad that they went out of business because they were a great company to work for. The employees loved to work together and they’d even have little work parties for Memorial Day and Christmas that were really cute. While they didn’t offer much in the way for competition with target and Walmart, with the proper resources I believe they could offer deals and revamp their stores enough to attract more business. If they weren’t going out of business I would definitely recommend a job at Kmart but unfortunately I stuck with my store till the end and am now out of a job
Even AT&T went down the tubes in 1985, they cut the work force and closed company schools. They started cutting costs everywhere downsizing work crews. The old way of doing things went out the window, quality etc.
@EyesInTheDark1 I worked at the Kmart in Ottumwa. We waited over 2 years knowing we would eventually close. Target soon followed and now all we have is Walmart. We save our money for Jordan Creek and also the outlet mall in Altoona.
As a former employee I can tell you exactly what happened to Kmart. They're stuck in the 90s with how they do everything all the way down to the cash registers everything is from the 90s and it's killing them
I probably should've waited a little longer for my comment 😂😂😂😂
Killed them. They are long dead now. Fewer than the 20 stores left and those are going to be closed as well.
Even in the 90's they seemed outdated and dead.
Mmm yeah they're stuck in the past and aren't adapting to changes.
@@sbentsen2714 Their time to adapt is long past. They are just shutting down now.
I remember when Kmart closed here in Menomonie, Wisconsin back in 2014.
It may have had higher prices, but it was another option to shop at compared to Walmart.
Are the women in your town shaved?
@@Mogamishu wtf lmao
yes, I agree slot of ppl love Kmarts, they don't only want to go to Walmart or Target
@@Mogamishu LMAOOOO what
@@Mogamishu creep
My dad was a store manager between the late 60s and mid-90s when he was forced to retire. The big mistakes they made were: making the stores sell identical products. My dad's store made most of their money from the beer wall and lumber. When K-Mart stopped selling these products, it gutted his store's sales. Second, K-Mart forgot its customer base. K-Mart is the original Wal-mart, but in the early 90s, they decided they would try and rebrand and challenge stores like Macy. No one was going to confuse K-Mart for high quality, and they priced out their customer base. Last, their last store expansion. With the first two changes, expansion was a bad idea.
You are so right about outdated technology. I went to a Kmart around 2010 or 11 and they had the Jimmy Neutron movie on VHS! Not DVD, not Blu Ray - VHS! In 2010!
I mean...that was elebm years ago
I actually saw last year Target had a season of Stranger Things on VHS. I think it was a nostalgia gig since Stranger Things is a show based in the 80s. Like they were thinking people would buy it as a collectors item. Only thing I could conclude as I have not bought a VHS tape in 20 years. Hell I don’t buy DVDs unless I have absolutely no choice (some things are only on DVD). Honestly any movie I somewhat like I am buying on 4K Blu Ray in 2021.
@@lanceheaps581 It was more than likely the Blu-ray set of the show and not an actual VHS tape, that's how they designed the case for the Blu-ray.
@@j.a.5711 yeah but nobody bought vhs in 2010 trust me. I was 21 back then.
@@indiag89 thats true. I was overseas around that time so I dont know what was selling or not though
Walmart happened to K-Mart...then Amazon happened to Walmart
then jet.com happened to amazon
Gavin Hooker wtf is jet .com
Video Game Montage superior.com happened to k mart😒
Video Game Montage Wal-Mart's personal attempt at fighting off Amazon's shipping competition. I think they coughed up $3Billion to acquire it if I recall correctly. If you order from Wal-Mart, Jet.com will ship it.
Then Gamefly happend to Amazon
K Mart was everything when I was a child. The toys, Little Caesars restaurants, ICEE slushee cups at the cash registers you’d get on your way out, kid machines with candy, fake tattoos and prizes. They also had cute kids clothes that we’d shop for. I have so many memories at K mart. And even as an adult at my first apartment in 2016 I would shop there for household items and Christmas decor/pajamas. It was depressing to see how outdated it became. Now recently both K marts in my city are closed down 😪
Your first name is my middle name. I share the same sentiments 🤗
😞
I relate to everything you said. I grew up with KMart ❤️🩹
I always bugged my mom to get an icee and a soft pretzel. She actually gave in once or twice.
I worked at a kmart warehouse in 2017. We never had anything to do, even in peak season, it only lasted a few days and immediately went back to being dead. We swept most of the time.
Damn would love to work there, just goofe around all day woth colegues and get paid
Today, I went to one of the last Kmart stores left in my area. It's a "Big Kmart". After seeing this video and having not been there in years, I was expecting it to be sad and depressing, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was nothing amazing and it was a bit dated, but overall it was a good experience and I did get a few things at reasonable prices. It was pretty cool.
It's a store, not a mall.
owneador1337 think of a mall as a collection of stores and restaurants and in some cases small theaters
JoeyLeddzDippin94 what country is this Kmart in your area
Then there is my K-mart in my home town... closed for the past 10 years😂
I think Kmart lost what is known as its mind share. When people need something if there is a Kmart or Sears nearby its still not the first place or even the second place they think about.
So most people only end up there after striking out at another store.
no one:
Company Man: twenty-oh-two
Sean Flynn Thank you
twenty oh twenty
twenty-oh-fo'
I thought 8 was the only one who caught that and was about to comment on it lol
Drives me nuts.. “two thousand two”.. PLEASE!!!!!
Sears is a fine parking lot for when I want to get into the mall quickly.
Sears closed forever in Canada (final store closed this month) .. all stores. What about where you live?
Yes!!! But it’s so far away from everything
Katie Kaboom It still exists in the US.
K-Mart closed in Canada years ago. The stores became Zellers (a Hudson's Bay company), which closed to make way for Target Canada, which closed in less than a year after opening. The store nearest me is now a Walmart.
Hmm, that area seems like it's not very good for businesses, for some reason.
I used to enjoy going to KMart for the very reason you don't - going into a KMart was like journeying back in time, not to 1994, but back to the 70's. The feeling of nostalgia was palpable. Plus, the place was always empty, and for a misanthrope like me, being able to shop without constantly having to encounter and avoid colliding with people was a blessing. Now, I do a lot of my shopping at Walmart. Between the crowds of people and the merchandise stacked in the walkways that one has to struggle to avoid, it is generally a miserable experience. If there were a KMart near where I live now, I would still go there.
I agree. Kmarts had that nostalgic smell and the food in the Kmart eatery was great. Their clothes didn't run small like everywhere else and the lines moved faster than crappy modern Walmart. I always shopped at our local Kmart until it closed in 2017. I was sad to see it go. I still have a popular flea mart near me which has a Kmart vibe but it's only open on weekends. Otherwise I try to stay away from the creeps at Walmart and usually hit a dollar store instead now that Kmart is a memory 😔
I remember as a child whenever I walked into a K-Mart; the store smelled of popcorn and sold Icee's. They had bubble-gum machines and small amusement rides outside the store.👍😁❤
The little horse you ride, or the horse carousel. And a yummy icee. Good times.
The Icee:) back in the 70’s at K Mart was why I loved going there.
Over here too.. Los Angeles.. Slauson and Vermont
I miss Kmart, Wal-Mart's monopolizing everything, and Target drain's my wallet , makes me miss Kmart even more...
I miss when I was little and I went there with my relatives back in Louisiana.
Treston McBride I know it, me too. I don't like what Walmart has done to kill K-Mart. Even stole part of Kmart's name.
You don't think Kmart is a corporation? They just sucked at making it.
@@jamesgand828 NO
@@beverlywhite5438 I don't even walk into Walmart anymore, completely boycotted...
K mart was very good to us during two hurricanes in Puerto Rico 2017 it provided us with free electricity to charge our cellphones and other equipment.. Had lots of bottles water to sell.
God bless K mart in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Food is great in their
Lunch room
I almost forgot about that. K Mart did have a cafeteria in the back of the store and I remember that the food was actually pretty good.
I know i was there to, and I thought they had the most fabulous shit houses they were pretty clean, not much piss or shit on the floor.
@@prettybullet4646 I was there too, the lunch room was pretty good, and the bathrooms didn't have to much shit and piss on the floor, just enough turds on the floor where you could just kick them out of the way.
In Arecibo the roof came off at the back of the building, because they are right in front of the ocean. The winds were just so strong... They opened up the store and a substantial about of the merchandise, including the whole area where lay aways are managed, were covered in mold and quarantined. You walked around and it was uncomfortable to breathe so I can't imagine what the employees went through...
My dad had to wait a few more months before he could pick up his layaways and they smelled terrible.
It's clear that k mart is struggling to survive so I'm just wondering how on earth they managed to keep going after hurricane María. I could have sworn they would leave, like so many stores did, after María.
See, Kmart isn't always bad.
In Kmart's declining years, an issue customers had at checkout was the list of questions the cashier would pose to the customer at checkout, such as:
"Do you want to purchase repair/replacement insurance on the item?"
"Can I have your phone number and email address?"
"Would you be interested in signing up for a Sears credit card?"
"Would you prefer a paper receipt or having it emailed to you?"
(and there were other additional questions I don't recall)
You can see the time consuming nature with asking multiple questions, along with the additional time delays with the customer at the register mulling over his/her decision making with each question . . . it can jam up the waiting line at checkout. It gets the customers frustrated, and most likely, the next shopping trip they will take their business elsewhere.
It's a pity that Kmart got itself bogged down with such BS, as in most cases I was satisfied with the assortment of items they carried, and they were conveniently close by.
Same routine at Kohl's. In a weaker moment I did sign up for the credit card. They rewarded my customer account by billing me a late charge of $27.00 on the first and only purchase that wasn't due for another three weeks. Good luck with the customer service number.
I didn’t know Kmart still even existed. There aren’t any more near me.
the ones near me be came a big lot and Publix
I wonder if the one in my area is around. Haven't even considered it in like 10 years. I hate big box stores.
Now, 23 across the country.
Kmart by me shut down and it looks to be a different business because people are always there but there’s no signs, name of the building, or much of a parking lot
the one by me shut down, i havent seen k mart since
My dad had this joke, that he got something at Kmart and it K AME APART
Yeah...thats older than dust.
I'm sure it is
It's funny how we remember our dads' spontaneous jokes, isn't it? My dad would retell a joke he heard on Johnny Carson or wherever: I just flew in from Los Angeles, and boy, are my arms tired!
That's the worst dad joke ever lol
(K)a(M)e ap(ART)
I remember S. S. Kresge's when I was a kid in the 50's. It was a "five and dime" back then.
Damn, am I old.
That's actually kinda cool
Is that where you got your first real 6 string?
@@scumbagjesus999 I see what u did there lol.
Happens to all of us. Your memories are priceless.
Wait so your near 70 years old?
I was actually really disappointed when the Kmart in our area finally closed it’s doors. I live in a pretty rural area, and the closest Walmart is almost a 40 minute drive. But if we’re being honest, the convenience was about all it had going for it. It was no longer the bright, fun department store I remember as a child in the late 90’s. Instead it was a last resort when you didn’t feel like driving any further.
To be honest I thought the fact that people might need these stores might keep them in.💛
I still remember my cousin Betsy‘s comment from the 1970s: “if it’s not at Kmart, it’s not worth buying.“ Truer words never spoken
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s
NoirFan01 That surely hadn’t aged well lmaooooo
When I was little it was a "magical" Experience. They had popcorn machines at the end of the checkout line with GOOD popcorn. Just before the place you entered the checkout, counter with red and blue Slurpee machines. It was a blast!
YES!!! The polar bear wearing a sweat shirt IIRC....
Yes Adventure their Popcorn smell was as good as the movie theaters and so was the popcorn . I remember their Cafeteria having some good food . Of course that was in the day before the pink gel and Angus Beef scam ! In Stephen King's time travel novel 11 22 63 , when guy first went into late 50's he noticed the bad pollution but sat a diner and ate and took a swig of milk or root beer or something. He said " Yes everything smelled bad back then but it sure tasted good .!"
Dag Nabbit It's crazy where good times were had before the internet :)
me and my brother used to make a whole day out of k mart! eating at lil ceasars..and watching movies on the tvs in electronics..the employees used to let us..then we when to circle k to play street fighter on the arcades!
Leconte Traveion I spent more quarters on Street fighter than probly every other arcade game combined :)
What happened to K mart?
Walmart started under cutting everyone's prices.
800 pound gorilla, textbook example
And Walmart wasn't yucky.
This is very true. My mom worked at our local wal mart when it first opened and was competing with the k mart. Her managers would regularly send employees to K Mart to buy "hot items" that they were sold out of to sell at a loss so they could draw more customers in.
@@joshscott6514 wow 😲! Seriously!?! I never heard of this. Thank you for sharing this.
I read that as upper cutting, so I imagined a Walmart teen employee uppercutting the little blue light. With intense physics.
I know this is five years old but I wanted to share my experience. I was in the last Kmart still open in the entire country on the last day before it closed its doors forever. I seem to recall it was November, 2017. I may have the date wrong but not by much. It was in Albertville, Alabama. The place was in shambles and much of their items seemed a bit overpriced considering they weren't gonna survive anyway. I managed to find a wheeled luggage carrier that was missing a piece. The girl I was dating at the time told me to go back and get my money back but I was willing to live with it. Still, we did anyway and the manager gave me a great deal on it. I still use it all these years later. Not long after it closed, they leveled the building. It was surreal experiencing this tragic history considering Kmart used to be a big deal years earlier.
My Kmart started dying when their restaurant closed. Our Kmart had a dinner attacked that while technically a separate business had an open wall to the Kmart. You could go to dinner at the dinner and then walk right into Kmart to shop. Then the diner closed after something about rent and code with the open wall. I dont remember it all. But almost immediately the number of people you saw in the store dropped. It felt depressing like he said in the video
It so sad seeing a lot of things from my childhood going away.
Especially Toys R Us
poor executives caused this all they need is one executive to turn it around
what comes must go
that means some of my stuff may go soon
RAIDERS 24 toys r us is back
Jules J what?
As A kid growing up in the seventies, I have great memories of K-Mart. I remember my mom taking us Christmas shopping there every year and I was always so excited to see all the Christmas decorations. Or school clothes shopping every August. And as a treat my mom would buy us snacks/lunch/dinner at the cafe they had in there.
Ricky D that's sweet.
Bill J And Amazon
Same
I have so many memories of shopping at K-Mart as a kid. This store is definitely on my future video list! Thanks for posting!
I liked K-Mart more than Wal-Mart or Target. Buying Sears was a mistake.
When I lived with my parents, we always went to Sears. But people moved to other parts of town, and K-Mart/Sears didn't follow them like Wal Mart did. I remember when we went Friday evening because all the other days, stores would close at 5pm.
When that fat cat from Mexico bought out(took over) Sears I new he was not going to get one penny from me and I never looked at it the same again
thebes1 I know! I would still shop at K-Mart over Walmart any day.
Buying a book store was worse.
thebes1. I think the ceo took them down
Sweet memories of Kmart, my Italian mom yelling in the underwear department..."Want the panties with the cotton crouch?"
Jesus I almost died laughing my a@# off.....
@@robertallen6710 At the time 16 and mortified.
My mother said the same thing...
But with a German accent!
My italian mom also yelled at me in kmart... but more like threats for a slipper or spatula beating upon returning home 😂😂
Tell her no! You want the kind with the sandpaper crotch 😂
Want to know what happened to Kmart? As former employee I can tell you. People stopped shopping there. Why? Because people want service and Kmart stopped offering that by cutting employee hours. Like most of my co-workers, I was hired as a full time employee. Right after Walmart opened in our town Kmart corporation decided that it would be a good idea to reduce 90% of us to part time status. That was a big blow after 14 years of loyal service. We not only lost hourly pay, but also all of our benefits. But we were expected to do the same amount of work on those reduced hours and cover the checkouts as well. A lot of my co-workers just stopped caring. They forgot that the corporation wasn't our real boss. The customers were. As I told my manager when I submitted my resignation, "Without customers, we've got no reason to be here." And the customers stopped shopping at Kmart. Why shop there when you can get the same merchandise at the same price somewhere else and be treated as though you are not a nuisance when you ask for help?
Agreed. I worked at Kmart for a paid internship my last semester in high school, and was without question the most miserable working experience ever. They hammered in how expendable you were from orientation. In Michigan, the Kmart I worked at was "right to work" also known as "you're our bitch". After getting my hours shuffled around without my knowledge, and getting threatened to be fired because I didn't show up for a shift I was unaware of having, I quit right on the spot. Boss said I could never be rehired for Sears affiliate stores after that, to which I replied "eh."
I think your right. I quit going because i couldnt get anyone to wait on me when needed
A long time ago I worked for Kmart... to save money my store would cut the air conditioning off in the middle of the summer... over 80 degrees in the store... they would also turn out the lights in the parking lot hours before the store closed in an effort to save money... we also had to bring in outdoor items that were in the front of the store... lawn equipment..BBQs.. Etc... after we had already clocked out... their motto was "you don't have to wait in long checkout lines"... that was true because everyone was shopping at Walmart
@@bigbob16 I think turning off a.c. in a store is counterproductive. If it's too hot people leave, or aren't as willing to shop as long.
I worked there for about a year in the late 80's. The store management was corrupt and employees were treated like crap. In the electronics department, items were purposely understocked so that customers would have to order them and the few favorite employees would always make out the orders (and get the sales commission). No matter how hard you worked, the supervisor would always find something "that wasn't done". K mart definitely crumbled from within.
Back about 1967 I worked at Kmart, but the department I worked in wasn't owned by Kmart, but Kmart least space to independent companies. Automotive was independent, so was Sporting Goods and Jewelly. All four if my sisters work at Kmart until the 1970s.
Later I worked for Walmart in management. I knew Mr. Walton quite well (We all called him Mr. Sam). In one meeting he told us his goal was to surpasses Kmart and leave them in the dust.
When this all changed at Kmart I don't know, I did recruit some of Kmarts employees to come over to Walmart.
*leased space
*All four of
*I later worked / Later, I worked
*meeting, he told
*was to surpass Kmart
*know, but I
*Kmart's employees
...etc.
C'mon, mate! You're old enough to know better. If you're gonna tell a tale, at least make it decent enough to read through. :l
Benedict Arnold...
@@mousermindLooks like you understood exactly what the poster said but for some reason you felt the need to flash your spelling nazi badge.
Looks like the poster used their phone to post comment using the swipe method and we’re using an iPhone as well since they’re notorious for autocorrect spelling errors unlike Windows Phones and Android phones using swipe method.
What this article missed are these two words "Eddie Lampert," the CEO of Sears Holdings. He is playing a shell game with both Sears and KMart. He intentionally cut the budgets for the stores, not allowing repairs, blocking stock purchases, cut staffing funding, for the very reason to drive away customers and ruin the company so he can line his own pockets. He also owns a property development company that is loaning huge amounts of money to Sears. Then when Sears, his left hand, cannot pay the debt, he gives his second company the buildings ~for a SONG~ which most Sears/KMart locations are owned outright and do not belong to the malls, so just the land alone is worth much more than his second company pays. Then he leases out the floor space for twice, three times, the amount that Sears was making, and the money flows into his second business. He murdered the company, now he is looting the corpse. He is being sued by Sears shareholders, but in the meantime, the company has been gutted. www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1
Firestormlover: Great post! I knew nothing about that. Some of these guys are really good at being crooked to say the least!
PREACH. A written article kept asking questions about where Lampert went wrong. Wrong questions. Nothing went wrong. Everything has gone to plan. It just doesn't occur to normal people how someone can so methodically and callously dismantle a business which has been entrusted to their stewardship. It's like he's a surgeon gradually selling off someone's organs while keeping them just barely alive.
Thank you for this! I was hoping someone would point to the fact that Sear/K-Mart is being cannibalized by their CEO. He's got his Golden Parachute going, so WTF does he care? It's just peoples jobs, right? They can go work for whomever else is still out there.... Sad.
I was expecting this to be included as to the down fall of SHC, but it was just focusing on the previous issues K Mart had prior to Lampert.
Sure they were in a downward swing, but the "restructuring" was nothing more than a land grab by Lampert and purchasing Sears was an effort to sell off its brands like Craftsmans, Lands End and Kenmore.
Firestormlover Looks like the feds need to take a look into his dealings - and if there is indeed any wrongdoing criminal charges just might be filed by our government and Congress.
I got my first Nintendo NES and SNES from Kmart. Along with countless amount of school supplies in elementary and middle school.
Kmart, you'll forever be in my heart.
onebadlt123 Same here. My mom got me Earthbound at Kmart in 1995 along with a truckload of School Supplies and clothing lots of clothing in Elementary School until the 10th grade. RIP Kmart.
my strech armstrong came from Kmart, it lasted about a month
When I was a kid, going to Kmart with my mom was always a blast! Ours had its own "Harvest" cafe, a huge Icee machine, and the blue light special. Good times!
As someone who did LOTS of work for K Mart I always believed the decline was a result of then CEO Joe Antonini who made a conscious decision to "upscale" K Mart and get rid of the lower income customers that had made K Mart a staple of the American shopper. This is the time when the stores underwent expansion and started acquiring store locations on prime real estate that often times required signing 99 year lease's only to discover that these new location were not profitable and had to be closed. Joe plan to upscale also resulted in the handing over of those lower income shoppers to the open arms of Wal Mart, not a good move. I've always believed that Wal Marts greatest asset was Joe Antonini.
Good observation
Watching this in 2020 wondering how the Kmart in my area still exists lol.
Mine just closed last year
34 left oh boy
Go buy something while you still can
I live in Key West and the local K-Mart is saaad.
Ours just closed last year and it's now a uhaul storage facility. It's sad.
I knew the K-Mart by me was in trouble when they couldn't sell shovels and sleds in a blizzard. People were driving over and hour in every direction looking for the in demand items. Meanwhile K-Mart was fully stocked. lol.
Ha, we noticed this during The Great Eclipse of 2017. We were in Union, Mo, dead center of the longest period of totality (at least in the ballpark), and decided hey, we should get some lawn chairs...we went to 3 local walmarts and a Farm & Home, every place had the same story: "sorry, we sold out of lawn chairs this morning, it was a mad rush!".
We decided to try a local smaller market farm/home store, can't even remember it's name 4 months later, and they had dozens of chairs of all different sizes and types, as many as you'd want. But no one thought to look there, they just went to the big national chains.
I worked in a Little Caesars inside of a Kmart that closed, and it was one of the best jobs ever because we were our own little group, we had a private backroom, and we could do quite literally almost anything we wanted back there. (crazy stuff happened back there, crazy stuff.) The Kmart managers never went back and checked on us unless we called for them, and even then they would usually send someone from service desk. Most of the people that worked at Kmart were in their late teens to mid twenties, even a couple of the managers. But at Little Caesars(We call it "The C") we were all in our twenties except for 2 or 3 guys that were 18 or 19. We were such a close community, everyone knew everyone's business. We all had our ranks we gave each other based off skill and how long we'd been there, but among the veterans were the guys you could always trust to make the group the best pizzas and off menu items that we would all develop together. Our entire C gang would go out to eat and do stuff, we were all pretty great friends, I even met my two best friend there whom I talk to nearly daily and hang out with fairly often. Unfortunately our store closed down and everybody went their own way. It's a small town so we're all still pretty close, even those that live further away. But Kmart's merchandise was awful, they had no laptops, cameras from the early 2000's, and outdated electronics. The display TV's were all washed out, staticy, or had off coloration in the picture. the display mattress we had was covered with all kinds of stains, mostly dark and brown. Most of the merchandise was overpriced, the clothes were terrible quality, and the grocery section never had anything you were looking for, and the garden center was nearly always closed. Many customers would tell me they were sad to see Kmart close, but every employee there knew it was for the best.
Evan Brown yo I'm working at a Little Ceasers but it's not inside a K-Mart sadly :/
+Natsu Dragneel That sucks, I know how closely they watch you guys at those. Before we were even closed a standalone LC opened up literally across the (small) parking lot from us. After we closed a good friend of mine who I was working with went to that LC and he was telling me that they have cameras and an all glass walk-in with cameras. At ours there was one camera, and that was just on the register and it was just a cheap home quality one,
Evan Brown yeah the cameras are everywhere at my store it sucks AND WE CANT HAVE FREE PIZZA ANYMORE WTF IS THIS BULLSHIT
Damn, that really sucks. We'd make some amazing custom pizzas.
Evan Brown dope fam. I've only worked there for like 4 weeks. First week was awesome now it just...sucks
Our local Kmart closed at the beginning of 2020, it was probably one of the last remaining stores. I drove by yesterday and saw that the building is being demolished (as well as an old Pizza Hut that was right next to it.) It's really sad to see them go...
In 2024, Kmart has only 2 stores left in the USA, one is in Miami and the other is in Bridgehampton, New York.
UPDATE: The Bridgehampton store is closing, leaving only the partial store in Miami.
I miss the "good, old days" when I could go to K-mart, Sears, Montgomery Ward, and maybe even Woolworth's. Now, I know that I've lived too long.
Woolworth! Awww they made child hood magical on into young adulthood.
JFT I have shopped in both KMart and Woolworth and ate in their cafeterias.
JFT haha I remember those , what about a store called “Big”? Lol I don’t remember woolworths lol
I remember Service Merchandise too.
JFT : What about "Broadway"? You forgot that one.
A few years ago Target got hacked. The good thing about Kmart is no one will try hacking them. So you know you'll be safer there.
They were hacked a couple of months back.
McLean - because K mart has cash problems, its is MORE likely that they will get hacked and or credit card fraud, I can bet their Online security has not been updated either.
You correct, I work at a sears store, damn those IBM 35 years machines has not been update very well. Our security runs by Equinix.
An Alien from outer space The IBM registers at Sears were installed in 2005, I was part of the IBM team that implemented the deployment of the equipment. To my knowledge, unlike other retailers, the registers haven't been current registers haven't been upgraded with more RAM or other aspects since.
Overpaid CEO's! That's what happened to KMART. Also add home office buyers that didn't know how to stock the stores with merchandise that customers wanted and could use.
Former KMart employee.
Was the CEO paid from company profit?. Probably more paid from stock ownership
Incompetent and over compensated CEO's left K Mart and Sears vulnerable to Eddie Lampert. A former Goldman Sacks investment banker that had run auto parts stores before taking over K Mart and leveraging it to get Sears. The creditors have finally sued Lampert for striping assets of both companies, this year. K Mart and Sears lost to Wal-Mart over a decade ago and most everything since has been the wrong choice by leadership.
Former K Mart employee.
Yep. Ruined K-mart and left with a golden parachute. Workers were getting paid so low that the $$$ from the parachute could have paid ALL the workers hourly wages for years!
Yep smooth talking CEO shysters have ruined so many American companies and have stolen from the american worker. 30 to 40 years ago CEO pay kept going up and worker pay leveled out. These clowns sitting on the board of these companies get their buddies CEO jobs and they all sit on other boards doing the same for each other, scammers all of them.
Sounds like the company i work for...... fuck it selling my house starting all over. Get out before it turns into kmart!
It's crazy that you actually make this info interesting and kind of ... fun!
K-MART is thriving in Australia right now 😂 There never has been a blue light sale but the chain is very much loved by everyone!
Enjoy, it was the same here for decades
This is what I don't understand, K-Mart is thriving overseas but almost extinct here in the states, what gives?!
@@stevent9179 I could write a wall of text on K-Mart Australia and how they changed. But a decade ago, they were heading the same way as K-Mart in the states. But rather than trying to keep beating the dead horse of a failing business model, the company effectively rebooted itself. They revamped their product line, re-adjusted their pricing to ensure they were competing in the right market niche and combined it all with a brand revamp, store refreshes, a very successful advertising campaign while actively and aggressively embracing multiple facets of the internet.
@@ozwolf5834 so jealous, you Aussies get to keep your K-Marts while us Yanks will soon only have a memory.
Yeah I bet K mart is totally LIT over there these days
Australia has HEAPS of K-marts. They’re really good; they’re like what K-mart could have been had they kept on improving in America.
Kmart Australia has different ownership (Wesfarmers) and has had better management (most notably Guy Russo)
I love Kmart Australia! I used to steal from there all the time, they had everything you needed
@@valle.k.7180 fking lol
@@TimmyTickle sooo that being said, America just needed a better management team? Less debt?
same here in nz
Honestly, i miss Sears and Kmart when they were great, hell i miss radioshack and circuit city... :(
The RadioShack in my town was converted to another electronics store, but I still call it RadioShack.
The radioshack in my town used to be right next to gamestop so when my parents would go to radioshack i would always go to gamestop or goof around in radioshack
@@FarmdafishBRUH SAME. Was it in mastic?
Sears/K- Mart already went outta business in CT...!!
i may be the lone holdout here, but i loved Kmart. i miss it. As i type this in 2023, there are two or maybe three left. It's sad.
Plain and simple, K Mart acquired too much too soon. Plus when all things went to China, all lost except Walmart. And K mart did not have the return policy that Walmart has. 99% chose Walmart. Still, even now in 2018,you just cant't get stuff made here, it's all made some where else and it's total trash . 80% of your clothing winds up in the lent trap in a short period of time.
I think more important,kmart aquired a bunch companies that didnt pull any weight and pretty much died on the vine...borders? Sports authoity? How much has sears contributed since the aquisition. It sounds like wal mart out-kmarted kmart to be the new low price leader and neither kmart nor sears seem to have an online presence. All the cheap import stuff sucks, but thats what people want and wal mart is still number one with their cheap import crap.
Some Walmarts put the poor used and/or returned products back on the shelf, though, to sell to other unsuspecting customers.
Y'all are wrong af every returned item goes back to that factory and Walmart gets kickback/credit so it would be stupid af to put that product on the shelf...and to bring back our companies would mean paying o so much for every single item you pay I mean $50+ for a fucking shirt bcuz of how much the employees make
Bingo, and that's been the globalist's plan since the Nixon deal.
Yes you're right but every where you go the tag says Made In China. It doesn't matter what store it is. Plus in a lot of towns, Walmart put all the rest out of business. Sure do miss the old days.
I just went to Kmart last week. I was able to buy bathroom accessories and towels for a great price. I also bought ceramic pans, cutting boards, and a few other kitchen items. I walked out paying around $100.00 During Christmas, they have great deals on decorations and ornaments. I honestly have to admit that I did kinda forget about Kmart for a while, but I try to go there a little more frequently nowadays. They even still have layaway. It definitely helps when you don't have a lot of money.
Oh Jesus. I haven't heard the word "Layaway" since 1965.
Joe Kaye during Christmas time, it sure does help!! LOL 😂
Joe Kaye 😂😂😂😂
Eguzzisme layaway is for people who have already proven to credit card company that they are irresponsible with money and can't be trusted to pay back debts. Fuck off with your Bullshit. Man up. Fix your credit.
The Fuck is the difference between layaway and actually saving up for what you want? The fact that with layaway you can "finally afford" to buy last year's model at this year's prices?
Jesus christ. You make me think Kmart when out of business because consumers got much wiser about spending after the little recession we had.
"it helps at Christmas time" the Fuck you mean it helps? What, you sleep all god damn year then wake up like "oh Fuck it's December?"
Seriously, what do you do all year that you can't keep track of the fucking date. You have 24 hours to ask yourself what day it is. Every day. And you somehow forget for 300 days CONSECUTIVELY?
Nigga that's seven thousand, two hundred hours IN A ROW that you literally have no clue what day it is.
Man, I feel for you... I wish you the best of luck
Eguzzisme BTW Walmart has interest free layaway also. From September to January.
(and lower prices) 😣😕
But I still fail to see how saving $10 a week is harder than paying $50 a week. If that's your thing, I guess.. Go for it
I used to work there in 2013 for a few months as a cashiers. The registers would always crash, and a lot of the items wouldn't ring up as the correct price, so that meant calling for a price check every single time and calling for an override for the price change. It was very frustrating for me and the customer. As a customer I wouldn't want to shop at a store that took forever to check me out and didn't give me my items at the correct price. Also the rewards program was annoying. You had to get a phone number every single time or else you'll get your hours cut. The supervisor used to tell us to use these fake numbers which was against the rules. It wasn't that bad of a place to work it was super easy, it was just annoying and unorganized.
I worked there as a cashier summer of 2016 and had the same exact experience. Our whole register system went down for over an hour one day and continuous price checking and waiting with the customer was the worst.
i worked there 2010-2012 and I have to say you are exactly right. I had to call for price checks left and right, and basically had to beg customers to get the rewards program which annoyed the fuck out of them, which is why pretty much no one shops there anymore.
Marilyn Zavala Don't even get me started on the layaway system. Unorganized, dirty, messy, and just flat out depressing. No one at the store near me wants to bother with working there.
Last time I was there I was annoyed at the rewards program offering. I used to shop at K Mart for the diversity but now they are basically more for less in a bad way. More hassle, less products and service. The comment about price checks is also spot on, can't go one trip without a common item having to need a price check. Shelving cluttered and not at all tidy or organized. Some items don't even have a price on them so I end up taking the item to the clerk to just find out the price. My last reason is that it takes a very long time to check out when it is seemingly empty and you should be able to get in and out quickly.
"Shelving cluttered?" Surely, you mean the shelves themselves are messed up and too close together. Cause my local store sure is far from having too much on the shelves to choose from... In fact, they replaced the sad little electronics area with some bed samples last year, and even those look dirty, broke down, and bad...
Back in the 80s, after Sunday school my mom used to take us kids to Kmart. I used to run straight to the toy section. I loved it there. I will always remember those days.