Alone in the Last Kmart
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.พ. 2023
- For the last 20 years we have all witnessed the slow and steady downfall of Kmart's empire, but now we're just 8 stores away from 100% extinction. Lucky enough for me, one of those just happened to be in Puerto Rico. So, in July 2022 I payed one last final visit, just two months before it shut down for good. Therefore, this is likely the last ever footage of it on the internet, so join me as we explore (and misbehave) in one of the world's last Kmarts...
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Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the media used in the video falls under the "Fair Use" guidelines due to its satirical and journalistic nature. Other instances of media usage are protected as parody, including representations of public figures.
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Lau you are amazing going to our store
❤️
@@LauWasHerecheck the channel it isn’t the real kmart
@MrMingles why you say that?
They knew what you were doing. You could have done much more than that and they would have allowed you to do so as long as you didn't injure yourself or made a ruckus making it too obvious someone was snooping around the store. Nothing too serious would happened other than getting told to leave, you would be protected by certain journalism shield laws since this video now can be considered a documentary of historical preservation motion imagery.@@LauWasHere
Hot Puerto Rican white girl!!!! That's the first Kmart I ve seen with A 2nd floor!!!!
When Eddie Lampert gained controlling interest in Kmart and Sears, he had a different idea in mind. It would be an easier path to enormous profits for himself by slowly bleeding the company dry. He didn't care about the thousands of employees, vendors and communities that depended on the stores. It was all about amassing billions for himself by gradually selling off the real estate and other assets over many years while keeping a few profitable stores open to keep bleeding things dry, rather than just a sudden bankruptcy. A truly horrible human being.
they were dead from that big Kmart failure, so big a failure, they went bankrupt from it! Explain how it wasn't a failure when they went bankrupt literally months after that stupid rebrand.
I remember shopping at K-Mart to get things that Wal-Mart just didn't have. Anyone remember those Blue Light Specials? 😂 The manager at the food court was a guy that I went to school with, so I used to think my nacho/hamburger order was bigger and better than everyone else's. Also the hot girl in the electronics section that I had a crush on, of course she had a wedding ring. 😩 Good times, thanks for the cool video! 😊👍
I just wanted to say your video editing was phenomenal, I loved the opening. Also, Kmart just so mismanaged that they kept buying other retailers that were sinking ships. They forgot about their own stores, and with the Sears bombing , it was just too much.
You could also say that it essentially collapsed under its own weight
Actually if I am not mistaken it's been a while Sears brought Kmart as a last ditch effort to stay afloat I was working at Kmart when it happened. We lost alott employees shortly after the merger and then I was laid off shortly after also. But loved working there
This whole video gives off the vibe of a post apocalyptic movie, or an arg. The melancholy voice, the music, and the footage. Idk, I just get this feeling of dread while seeing a dystopia
what about all that 70's feel inside? They still use cash registers from the 1970's, racks from the 70's, even their paint is from the 70's. I wouldn't be surprised if those clothes are also from the 70's.
Kmart died in the '90's. They either didn't care or didn't know how to run stores anymore.
Nah, it was mortally wounded and given a limited amount of time to live. Montgomery ward on the other hand
no, they died in the 80's, because they never updated any of their stores! Walmart has been number one since the 80's, because Kmart was garbage even during the 70's when they were number one, because no one had anywhere else to go. When the better Walmart came along in the 80's, everyone realized how good they were, and stopped going to that 70's dinosaur, which is why all their stores are stuck in the 70's, they never updated. By the time they did that stupid Big Kmart crap, it failed horribly, and they went bankrupt from it!
They died in 2001
Omg, You did Brilliant on this one, Laauura👏your narrative was on point!! Just receive my huge Hug. Thank you, L❤️ve watching from New Zealand with❤️
I’ve been told that Kmart has gotten worse because of Eddie Lampert (CEO of Kmart) buying Sears and combining the both of them into a new company by the name of Sears Holdings which has gotten worse in 2018.
This reminds me of the KMART in NYC that was 2 levels! Thanks for sharing the back rooms and K Cafe! Great Video Girl! New Friend Here! Best Wishes!❤️
spooky video .... in the layaway dept i was expecting some guy with dyed black combover , polyester powder blue pants ,yellow faux silk shirt with pocket pencil protector to pop out and put sly moves on the lovely young lady .... .. the k cafe lounge would make a great venue for first date though
Thump up just for the descriptive effort.
The cafeteria was the only thing I miss from Kmart. They got rid of them in my area by the end of the 80s. It set them apart at the time.
Kmart sucked in the 80's, refusing to update their 70's stores, and that's why they're dead. Go to a real store, Walmart, one who cares about how they look!
Deadmall feelings Nice video ☺️
I'm not too picky about where I shop so I kept shopping at our local Kmart until its last days in 2021. I very much enjoyed the nostalgia over any deal I could get at another store or online. Kmart actually has had some pretty good deals on clothes for years.
There's a way of event's down loads sorted with long reviews. Slow and steady. A good for sure is hand sanitary. Keeping it in a smile 😃.
Just letting you all know. These aren't the last Kmarts in the world. Still got a shit tonne in Australia and the kiwis have them as well. They're super popular
But there there run independently from United States, just like Sears in Mexico is.
@@marcusgonzales2984oh man . I forgot about sears! Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. It’s odd how a big chain store that was super widely popular in America and then died out is still prevalent and in use in other countries
Kmart in Australia is actually doing better than Target. It's the latter that's closing stores and struggling
Been wanting someone to film this particular location in Puerto Rico. The store definitely looks dead and quiet. It's a shame that there aren't many of these anymore. Thank you so much for covering it! I have a video request for you. Can you film a Sears across the road from this place? I don't think anybody has done recording that store before. Would like to see it if you ever have the chance to do it!
Really interesting video the two local K-Mart i grew up going to were never updated they were frozen in 1987/1988 even when the one K-Mart was going out of business in 2002 the entire setup looked so “Dated” Your K-Mart however looked very modern it had two floors (It’s sad when any important piece of history fades away Woolworths was in many ways the 1st major commercial chain to go under so many followed, strange how the internet had a major negative effect on real life society! Kids/teens don’t get to experience Malls, music stores, video store rental and Arcades. Having instant gratification on your cell phone may be convenient but, you are missing magic that can only be experienced within real life 👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍
you got your years wrong, you mean *1977* or *1978* because Kmart never updated past the 70's.
It reminds me of what happened to our mall in Springfield Ohio.
Bad management,
It went bankrupt.
So sad, how they let our mall die. Now it's like a warehouse. The one thing we didn't need.
I think our mall inherited the Kmart curse.😢😢😢😢
Towards the end of Kmart’s existence, I remember when they turn several cameras into what they called super Kmart, where they just added a small food section or you could buy a few frozen foods or vegetables with the other stuff
Very well kept compared to my local one and much bigger. Never seen one with two floors.
Just found your channel! Very cool story telling and editing! Thanks for doing this and posting.🎉🎉🎉
Thank you!! Welcome I love this comment ❤️
10:14 Lau, crazy you... 😂😂
The video was great, Lau. I love it.😇 Make sure you do more videos like this in the future. But don't forget the vlogs. I want both of em. 🙂 Lau rocks...
Vlogs will always keep going, they're my "rest" videos believe it or not lol. Because videos like this Kmart one take weeks, sometimes months to make, so the regular vlogs are like a mental break from the heavy edits! Thanks for watching!!
Love the vid, your editing is absolutely amazing!
Thanks so much!!!
Yeah it's unfortunate to see Kmart going down but hey they should never bought Sears in 2005 a big part of the reason why they went downhill
Muchas memorias de kmart en 🇵🇷! Mi madre no tenia mucho y con el lay away de kmart siempre se defendía! Excelente video! 👏
Welcome back to the 1970's! Everything in there was straight out of the 1970's, the last time Kmart ever updated their stores!
It’s sad to see an establishment such as this to close its doors for good. Amazing Video once again Laura,gracias por compartirlo.
I’ve never seen that where no one is in the Store and all the shelves empty. It’s sad. Really Sad
Love that this came across my feed! You got to live out every child's dream for a day. Looking forward to checking out your channel!
Welcome to the channel! Yeah you gotta take the oportunity and act on the fantasies when the places are this empty... who knows maybe one of these days I’ll stay over night in one of them 👀
I’m so glad Kmart went belly up , LOL 👍🤣
I remember the Kmart in my hometown used to have a mechanical horse out front that you put a quarter in and the horse would gallop
It's really creepy how deserted the store is. Like going in a store in a post apocalyptic time!!
3:40 that's a meridian Nortel phone relabeled. I worked at a Kmart in the late 90s and they had that system. the meridian system was REALLY common everywhere in the 90s.
My aunt who was a manager for Kmart since the early 90s ( she retired in 2008) she had a storage unit rental she had forevvverrr . And decided to move with her daughter who lives out of state . Got me to go with her to help move stuff And she had a box full of Kmart clothes she saved since the late 90s. She gave them to me since she couldn’t fit them anymore . I got so many Kathy Ireland activewear clothes with the tags brand new never worn that was put out in Kmart in the mid to late 90s and they literally look brand new because she kept them up
You've got dates wrong, it's probably the 70's, the last decade Kmart ever did anything.
Me my family were Kmart shoppers ,and when they shutdown girl I was hurt, cause I bought everything from clothes to house stuff even washing detergent my daughter use to work at Kmart but here in Texas we got all our clothes and let me tell u we were very very satisfied with our items we got from there people don't know but Kmart had goog quality on clothes any items there , Believe it or not I still got my stuff that I got there and that's been like 10 or 15 yrs ago, I love kmart❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ good video I loved it.
It's a tragic tale of what happened to K-Mart.
The once-booming store.
You Remember Blockbusters ?
I remember that and Hollywood Video.
These are Throwbacks and distant memories to us now.
This is what the internet did.
Amazon basically replaced the mall.
I don't even want to go into that topic.
You guys had a gigantic K-Mart also, I should add.
I only saw one floor Kmarts.
And your K-Mart had a Food Court, that's amazing, it remind me of Target actually.
The one where I'm from close down like 3 or 4 years ago so Sad.
Even the movie theaters where I'm at, closing down too.
It's sad because these are things that we are nostalgic about.
I still enjoy going to the movies up until my 20s "today".
I'm so happy I came up in the 2000s.
I couldn't imagine being born in this day and age.
Growing up today.
But Whatevs.
Those are some great honorable mentions, growing up in the 2000’s was the best forreal. I’m just glad I got to experience the tail end of these franchises before they went downhill. I don’t think the internet wiped them out, otherwise places like Walmart or Target would not be thriving, they just could not keep up with the times and price drops. Thanks for watching Mook!
Ik it seems pretty dystopian right now, but things will get better. It's not the first time people question how anyone can grow up in this day and age. There was 2008, there was 2001, then there was the early 80s, then the Vietnam War era; the list goes on.
Back in the 80s and 90s, our businessmen here in asia went to the states to study the malls and stores there, the layout and how they do things over there. The businessmen brought in back home here in asia. And then we had our own malls and mega dept stores and outlets. But we continually innovate and renovate and expanded. Right now, in our city alone, we have 3 of the world's largest shopping mall operating and everyday foot traffic reaches over a million, twice during holidays and weekends. There is always something new and exciting. Maybe US mall operators can come to asia and see how we do things and implement it back home.
I worked at Kmart untill 2021 and let me tell you the samething happen at my store the year before they closed the tucks stopped the food place shut down everything on the selves spead out.
Also cute outfite
Awesome video, Lau
They cared for the store, then they neglected it, then it closed. What a sad and horrible retail environment. They didn't even bother updating their store, and it is scary that there are about one and a half stores in the whole of america. The Miami one downsized, the Westwood store closed and people don't even know Kmart exists anymore. Their stores will most likely take years to close, because Eddie Lampert wants the properties for real estate. Eddie Lampert should have never been allowed to run a retail company and has successfully killed Sears' and Kmart's brand and he should be ashamed because of it. This really is the end of Kmart.
Brings me back alot of memories Laura thank you for sharing many family blessings Amen!🙏🥰💖😘👍🇵🇷🏳️🌈🇺🇸
Sad to see the last Kmart in Puerto Rico shut down, thank you for making this video! I hope Sears continues in Puerto Rico. In Miami, there is one Kmart left, I went there a few months ago. The store moved into the Home and Garden section and the rest of the store is going to be another merchant from what I've heard.
Kmart was epic when I was a kid. It's just one example how true the saying is, "nothing good lasts forever". I'm early 30s, and in my lifetime there has been so many things I NEVER thought I would see come to an end, and they have. Our whole society seems to change like the wind, and you never know what's here today and gone tomorrow. People, places, trends, technology, concepts and sometimes just simple conveniences disappear, because change. Feel like there's been enough change in my lifetime that I should be much older.
wow this kmart is big.
.miss them stores
I don't play video games however I do enjoy game video's where other people are playing n they explore the backroom levels!😂😁👍, it's got quite a creepy vibe to it I feel like I'm watching the original Dawn of the dead movie, zombies are going to pop round a corner any second!😱😂, thanks for sharing your adventure!😊💜✌️
Awesome video girl! Went on a cruise for the first time in January and wished it had gone to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to see their KMART’s still open. Went to the Western Caribbean instead. I get back room footage of Kmarts as well when I can! Thanks for sharing new Friend!
Thanks! and congrats on your cruise adventures! I have yet to go on one myself. Unfortunately the Kmart here closed a few months ago, so the good thing is you didn't miss out on this Kmart!
Thumbnail on Fleeky FLEEK!
Nice vid Lau. Glad to see your great ideas come to life with these awesome vids. You will make it. Promise. So will I. We can both share the crown….
Thanks Hood! Oh we will definitely make it, I'll save you a seat in the palace hahah
OMG LOVE LOVE this video especially the 80s music
Thank YOU! ❤️❤️
The only thing Kmart was cursed with was bad management. They didn’t have a clue after 1980 and especially not after 1990.
People went to Walmart because their prices were lower, or they went to Target because their stores were nicer. (And, more recently, the Walmart stores are nicer too.) Kmart simply lost its reason to exist when Walmart showed up on their doorstep. They didn’t have the scale or the logistics operation to compete with Walmart on price, and they didn’t have the brand identity or the product to compete with Target on style. They refused to innovate, and they neglected their stores.
They were neither fish nor fowl.
I worked for a retail store that a investor bought and processed to bankrupt 25 stores putting approximately 40 people per store out of work! Luckily I retired a year before closing. Sears and Kmart did the same for tax benefits!!
I was born in the 90s and god do i miss it😭
That intro was enough to get me to click subscribe! Dan Bell doesn't do as many videos these days. Carry the torch!
Such a poignant look at a lost ICON of American Capitalism. I am so impressed with your work. I found you channel looking at SW Puerto Rico for my trip for this year. I even joined your patreon, it is my first one. Your editorial style reminds me a little of Anthony Bourdain with your 'off the beaten path' approach with your travel vlog and just the ability to take something so ordinary and making it extraordinary.
Cheryl you have made my day with your comment. It isn’t often that I get such a beautiful description of my work like this, so I thank you, so so so much! Especially for joining my Patreon as well at first glance. I hope to make your viewing experience worth it. But I am for sure fueled to keep going and showcasing what the world is missing out on when it cones to Puerto Rico and eventually many other places in the world. Thank you, much love ❤️
By the way, I sent you a message on Patreon
Te quedó brutal el Intro tantos recuerdos en los 90 especialmente en P.R.
Gracias ❤️
I am a 62 year old retired guy. Never have I ever been in a two story Kmart.
Some Kmarts in NY had a very similar look/design as this one, I'm going to assume they were built and opened around the same time.
The damn Blue Light is Dead!!!!!
Wow this video hit me hard especially the end bc that’s how I see my Kmarts after they closed for good.(wow this channel is really good)oh yeah what music did u use for the very end part?(and beginning)
Thank you 🥺 it means so much! I also did not expect it to end like that, I shot that final shot days before this video came out haha. The songs were Fugent by Lupus Nocte and Last Odyssey by ELFL
Thank you Soo much) its sad to think that kmart is on less then 10 fingers of stores and this kmart before it closed shows that Kmart probably wont exist in the next 1 to 5 years from now@@LauWasHere
I know it sounds stupid about a store.
We lost a part of history.
Lol I thought the same thing whilst editing this video, but there's so many videos on this very topic, it was a huge part of the last three generations...
Honestly Kmart should have closed up in 2002 with its Bankruptcy here in North America. The merger with Sears gave it a Cancer like prolong life expectancy along with taking down Sears.
It actually seemed pretty spooky in here. Like a ghost town or an abandoned place even though it's still open.
Great video i like Kmart 😢
I remember I used to visit San Patricio (Mall) with my grandmother and the Kmart had delicious food there! Coming from NYC it was a novelty to eat real food like rice and beans in KMart Lol good times
I worled in one in Belleville NJ ot was fun while it lasted. Cool vidoe but working the toy aisle suckeeed it was always a mess 😂
Amazing video! Not easy to make an engaging video about something as boring as Kmart. Couldn’t stop watching. You are extremely talented. I hope your fan base grows because you definitely have a gift of sharing stories through videos. So happy I found your channel.
Awesome video.
Thanks!!
I like your opening
Kmart was awesome.
Sad.
Coolest video I've seen today.
Wow, thanks!
There is a Kmart in Hillsdale NJ. I'm really hoping it will be permanently closed for good.
You do a great job.
Thank you!
@@LauWasHereYour welcome
I didn’t know if they had Kmart in Puerto Rico
This was a Kmart store that i bought Top Gun Firestorm and a Atari arcade collection for the Gameboy advance back in 2011 and the last time we went there was at 2021
Wasnt a kmart shopper per say, not to exclude , just that it simply werent many around to make the detour. But i can say the few times i have shopped their the deals were pretty nuts. better deals than Walmart, with practically equal quality. My last great shopping endevour with Kmart came some 4 years ago when the last of the Kmarts in San Juan near Plaza Las Ameirca's was still open. I stopped in looking for some cheap pants and possibly shorts, and as a big larger sized guy such things can be very costly. They not only had my size but had an abundance of fits. I walked away with several pants that all fit just perfectly. But unfortunately just as you find something that works just rite, then Poof its gone. and thats what happened, poof they were gone. sucks.
Guam has the last successfully running Kmart in the world, the last Lone Star steakhouse, and a KB Toys (only its named as KD Toys here) store
KB toys was the best.. I need to go to Guam asap
@@LauWasHere was just there last week! store is vibrant, packed with customers and product, even a Little Caesars inside doing one brisk business. The K-Mart that time forgot. Tamuning #7705
They really didn't give a crap about training new employees. I worked there for less than a week when I was in high school in the late 80's. I received zero training. My second day they put me on the lay away counter by myself and I had no idea what to do. After being yelled at by frustrated customers for several days I quit.
Lo más triste es la comida que dejaron y se dañara.
Nice job, Lau. Do you edit yourself?
Yes! Thank you
Good nice
Thanks!
Well they still have the Sears there and they are basically the same owner anyway
Loved the PA sounds that it was slightly eerie. "Today in the cafeteria we have....Nothing!" Lmao
Still loving these PR videos. Can't wait for the next one
HAHAHA I actually was gonna say something else in that part but I went full improv and that's what came out, and now looking at it, it's perfect for this section of the vid! Thanks for watching and enjoying Adam!
@@LauWasHere unplanned?? Oh wow, that was crazy. You did a great job at editing this. Made it very warm and intriguing to watch for what will happen next! Suspenseful activities suit your voiceovers!
I miss KMart. Walmart, Target, and Amazon was just too much competition.
Me too, lots of great memories, but some things are just meant to be temporary I guess!
So sad. This is what it looks like when you can't compete with the big ones. Very nice video. 👍
Thanks Gamaliel! and I agree, Kmart could've been the biggest still, but they ran into too much trouble...
what model camera do you use?
Oh dear
10:55 she found the elephant graveyard.
So when are you going to come back with your shows i really miss the shows
Dolph Lundgren for closing billboard. 😊
And then Sears Roebuck bought Kmart and combine them into Sears and then they closed also
What is the location in PR of this KMart? Thanks. Great video.👍👍👍
It was the one in Hato Rey next to Plaza las americas, it doesn’t exist anymore!
Place never recovered after the Spider Monster attack in '85
6:52 That reaction 🤪 and here we go blending in as a customer, nothing to see here 😏
8:02 Really no staff around? Just vanished huh
8:35 Woooow they locked it off but for all to see 😆
10:20 A once in a lifetime opportunity! Hahaha nice one, proper rebel
10:50 Lau is pretty much in charge now at this point lol
11:34 Yeah may as well just steal at this point, ain't like nobody gives a damn. Awesome PA's btw 😉.
13:00 Some big scary man comes through like "Hey you stop right now!" What would you do?? XD
Brilliantly made, bloody loved it 👏. It is always a real shame when a place closes that was open for so long and a big part of your life or childhood, but it's just the way it goes unfortunately.
Even though the place was empty, the adrenaline that went through me as I went into those unauthorized places of the store was up there. I think had I been caught I would’ve made a run for it lmao, great footage for the vlog HAHA. But after a while I realized no one was gonna notice
@@LauWasHere Hilarious, it sure would have been good
The exterior and interior looks like the 80s. The floor, the ceiling, the lighting, the design all 80s, it probably smell like one too. A store or even a mall in order to survive but continually tries to reinvent itself. They should renovate every 5 yrs to keep up with the times. Add more interesting features, get rid of obsolete outfashioned ones. The store in the video seems like it never tasted renovation at all. No wonder it closed
Kohl’s is Kmart
Do you know Dan Bell TH-camr also does dead mall series videos like this too!
Of course! He’s the guy who inspired me to do my own horror exploration videos
Only 3 left in the continental US not for long... 🤣
So happy I got the last video done on this one!!! This is history right here
I’ll give them credit. They tried to stay relevant, but it is last for long.
i got a date with a cheese deluxe
They couldn't compete with Wal-Mart and Amazon
They could've been thriving to this day, it has nothing to do with the times changing because Walmart is literally Kmart but cheaper... but oh well
You can’t be back there in their big backroom and behind the counter, you should’ve gotten in trouble for that
I hope I get in trouble one day lol
Lauuuu ^_^
Yeeti boiii