Shopping at a Kmart store in 1999
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Video of people shopping at a Kmart store in New York City.
Sorry all, no toys or video games in this one.
Martha Stewart is the real star here, but we do get a fun (albeit small) peek at the KCafe toward the end.
Perhaps only die-hard Kmart fans will find this interesting?
Regardless, this video last around 7 minutes.
#kmart
#kcafe
What's truly mind blowing is 1999 seeming so old and "retro" , sometimes 99 only feels like two or three years ago for me lol .
I remember everyone talking about Y2K and nothing even happened.
I miss the sounds of the old cash registers. It felt like you were really making an important transaction!
you mean the 1970's technology it used until its final day? Yeah, totally stuck in the past!
Even Kmart from 1999 looks so much more appealing than what we have today.
yup.
I feel like everything from the late 90s and early 2000s look so much more appealing than now
It's soothing to my soul
Pre-Internet shopping. We had a lot more stores and choices so they competed more thoughtfully.
@@Hannahleigh_I want to live back in those time again. Would I change anything....I don't know.
This brings back memories of my Mom and I taking my little boy to K-Mart and getting a soft pretzel and a soda pop after shopping. Mom's long gone, my boy is 28 and married and I'm a lot older than I was, lol. Nostalgia is a bittersweet thing.
I'm 30 with 2 young toddlers. Trying to soak in every second. Comments like you're help with that. Thank you..
Do you talk to your boy much now?
You're very welcome, it's good that you are treasuring the moments with your kids.
My son calls (or I call him) every Saturday or Sunday and we talk for an hour or more. It's a 5 1/2 hour drive to see him but his dad and I try to visit once a month in person.
99 was a year before I graduated High school, time really flies
@@presley007 It really does and the older a person gets the faster it seems to go!
Getting pizza at the little food court was all the incentive I needed to be a perfect angel while my parents shopped. Miss the Kmart era now!
For me it was the grilled cheese! Good memories
@mulanlovesmilo I wish I would've tried it! I bet it was delicious.
There's Domino's pizza in Walmart's now.
One of the k cafes by us had a little Caesar's
:)
Who remembers the “blue light special”? Still a great idea all these years later
Attention Kmart shoppers 😅
In the early 80s someone told me workers called the underwear section "action ally". I heard it refered to as that a few times after that, but not much. Not sure how widespread that was.
Now, raise your hand if you ever raced other shoppers to a blue light special? 😅
The blue light special was a great marketing idea
Say what you want but these stores were so organized and finding items was so easy. Wide isles and pleasurable to shop. Yeah, I miss that for sure.
I miss it too
"14.06" She looked so thrilled to be working there. 😂
My first job was at Kmart in 1996. I literally feel a little dizzy watching this. Synapses that have been dormant for almost 3 decades are firing like crazy. It makes me lightheaded, I mean, physically, truly. Thank you for this wild, strange trip. Some of the videos on your channel make me feel genuine heartbreak and grief for the loss of an analog world. ❤
You’ve managed to put into words the sensations I feel when watching these videos. Thank you.
Right? As a former Kmart employee myself, I was most triggered by the music which seemed to NEVER change
I like this word u say synapses
I miss the out dated looks of Kmart, it felt comforting
Dollar tree still looks like this if you want that feeling again 🐬
She said Dollar Tree, I'm done 😂
I say this all the time! We all know what made those years the best for obvious reasons. But what I really miss is how everything looked in regards to stores, cars, homes, restaurants, technology, etc!
I still have some of my clothes from there💖
I liked the orange interior with the old school look and logo.
Man, I wish we could go back to times like this.
Back then there was no social media, women did not get visible tattoos (just small concealed tramp stamps), they didn't get giant septum rings, they tried to not be fat, they tried to wear decent clothing, only the absolute freaks dyed their hair any unnatural color. People weren't confused about whether they were a boy or girl, no Covid, pre-9/11, race relations were WAY better, politicians weren't trying to divide us and conquer us, politicians weren't defunding police and letting criminals steal from business owners, San Francisco was a great city, Portland was a great city, restaurants and rental cars didn't smell like weed. One thing we did get right is eliminating smoking everywhere. In malls you used to be able to smoke but not drink, now you can drink but not smoke, which is better.
@@AmazonEnforcer 🤡
@@AmazonEnforcer how?
Unfortunately millions of illegal immigrants have stolen our dreams.
Clean store,shelves full,nothing locked up behind glass.
No one running out with stuff not paying.
I miss those days.
You know you’re old when you can remember when Walmart and Kmart were on the same level.
You know you're old when you remember Little Caesar's Pizza being in Kmart's.
You know you are old if you remember Kmart Automotive
@@KenWang2K Care!
You know you're old when you remember Kmart existing before Walmart was even a thing.
You know you're old when you can remember layaway being at kmart
Funny I’m seeing this now. I told my brother yesterday I miss Kmart and if we still had it in our area, I’d choose that over Walmart 100%. He agreed.
I agree! I call them Walmart zombies 😉 ... Kmart was always quicker to run in and out.
Amen! K-mart was so much better
It’s like looking at photos of family members that have passed away. These videos are fun and warm but they are haunting, it’s eerie seeing peace before the world turned to shit in 2001
2001.
2008.
Both times changed America forever and for the worse.
Can't believe this was 24 years ago man I miss the old days.
0:46 Legend has it, this girl is still picking out sheets in an abandoned Kmart.
🤣🤣
Honestly i would be creeped out if she was still doing it when theres nothing there 😮
👍😆😂😅
lol thats me at Target in 2023
The best display of Books and the cheapest prices on CDs...just a general nice feel throughout the store. It was a treat just to be there.
Yes and you could buy the original unedited cds. Even back then Walmart sold only the edited clean versions.
When you go to Walmart now it's like high anxiety like entering a combat zone just to get what you need... I miss the 80 and 90s
I miss the 90's so much. The last great decade.
I graduated from high school in 1999 and it was such a great time. Look how many products are on the shelves and how fully-stocked they are. Now when you go into stores they seem much more barren. Everything seemed more plentiful back then. I miss shopping at K-Mart, Sears and Zellers (up here in Canada) with my mother and grandparents. We shouldn’t live in the past, but at least we have fond memories to look back upon. Take care everyone.
then you graduated in the 70's, because look at this store, it's right out of 1974!
I miss those big bags of Kmart popcorn was just as good as movie theatre popcorn
I remember when stores used to have arcade cabinets in the front of the store in the 80s / early-early 90s. That was fun times.
Don’t forget the mechanical horse! 🙂
So do I .. they also used to have those machines where you put a quarter in and you could buy a bottle of green snot or slime 🤣
Heck my Walmart still did 10 years. Of course not as good as the one in Kmart back in the day. Or maybe that's the nostalgia talking
@@alison5009the horse lol
I miss the Kmart Cafe. My grandmother worked in one during retirement, she raised me from birth until I was 17 yrs old. I have many fond memories of sitting in one of those hard red booths, eating a hotdog and fries, or nachos and cheese, waiting for her to clock out at the end of the night. We'd walk through the darkening store, hearing the announcement "attention Kmart shoppers, our store will be closing in 30 minutes, please bring your selections to the front for check-out". Shame they all went of business, the last one in my area closed up about 15 yrs ago. They were overpriced after all the Walmart's started to take over and became ghost stores, mere skeletons of what they once were. Even into my 20's I would walk down their halls and nostalgia would wash over me.
Nostalgia at its finest!! The sound of the cash register paper printing, the intercom, the style. Omg 💜💜😭😭
Yeah the sound of the cash register confirmed that you just purshased something and somehow it made you feel good.
@@allspeedtest3995 yesss💜💜💜
agreed
Everything looks so clean and well organized! ❤
Yes bc they had enough staff!
I love when Vampire Robot uploads a new video. Because I know it will be a nostalgic trip to the past!
One thing I love about these videos is not only the nostalgia but just the wonder of what you were doing or where you were when these videos took place especially if you were around during those said times. I was 5 years old i remember in kindergarten. Best era to be apart of i swear🤦♂️
I was 15
I know what I was doing when this was filmed, I was sleeping after partying harder than Rick James all night 😂
I think of that too!!
I was 17/18. Graduated high school, survived Y2K, and was talking to a recruiter to join the Air Force. I was supposed to leave on Jan 2nd, 2000, but ended up having to push it back a couple of months due to an ingrown toenail.
99' I was freshman in HS and our local Kmart was on its final days until closed forever. 😢
KMart was my dad's favorite big box store, which meant I got to tag along. (He liked the golf equipment that would be marked down super cheap.)
They had the best toy selection at the time, IMO, so I loved it too.
Worked at Kmart in 1999 as a teenager and let me just tell you all those pastels from Martha Stewart collection are hard to get out of your head.
Much simpler times I miss those days at Kmart
I wish they would've filmed the toy aisle. We used to go almost every sunday and I'd always run straight to the toys. Good times.
Ohhhh we did too!
Oh man, I am so happy that I've subscribed to your account. Me, my Mom and the rest of my family we miss Kmart in the United States so much, so keep up the good work and upload more videos in the 90s if you can please.....
I'd forgotten how annoyingly popular Martha Stewart was in those days.
She was the queen until her little jail trips
Martha is our Goddess Forever 🎉
I still have a couple items of her stuff from K Mart
And she hated Kmart
Nauseatingly so. The world was a better place before Martha became popular.
This Kmart and the one you put up a while back from 1992 with the vintage red K with the turquoise mart sign is extremely nostalgic.Hard to believe that in 1999 their were still over 2,000 Kmarts in the USA.
Seeing that Martha Stewart section brought back memories. She used to make a 3-wick Vanilla Bean scented candle that was by far the best smelling candle I’ve ever smelled to this day.
Great memories!
A different planet. And the new planet is really gross.
Strange right? It's like the past was the good dimension and our current one is bad. Everything seems cold and distant now, less fun too.
The new planet is mostly online
@@fallenlotus9572I agree! Places like Walmart and McDonald’s are so dull now
I agree!
I wouldn’t go that far.
Sadly, this is how the latter days of KMart were....you'd go into this big, clean, well-stocked store selling everything for very reasonable prices, and the place would be....empty. Or almost so. I never understood what the big pull of WalMart was. But it just sucked customers out of KMart like a vacuum cleaner.
We still have Kmarts in Australia really popular here 😊 I miss the late 90s so much!
I've heard this by so many people. Very happy to read this.
And one in Guam
@@vampirerobot It's like a nicer version of Target is the best pay to put it half of my clothes are from there too lol
Yeah, I was at K-Mart while visiting my boyfriend im Cranbourne ^_^
Was super unreal to be in one after never having seen one. Sweden did not have K-Mart
@@rossnr100 Wish I could remember the early 90s I would of been a baby at the time
I so miss those days. As a kid we would always get pizza when we went shopping there. Our Kmart had a little Caesars ❤
My mother worked second shift as a cake decorator in the bakery department at my hometown's Kmart back in the early to mid 90's. My father would come home from work and he would take my brother and I sometimes to go shop and visit her. My father bought me my snes from there because I had a good report card from school and I still have it. Walmart eventually took its place in the building after they closed down, but it was so much fun shopping at Kmart, especially going to the cafe and getting pizza.
this was very nostalgic for me I even remember shopping at Kmart in the 70's and 80's with my mom and my grandmother wow I was 29 years old when this video was made in 99
Omg.... I used to work at K-Mart in Bozeman, MT, back in 1987-1989. I made $3.05/hr and absolutely loved my job and working there. I made employee of the month, ran the toy dept, dressed up as an Easter Bunny, and K-Mart would get a birthday cake every month and have a lil get together. Ahhh, fond memories.... i still remember my employee #. We lost our K-Mart 😢
Way nicer than our Targets today. Neat and organized. Clean. Product out. Always wondered if I had a childlike perspective and that’s why I thought department stores were so exciting on the weekends with my dad but apparently they were clean and stocked! We do not have a clean home and bath store anymore.
Last time I went to Target I was shocked at how bad it was.
Wow…the Martha Stewart stuff takes me back to when I first “niced up” my house after I got my first decent job. A few months ago I found two sets of the floral MS dish towels I had put away as extras, brand new in their late 90s glory, colorful before the advent of griege (although you can see the bland coming in this video). Her brand overall was nicely made and long-wearing. Some of the bath towels from that time have survived as pet bedding. The edges have frayed but no holes after almost 30 years of use.
I also bought nice business casual shirts at Kmart and 4 are still in use 25 years on-a little faded but very well made. They’ve never even lost a button and the two extra buttons are still attached on the inside. In fact I’m thinking of carefully taking one apart and making a pattern from it. I have another 3 shirts by the same brand, in the same style, that I bought when Kmart was going out of business but by then the quality and fit had changed for the worse and I stuck them in the back of the closet.😢
1999... my favorite year i lived in.
First of all ty for your channel!! so many good memories❤ first thing that came to mind.. LAY - A- WAY 😅
I miss those days, I was sad when Kmart started shutting their stores down in 2013, the end of an era.
ME and my folks used to go to Kmart every friday night after dinner in the late 80s/early 90s. Me and my dad would go to the cafeteria to get a slushy and some chocolate (they had some nice chocolate there that I remember) and we'd talk about life, football, friends, etc while my mom shopped. I have so many amazing memories there. Loved Kmart. Problem is Walmart moved into our city in 1997 and killed it.
OMG I can remember loving going with my mom to K-Mart in the early 90’s because I always got a warm pretzel 🥨 and a slushie
Love the close up shots of the woman typing at the cash register lmao
My son and I were just talking about KMart today, he was remembering when my mom would take him shopping there and he mentioned she would always take him to the cafe before they left. Miss those days.
Makes me miss the time period. I was 14 in 1999. It was a simpler time then .
I worked at Kmart first as a cashier, then at the courtesy desk / returns then took the security training and went on to be a Kmart rent a cop lol it was a great place to work for it’s sad to see then gone , memories that I’ll remember forever.
Miss hearing the blue light special announcements over the loud speaker. Especially around the holidays when people would rush to find the flashing blue light pole in the right department to find the sale. 😂 Also.. Can we take a moment to appreciate the "real" oldies playing in the background here. 😊
Always remember as a kid going to Kmart with my dad and how clean and nice everyone that work there and how easy it’s was to find everything there was how wish stores like that were still around
I remember the diner inside of the K-Mart back in the late 90s-early 00’s.
I’m sure they were introduced in the 80s but I am merely 27 years old and lucky enough to have some clear memories from 98-99.
Looks just like yesterday! Used to spend almost every weekend as a kid in "K". It's amazing what we take for granted today...looks like such as nice shopping environment unlike the noise masses of craziness today...
Shortly before the retail apocalypse. You would never guess shopping at Kmart in 1999, that they and other giants like Sears would be gone in twenty years.
It’s Saturday morning and now I’m watching people , over 20 years ago, shop at Kmart. Felt just like yesterday
Its crazy to see this. Thank you for sharing! I was 7 in 1999 but remember Kmart so vividly. I play a game called VR Chat, which is simply a virtual reality video game that lets you hang out with people online and create custom made content. There is a 3d recreation of a early 2000's Kmart that you can explore. For some reason its one of the most popular maps in VR Chat for people to explore and hang out in. I think its just cuz you really cant get the same kinda feel or vibe anywhere besides an old big box store.
Wow! I actually remember that Franklin promotion at the Kmart Cafe! I thought that was a fever dream until I saw this video. I knew I wasn't making that up! This is why I'm subscribed to this channel!
Help me, help me, help me Martha Stewart! Take me back to the 90's!
I really liked this one love all the kmart and walmart videos it would be cool to see people shopping in a super kmart
I still have my Martha Stewart dishes from KMart!
The quality of those bath towels was so good!
I think I commented before on another Kmart video about my Mom working in the Kmart Cafe (it was more of a country diner if that makes sense) that was in some select stores in the early to mid-90's. She made really good tips and mostly the elderly would go there to eat after shopping out in the store. We used to go to other Kmart stores and get discounts with her employee card. I was always in the electronics section looking at the newest Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, GameCube and PC games throughout the years they were available.
Seeing these shots bring back memories of how the store layout was and it still is very vivid in my mind. I just remember when we'd all go shopping, my Grandpa would be at the Garden section, my Mom and Grandma looking at clothing, birthday cards, bedsheets, etc., and then finally me at the video games. We would all eventually meet up and head to the checkout. I really miss those days.
You just reminded me our Kmart had a concession stand and a real sit down diner in the 70s and 80s. Back than going out to eat was a treat so we were well behaved or we got our asses kicked for acting up.
Keypad tapping on the register as a choir screams “I wanna know what love is”
Amazing how immaculate the store looks, shelves are filled and everything is properly organized. Sadly my memories of Kmart are mainly less of this and the sad last moments before shutting down.
Does anyone remember this recorded announcement...? "Attention Kmart shoppers! For your convenience, we've installed customer service call boxes throughout the store. If you need assistance, please press the button on one of these call boxes, and an associate will be right with you. Thank you!" 😁I'll never forget that one! I also remember hearing "SERVICES NEEDED IN SPORTING GOODS." and "SERVICES NEEDED IN THE LAYAWAY." (sigh) Good times.
I always remember waiting for my parents to walk off so I could press the button and run up back to them 😆
@@damian9303AHA! So you're the one who was doing that!
Wow, this Kmart is absolutely stunning. I used to shop at one at Somerville Massachusetts for many many years. I also worked at one in Texas around this time. Didn’t look as good as this one. I wonder what soft lines looks like ha ha ha. Anyway, thank you so much for sharing this. Good times great memories and I miss the K Cafe so much. It never looked like that with that beautiful bread, basket and selection of nice things to eat. Oh my word.
K-Mart was the prequel to Walmart.
I'm desperately holding on to 1999 to avoid crossing over to the 2000s 😅
Excellent customer service. Very engaging and warm. Kmart is here to stay.
I worked at Kmart in the mid 90s. I did the blue light specials and even worked in layaway!
Back in the day when the cash register matched the walls, floor, ceiling, and the employee's shirts 😂
You helped me prove a point. Thank you from the year 2023🐬
The cashier was pleasant😂
lol...2 funny!!
A real treat! 👍😅😂
Such great nostalgia this channel bring
Thank you Trevor 😀
This brings some good memories. Walking in there with my mom and looking forward to the pizza’s ❤
1999 seems like yesterday to me. I still have stuff that I bought back then at Kmart. I forgot how long Martha Stewart’s products have been around. Our Kmart looked a lot different than this one though. And I dint remember any music playing overhead.
even back in 1999 the stores were empty
I miss the old world. Grew up in the 80's and 90's. This new world is a bland, wicked, miserable shell of its former self. For people like me, this isn't just nostalgia, the old world really was a thousand times better, in so many ways that we can't even describe.
I agree with you, Brad. So does everyone I know.
I disagree. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s too. They were good but there are great times today too. You sound like such an old fart
Our routine was that we'd enter the store and I'd g o straight to toys while the adults shopped and we'd eventually meet up in the cafe. At the one we used to shop at the cafe served the most incredible apple dumplings and always had warm nuts you could purchase by weight. The warm cashews were huge and so delicious. I could even wait alone in the cafe seating if there was a blue light special that couldn't be missed😂
As a college student in 1999, I was definitely shopping at the Big K.
At least one thing is still the same at dept stores as they were then, you still can't understand what people are saying over those lousy PA speakers. Oh, and you may still hear Foreigner playing somewhere - if you are lucky.
My manager at KMart circa late-90s "Don't take this the wrong way... but you are just not Kmart material." There were concerns from other staffers in the electronic dept that I wasn't following the 'blue book' . It's true, never cracked the thing, I just sold and helped customers as best I could. Good times.
🤣🤣
Take me back! These were the days
Nostalgia feels
I always chose KMart over WalMart. It was especially nice after the merge with Sears. Their last 5 years were bad as no one was ever there and I knew that wasn't a good thing. I definitely miss them.
I miss K Mart from the late 70's, mid 80's. They still used the SS Kresge price tags. Icee, and a pretzel anyone? Good times!
Help, help me Rhonda hehe.
The nostalgia is unbelievable. Thank you for these. Where does the time go…
My mom absolutely loved Kmart, I really like the cafe lol
Great times. Thank you for the memories!
This remind me of when my nana would take me with her to Kmart:( it was the best time of my life I’d do anything to go back and hold her hand while we shop
I remember how early you could Christmas shop and put all your Christmas gifts in layaway and have them out at the last of November
My first job was at a Zellers in Canada. Very similar vibes. Was there for 7 years and became a manager before the building leases were bought out by Target. Many friends and memories made. Great times.
Very cool comment. Can you share what you do now?
@vampirerobot I'm a bank manager. Retail cultivates many transferable skills - I never received a finance degree of any kind ironically, but worked my way up with many of the intangible skills I learned in retail.
Awesome 👍
oh you mean you joined the ma5ons rofl
i worked at a Kmart the last 3 months of the year 2000, i am thankful for this video. what a trip
Man watching these makes me want to cry. I was 9 years old at the time shopping with my mom heading straight for the toy and video game section. Life was amazing
We sure don't hear that dot matrix register anymore lol 😂
I WAS THE QUEEN OF THE KMART CAFE I MISS IT ! It was phenomenal! ❤
Sounds like a Country song
I specifically remember the hanging ad of Martha Stewart in her bathrobe and mug...I have no idea why, but it's the only thing that stands out to me watching this
Everything was so neatly organized and displayed. I love it.