Kmart R.I.P.

Another personal Kmart memory was the lunchroom. When I started working there full time M-F after college I would take naps on a couch in the lunch room with my jean jacket partially covering my head while the older female employees watched soap operas. Over the course of several months in and out of naps I secretly got into the soap opera that was on during my lunch (I think it was Guiding Light, but not sure now), knowing all the characters and plot lines.

Kmart lunchroom was also where I was when the OJ verdict was read, along with every employee that wasn’t working a register.

Kmart was a huge deal for me when I was a kid - we had a Pamida but when the big mall opened in 1982 I suddenly had much better access to GI Joe and Star Wars action figures and model airplanes and toy guns and the Atari 2600 demo station where you could play any game for 30 seconds at a time. I'd take desirable action figures and hide them in like the automotive department until I got my allowance.

I randomly bought a copy of Transworld Skateboarding there in August of 1986 which might be the most world-altering single instances in my life.

There was a bomb threat during a nice fall day at my high school so we got dismissed at like 10am and a bunch of us went to the thrift store and bought wigs and wore them to eat at the KMart cafeteria where we were younger than everyone else by at least 40 years.

I remember that a lot of people called it "Kmart's", like it belonged to the KMart family (I still hear this in Michigan with "Meijer's", but there actually is a Meijer family). There was an old guy once trying to write a check and asking if there was an apostrophe or not.

A sketchy dude in high school would take orders for things to shoplift; I got a copy of LZ's "Houses of the Holy" this way but he got busted before he could steal me a Gameboy.

Icees were also found in Sears stores in the 80s.

Pic 'n Save was better than K-Mart, however ours closed in 1990 and that building has remained vacant since then.

7-11 sold Icees at some point, maybe before they went over to the Slurpee.

Xp to joygoat. Amazing memories.

I remember that Atari 2600 demo station, except I think I encountered it at Sears.

I remember when Jaclyn Smith launched her line of clothing at Kmart. Was kind of a big deal.

Having ignored Kmart for many years I missed the fact that Sofía Vergara, Nicki Minaj, and Selena Gomez have also had clothing lines at Kmart.

Cheryl Tiegs was . . . Sears?

Maybe. But I same to remember Stefanie Powers for some reason.

Cheryl Tiegs AND Stephanie Powers.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/165421262675

When I worked retail as a teen in the early 00's, every place very much pressed on us "DO NOT CHASE SHOPLIFTERS"

Can't believe I did it, but I chased one three or four blocks out of the downtown Toronto record store I worked in 35 years ago. He stupidly circled back (not knowing I was still following and watching) and walked right past the store--just like they say about serial killers returning to the murder scene in Mindhunter--and got nabbed. He'd probably lifted a couple of cassettes.

The Icee and the Slurpee are exactly the same product. I've only learned this now thanks to this thread. And yes, apparently 7-11 simply sold it as Icee until Icee made them change the name.

I remember when Jaclyn Smith launched her line of clothing at Kmart. Was kind of a big deal.

Having ignored Kmart for many years I missed the fact that Sofía Vergara, Nicki Minaj, and Selena Gomez have also had clothing lines at Kmart.

― Josefa, Wednesday, April 27, 2022 1:57 PM (fifty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I will always remember Kmart for its Adam Levine line.

https://live.staticflickr.com/3825/13372783143_61ebf12109_b.jpg

My Kmart had a little dinner in it, like a real 50's bar style thing. Right in the middle of the Kmart. Like Woolworth's, complet4e with parakeet sounds.

https://imgur.com/a/BtIG1Hm

https://imgur.com/a/BtIG1Hm

https://imgur.com/a/BtIG1Hm

ugh why do my links to imguer never work - its becuase akmart is closed forever

https://i.imgur.com/ygiUAGF.png

(Psst, you need to click on the img itself, the Open Image In New Tab, the go to that tab, copy that url and put inside the img tags)

(Or just Copy Image Address even)

As I mentioned to my dad the other day - I’m a citizen of the 20th century at heart and as such this thread is magical.

OTM. At the risk of spamming, this thread is reminding me of a trip outside of In every 70s US home ever