dont worry i cried about rolling acres mall once. idk why exactly but i think it was because i thought i would never get the chance to explore it or something
Same here. I was there when Assembly square mall Kmart opened in 1981 - it was a great day. Kmart looked more like a warehouse back then from what I remember than the type of stores seen elsewhere but they change their look and I think stopped changing their decor and computer systems in the 1990s. Lol
10:50 I work at Kmart and yes that is the photography room that is no longer active with the same 80s/90s paint walls lol. Good video, this is like history we need to archive. I really hope Kmart does not go completely under. I'm already trying to take Kmart memorabilia if or when that day ever comes.
ModPallet I'm pretty sure I have some pictures with that paint splatter BG behind me from when I was a kid! Good times..a lot of good wholesome pictures.
I remember being 3 years old when 9/11 happened and I was with my mom at this KMart, I had no clue what was going on besides that a plane hit a building and everyone in the store was in shock watching on the tvs they had near the front of the store. Crazy how time flies man.
The paint splattered wall would have been where the Olan Mills Portrait Studio would have been. The Kmart in Somerset, Ky used to have one and the studio had walls just like that. Great video!
The Kmart in my hometown closed around 2001, 2002. My mom told me it was devastating for the people who lived on Kmart's side of town and they had to go from one end of town to the other to get their shopping done. The site was abandoned (though some 18 wheeler trailers sat in the parking lot for 6-7 yrs) until a few yrs ago when a farm/ranch store bought the property. Mine also had a Little Caesars and we lost them along with Kmart. However, my hometown succeeded in bringing Little Caesars back over a year and a half ago. Everyone was happy to see them back in town.
I really loved your abandoned retail stuff, this is my favorite video that got me into abandoned retail. Thanks for keeping these videos up even as the channel has changed substantially.
0:50 Made me cry... No matter where the store was, I wish I was there so I can shout, "GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN!" because Kmart stores will always in my memories.
Hikaru Shindo Then why ya not do more to support them while ya still could? Prob prefer more up to date stores?? Yet complain when k-mart goes under because of losing your business...
Ive Worked for Kmart as an AP manager for the last 5 years, and after all I've learned, you're right on the mark. They took on too much, and lost their customers. Now management at the corporate level is clueless to whats going on in the stores. All these ideas they have to make a "PROFIT" and "SAVE" the company are not working, I'm noting claiming to have the answer to what will work. But I dont have a thought that might help. Get back to the basics, Keep It Clean, Keep It Stocks, And Keep It Open. Stop with all the ideas that only last a few months.
Hi Nate, I don't usually comment online but I literally made a Google account so I could comment on your video. I worked for Kmart for 11 years (2005-2016) until I was laid off when my store closed. I just wanted to say Thank You for such a poignant tribute. From the haunting music to the beautiful photography to the bits of humor ("Aw dang it I'm supposed to be on a diet!"). Even though there are a bunch of things I probably should be doing instead, I'm watching this over and over and am filled with so much nostalgia for a place that I spent much of my life in for over a decade. Thank you again for a tribute to the end of an era.
This was my first job, from March 2002 until September 2004. The service station had already been closed for some time before that. The stairs behind layaway led to a room where fixtures were kept. It seemed extremely unsafe, with stacks of shelves that could fall at any moment, with just the slightest nudge. Great video! Watching this brought back some memories.
I am Ohio native. I live in Canton. KMart was not a store for my family and I...it was a walk down memory lane full of childhood memories. I watched this video and literally cried. I mean I remember Apples store across the street...I remember IGA...and Fazios....way before Walmart came in and destroyed our area. I was so sad I went the last few weeks and not to by anything...but I sat hours talking to employees and staff customer and we just remembered all the good things this store brought us. I mean not McDonald's...not Burger King...not Wendy's...but KMart was my first job...I was 16 and I bag store items. Had a lot of fun. #KMartOverWalmartAnyDay #MissMyGranny She would have been sad seeing this store go. 😢
Before you all shoot your mouth about Walmart or Amazon remember Kmart did this to THEMSELVES. Eventually the customer stopped coming first so the customer went somewhere else. The last time I went into Kmart the merchandise was awful. They were selling portable CD players in 2015!!!!
This is spot on. Kmart has been declining for years, long before ebay, amazon, and even before walmart really started taking over. And when Walmart did move in, Kmart raised prices, and did NOT improve anything to accommodate the new higher prices. I remember back in the late 90s, going into kmart to grab a roll of wrapping paper for christmas, and it was friggin $7 per roll. I got back in the car and drove 5 miles out of the way to pay $2 for the same thing at WM. It was horrible decisions that killed Kmart. Anything else was just nails in the coffin.
I think this was one of the first dead retail videos I watched. You have the gift then, and you are just getting better and better andhave your own style and mark on it. FYI Wallie posted on his Facebook page that you inspired him to do Dead retail videos like this. So you make your mark, and thank you for all the hard work you do Nate.
I could recall from my childhood there was a Kmart near me and I spent 2007, 2008, 2010 up until about 2013 or '14 in that BIGKmart and it was honestly the first relic from my childhood that wasn't a person or a small thing, but an actual place. It closed in 2015 and I didn't really know about it until me and my mother took a trip to where we used to live and I saw it and was surprised, a piece of my childhood that I couldn't control or manage gone. Of course Kmart was never really a "popping" place in the 2000's but to me that place had value, kinda like the movie rental store in my current town that I also spent many hours in, gone as well.
Tab 13 I know that feeling too well. My first visit to Kmart was on my 4th birthday. Years later, in mid 2016, I visited it again, and saw how empty and awful it became after the years. I'd never imagine it gone. :(
I worked at the West View location (Pittsburgh store #3529) from April 1997 to March 2003. I was 17 and it was my first job. So many memories and so many good times. I can still remember the re-launch of the Blue Light Special in early April of 2001. I also remember working the evening of 9/11. I worked in the sporting goods department and was told to take ALL of the guns and ALL of the ammo out of the display case and put them in the back stock room. Those items were not to be sold that night. It was also gloomy in the store because they were trying to be energy efficient by turning off half of the fluorescent lights in the store. That didn't last long because shoplifting went through the damn roof. No wonder they went bankrupt.
We used to have a K-Mart on Route 114 in North Andover MA. It shut down in 1984. I loved that Store! My Daughter and I used to take a Walk up there on my Days off and I used to blow half my Paycheck in there! Lol! 😃 That was when Prices were more reasonable. And of course my Daughter was 1 Year old at that Time so it wasn't that hard to get her a Treat every Weekend either! When that K-Mart closed down, Bradlees moved into it. Than Bradlees went out in 2002 and it was replaced with a Kohl's and a TJ-Maxx which has been there ever since. I miss K-Mart. Thankyou for the Video. It makes me very sad seeing these once thriving Businesses going out so rapidly.
It's so sad to see this. There were a lot of good times in K Mart growing up. I wonder if that coupon from 96 is one I just pulled out of the old electric coupon dispenser just for fun as a kid, then threw it on the ground 😂 that place is where I fell in love with Icees and Little Caesar's pizza. I remember that's the first thing you could smell walking into the building, and it would instantly make me hungry. My parents would always take me to the photo studio for pictures. We have so many! Thank you for visiting and taking this video. The music you chose was so fitting, kinda haunting sounding but calm. Pretty!
When this particular K-mart announced they were going out of business, I had to stop going. I know, keep going for sentiment, get the closeout deals, all that - couldn't do it. My mind would have blown if I'd had to watch this store slowly empty out. (seeing it as it is here just confirms it) This had been my go-to stop on my way home from work for about the 5 years before they closed for quick things I needed, and on very bad days, some "depression pizza" from Little Caesar's. Great garden center. Best place to go for Christmas decor. Always well-organized - the remaining K-marts in the area all seem to be messes compared to how tidy this one was. This is recent enough for it all to just be surreal, even though I still pass by it every day. Now the parking lot is full of barns. I could be wrong, but I believe the shopping center across the street - not where Walmart is, the other street, where the rest of the barns are - used to at some point be a Piggly Wiggly, and on special occasions when I was small, we'd come up to this area to hit Green Farms, Piggly Wiggly, and K-mart. It may have been a different store and not the Piggly Wiggly, but the patterns on the brick really stuck in my memory. My dad used to work in both Canton and Alliance, so we were often up in this area. Anyway, your videos make me very sad. Great job. :)
I'm lucky. My town. We have a very loyal K-MART customer's. That refuse to let our K-MART go anywhere. Our Sears went out of business but our K-MART will always be here as long as the company itself stays in business. Even after the addition of 2 super Wal-Marts our K-MART is still thriving.
So i went on google maps a while back to find that it did indeed close way before 2013. I also managed to find a picture of the Kmart Service Center and i'm guessing they closed when they we're remodeling from a regular Kmart to a Big Kmart.
I agree with everything you say except how hard it is to compete with Walmart. If you did not know Walmart is also loosing business. Walmart issues are bottom shelf items and do not sell any quality. They have no customer service to speak of, and I hope they go the way of KMART.
It's a pretty damn shame that the economy is so lopsided nowadays. I read articles, watched TH-cam videos and explored the 1980's via my laptop and it seemed like there was so much propseration in that timeperiod with AMES, Circuit City, Kmart, Target, etc all thrieving (along with Woolworths)and then by the time Walmart got big in the 90's it seemed everything collasped by newer and shitter (or supposed) better companies. Circuit City died because Best Buy (which is inferior to Circuit City), Ames died due to stupidity, Woolworth died I believe due to Walmart, Kmart, Target and other shopping centers are dying because of Walmart (I play Minecraft yes, but I found it ironic that the mall I built that of course has anchors and stuff are all ether dead businesses or entirely defunct from JEWELS to Woolworth).
the middle class is dead. the middle class has not seen an income boost in decades YET the cost of living goes up every year. around here there is a LARGE precentage of jobs paying $10-$12 but minimum wage is $9.70, so a $10 job is meaningless low pay. its so bad that i got my CDL and im going to drive truck, even if it means i have to leave my home-life and family to go to work. does leaving my 5 year old and wife suck, YES IT DOES. I WILL pay the bills. see the whole system is dependent upon on another. in order for the wealthy to have money (large store owners) the middle class MUST have money to spend. the rich think its a joke they sent the manufacturing jobs out of the country so they can pay 25 cents per day for labor. then this happens. they are their own worst enemy and are causing their own demise as much as they caused the demise of the little guy. the roosters are coming home now.
As a kid growing up in the 80s there was a Kmart in every direction no matter where my parents went shopping. There was one in Norton, VA, Middlesboro, KY, Harlan, KY and Kingsport, TN and I went to them all. As something to restore some hope it could come back. I remember as a kid in the 80s there being a Roses Department store, one in Wise, VA, another in Middlesboro, KY and Kingsport, TN and all those closed and now there's a Roses in the Middlesboro Mall where the original anchor was Kmart. To me Sears and KMart joining together just doomed both.
I was so glad to have them! I framed up my exterior photos to match them as perfectly as I could, and it was ass cold out there so I was dying!! lol :)
Great production! You have a unique talent of communicating your passion along with enough music and commentary. I am glad I found your channel after first becoming a fan of Dan Bell. Unfortunately many other retail youtubers just seem to be following, you have something different. Please produce more retail exploration in 2018!
i love dead mall & urbex videos so much but never really looked for ones around me. this is the kmart my grandma and i would come to every weekend to get a new toy when i was little. we lived literally down the road. it’s so surreal to see someone explaining it to all of youtube when i could draw a map of everything just from memory. i really like your videos & i hope you start them up soon! you must live really close to me, since you’re posting about all the places i’ve been/go to. i’d like to get into making my own videos too :)
With living in Michigan, there are still a few K-marts yet they too are slowly closing. I remember shopping with my parents at a Kmart and it really being a part of childhood. The smuck Eddie Lampert that is running Sears Holdings and Kmart is literally running the businesses into the ground. How sad! Great video, thanks for posting.
My sister worked at Kmart a few years and we as kids grew up with Kmart.Oh the Blue Light Specials! I'm saddened to see it go like this. It was a classic.
I don't think any of our K-Marta were ever that big. I do remember their lay-a-way plan. Back in the day with 5 kids that's the only way I could afford toys for my kiddos. Great job and kinda sad too.
I remember going to Kmart in the mid 70's. getting a icee and popcorn while checking out the newest 8-tracks and albums. A whole different universe........
Sad. I have great memories of shopping at K Mart. All of ours have closed in the Atlanta GA area, I believe anyway. I really wish they could've held on.. RIP. Great work on this video btw. I like your channel.
I was surprised this Kmart stayed around so long. When Walmart moved into the old Hills and Gold Circle property across the street i figured Kmart would be gone in a year, the gas station probably helped a little though. The problem in that area is the crime, Walmart trains their LP associates at the Walmart across the street because of that. A friend of mine actually used to work at the Kmart service center when it was open.
M Cantrell I’m still trying to remember shopping in the store. My top 3 memories are 1. The checkout, 2. Walking past the electronics section, and 3. The garden center area. I also remember putting gas in mom’s car at the gas station, but that’s about it
It feels slightly erie to drive down 62 and pass the abandoned Kmart at night. It's so dark without the parking lot lights. I'm kind of sad it's gone...
That looks like an early 60s pioneer store. We have one in Springfield IL that has a plaque on the wall from 1963. The way Eddie Lampert has destroyed that company is just heartbreaking. It's the longest, most painful non-bankruptcy liquidation ever.
it's sad and fucking upsetting that our favorite shops and places to eat and to play and to have fun are long gone it fucking sucks big time but hey things change people change and worse times are changing it's been like that since the beginning of time and history do you agreed on this? people.
My KMart in Joliet IL closed down this past month. Chances are it will be torn down because there was a Showbiz Pizza/Chuck E Cheese attached to it that has been closed since the early 2000s with no other businesses that have moved in, and it can't be safe. The KMart was open for 50 years, one of the oldest buildings still with its original tenant on that street.
Where was this BigK and Little Caesars at? There is an open and still functioning (not kidding) Big Kmart 5 minutes from me, and it has a Little Caesars inside of it, also still open. The store has a musty merky smell to it, but it's still in operation. It's in Bridgeville, PA, located approx 13 miles southwest of downtown Pittsburgh, PA off of I-79.
Chad Burkhart this one was in Canton Ohio on Harmont Avenue. In our neighboring town there is still a fully functional Kmart with a little Caesars, but I don't know how long that one's going to last either because it's been going downhill for like 20 years, I honestly don't know how it hangs on
That is how I am with this one here. They have some foot traffic but not alot, and it's even in a very busy area. I don't know how they survive to be honest.
I've had a strange passion for "exploration" since I was a little kid. This stuff fascinates me. If someone asked why, I guess the best explanation I could give is that while we as folks have lives and souls...we also "give" lives to things like structures, to quite an extent. Once that life is gone, the difference is HUGE...and exploring these once that life is gone is not unlike some sort of modern archeology.. If you don't get into this, I can't explain it to you.
Mine finally went a few months ago. Had a huge liquidation sale one day, next day it was gone. The only trace that it was once a Kmart is the faded outline of the sign on the building. Pretty sad, but I'm hoping they put a Target there.
The Kmart nearest to me just closed down a few months ago and it was a big Kmart and they didn't have a Kmart cafe of a Kmart express? But they did have a garden center and a little grocery section. I'm kinda confused
I am five years too late in my response but our local Kmart supposed to be here Forever but it went out of business a couple of months before the pandemic hit. The old building was used at least for the first year of the pandemic as a play switch it sanitized masks and things like that since getting masks was impossible for healthcare workers. At the present it’s still an empty space - While it’s in a plaza type area, I’m not sure if this is going to be retail space or watt. I think the whole Plaza might be dismantled and bigger retail spaces might be put in its place. It’s quite sad seeing the old buildings go. This particular Kmart that I am talking about was a place I went to ever since I was a kid and I’m much older now and it’s completely gone. I think someone else had a video of the last Kmart still in operation United States closing recently if I’m not mistaken. Sometimes I still listen to the Kmart music that other creators have posted. And I agree about the Caesars pizza although I do miss the K Café so much I think the Caesars pizza aspect to it was really more exciting.
2015 was the last time I was in a Kmart. I was going through Alabama on a Honeymoon and I seen it and was like we gotta stop Lol. We spent like an hour in there. Wish I would have recorded. It was actually like a step back in time because they still had the old Tiger electronic handheld games and stuff.
I think one thing that really sticks out is the filth. Stores need to be cleaned to be safe and sanitary for everyone who is in them, and it's obvious Kmart definitely dropped the ball on that one. When you have expired coupons from the late 90s buried in the dirt, that's quite sad. I loved Kmart but they really dropped the ball on their stores presentation.
I have two Kmarts near me that will be closing within the next month, both of which hold several good and vivid memories for me. Part of me wants to go to one of them on the last day, but part of me would hurt to see part of my childhood being torn apart like that and it might be too much to bear. There will still be one Kmart left around here but I've only gone into it once so it doesn't hold the same sentimental value. It's a nicer Kmart compared to others, but I doubt it will survive much beyond the other two.
Back in my youth I went K Mart/ Big K Mart/ Super K Mart stores and went to stores closing sale in Big K Mart and Super K Mart back in 00s or my last year of 5 th grade.
Those steps lead to more storage and the upstairs of the store. They used it for layaway during holidays. It is scary, dangerous, and wet up there! I also heard that there is an upstairs portion of the store in several places.
Kind of makes me sad... I remember back when Zellers shut down a few years ago in Canada... They sold out to Walmart and Target (who shut down a year later). Its somewhat funny though, we used to have Kmart here in Canada but they sold out to Zellers
When I lived in East Canton this is the closest area to aim for a Little Caesars my mother was really old school Lovin those stores she left Kmart but last year a closed my mother always bought my coats from here winter coats
Thank you for making this video, i shop at my local kmart when i can. so sad, that places and stores that was normal things for me are soon to be no more. Most of the kmarts in my area already closed down, and all the actual pizza huts are closed. I still have a block buster card. My favorite thing of microscrew drivers came from radio shack, now i can't find replacements that i like. Well anyway, you did a good job on this video. hope you have a great day
The BigK Marts in my area (there are two of them. One is its own store and one in a mall) are still very popular and the one in the mall still has the little ceasers
This Kmart was 5 minutes away from my house, we used to go there all the time to get Little Caesars pizza. Sad :( In the last weeks of it being open I bought a cash register drawer since they were selling fixtures, still have it.
i know kmart has no prices like walmart but when i need something i got to buy from kmart 4 blocks away from my house i buy everything there. kmart located Elden St Herndon Virginia i have been going there since 1998. thanks for sharing this video.
when on vacation I stopped the big K Mart in Kingman and it was dead, ran down, and the pharmacy was closed. asked one of the employees if the store was gonna close and she said it actually has very good business but we came at a slow time. the Kmart near me recently got a little ceasers and was remodeled about 10 years ago. the paint splatter rooms were the olan Mills studios. my store had them shut down years ago. I predict mine will be one of the last to go cause it has good business and they own the land it's on.
was this the big Kmart in brookpark Ohio, Walmart is right next to a car dealership, I ask because I went as a child with my mom😢 if it is, so many memories, that coupon June 28 1998, my bday, I was 8
If you pause at 4:57, And if you look on top of where it used to say ''service center'', You can see supports when in the 70s, It used to say , K m a r t service center
My pastor used to live in the Akron Ohio area we are near were rolling acres used to be him and his wife used to go to this Kmart and the Canton Center mall back in the 90s he even remembers the fight that happened at rolling acres in 1991 with the movie theater incident and the people thinking that the metal sign that fell down was a gunshot
Amazing how we went to Kmart as kids we would say stuff like "we should have gone to Gimbals or Sears" But today when we see the Kmarts becoming extinct we remember all the good times we had there as a kid. So long Kmart.
We still have a Kmart here in Iowa,but its on a fast decline (Our two Walmarts are pushing everything out).Gotta keep up on that debt/equity ratio...Customer Service is always #1,if you can keep up with changing times and shopping habits.Walmart isn't the greatest on customer service but they keep on top of forseable changes!!!
this is seriously one of the only times i have almost CRIED because of a store. Kmart isnt just a store, its my childhood.
dont worry i cried about rolling acres mall once. idk why exactly but i think it was because i thought i would never get the chance to explore it or something
Same here. I was there when Assembly square mall Kmart opened in 1981 - it was a great day. Kmart looked more like a warehouse back then from what I remember than the type of stores seen elsewhere but they change their look and I think stopped changing their decor and computer systems in the 1990s. Lol
10:50 I work at Kmart and yes that is the photography room that is no longer active with the same 80s/90s paint walls lol.
Good video, this is like history we need to archive. I really hope Kmart does not go completely under. I'm already trying to take Kmart memorabilia if or when that day ever comes.
ModPallet I'm pretty sure I have some pictures with that paint splatter BG behind me from when I was a kid! Good times..a lot of good wholesome pictures.
I remember being 3 years old when 9/11 happened and I was with my mom at this KMart, I had no clue what was going on besides that a plane hit a building and everyone in the store was in shock watching on the tvs they had near the front of the store. Crazy how time flies man.
The paint splattered wall would have been where the Olan Mills Portrait Studio would have been. The Kmart in Somerset, Ky used to have one and the studio had walls just like that. Great video!
The Kmart in my hometown closed around 2001, 2002. My mom told me it was devastating for the people who lived on Kmart's side of town and they had to go from one end of town to the other to get their shopping done. The site was abandoned (though some 18 wheeler trailers sat in the parking lot for 6-7 yrs) until a few yrs ago when a farm/ranch store bought the property.
Mine also had a Little Caesars and we lost them along with Kmart. However, my hometown succeeded in bringing Little Caesars back over a year and a half ago. Everyone was happy to see them back in town.
is there an alternate reality where its Big Ceasers and little K mart???
I really loved your abandoned retail stuff, this is my favorite video that got me into abandoned retail. Thanks for keeping these videos up even as the channel has changed substantially.
0:50 Made me cry... No matter where the store was, I wish I was there so I can shout, "GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN!" because Kmart stores will always in my memories.
Hikaru Shindo Then why ya not do more to support them while ya still could? Prob prefer more up to date stores?? Yet complain when k-mart goes under because of losing your business...
Hikaru Shindo the Kmart in Burbank is still open, people still Shop there a lot.
So sad
9koe TM
Ive Worked for Kmart as an AP manager for the last 5 years, and after all I've learned, you're right on the mark. They took on too much, and lost their customers. Now management at the corporate level is clueless to whats going on in the stores. All these ideas they have to make a "PROFIT" and "SAVE" the company are not working, I'm noting claiming to have the answer to what will work. But I dont have a thought that might help. Get back to the basics, Keep It Clean, Keep It Stocks, And Keep It Open. Stop with all the ideas that only last a few months.
😭🥲
BIB
BIG
Hi Nate, I don't usually comment online but I literally made a Google account so I could comment on your video.
I worked for Kmart for 11 years (2005-2016) until I was laid off when my store closed. I just wanted to say Thank You for such a poignant tribute. From the haunting music to the beautiful photography to the bits of humor ("Aw dang it I'm supposed to be on a diet!"). Even though there are a bunch of things I probably should be doing instead, I'm watching this over and over and am filled with so much nostalgia for a place that I spent much of my life in for over a decade. Thank you again for a tribute to the end of an era.
last message from manager shutting down the store. damn
I miss Kmart
me to
This was my first job, from March 2002 until September 2004. The service station had already been closed for some time before that. The stairs behind layaway led to a room where fixtures were kept. It seemed extremely unsafe, with stacks of shelves that could fall at any moment, with just the slightest nudge.
Great video! Watching this brought back some memories.
14:14 coupon expired 1/8/99
lol yeah there was some from the 80s, but the gunk was too thick on them so it didn't come out in the video clips.
Skatemaster Nate what is the address of this big K
Allen G I believe it was on Route 62 in Alliance/Canton, Ohio.
The Start Touched Me When I Saw The Kmart Closing Sad Moments :(
wow so many memories of shopping here and now seeing it like that it's crazy
I am Ohio native. I live in Canton. KMart was not a store for my family and I...it was a walk down memory lane full of childhood memories. I watched this video and literally cried. I mean I remember Apples store across the street...I remember IGA...and Fazios....way before Walmart came in and destroyed our area. I was so sad I went the last few weeks and not to by anything...but I sat hours talking to employees and staff customer and we just remembered all the good things this store brought us. I mean not McDonald's...not Burger King...not Wendy's...but KMart was my first job...I was 16 and I bag store items. Had a lot of fun. #KMartOverWalmartAnyDay #MissMyGranny She would have been sad seeing this store go. 😢
Nate, I just came here from your main channel, and MAN am I late! This brings a tear to my eye because I went here A LOT as a kid.
Our last Kmart in the Denver metro area, in Arvada is closing in September. That store opened I think in 1968. Kmart was a big part of my childhood.
the music made this so much better man this was crazy to look at all the old stuff
xMinkyyy yeah I tried out the creepy sounds thing when I explored the Akron Rubber Bowl, but I definitely like the music better :-)
good flog tho dude keep up the sick work
Before you all shoot your mouth about Walmart or Amazon remember Kmart did this to THEMSELVES. Eventually the customer stopped coming first so the customer went somewhere else. The last time I went into Kmart the merchandise was awful. They were selling portable CD players in 2015!!!!
This is spot on. Kmart has been declining for years, long before ebay, amazon, and even before walmart really started taking over. And when Walmart did move in, Kmart raised prices, and did NOT improve anything to accommodate the new higher prices. I remember back in the late 90s, going into kmart to grab a roll of wrapping paper for christmas, and it was friggin $7 per roll. I got back in the car and drove 5 miles out of the way to pay $2 for the same thing at WM. It was horrible decisions that killed Kmart. Anything else was just nails in the coffin.
Amazon killed the malls, not kmart.
I think this was one of the first dead retail videos I watched. You have the gift then, and you are just getting better and better andhave your own style and mark on it.
FYI Wallie posted on his Facebook page that you inspired him to do Dead retail videos like this. So you make your mark, and thank you for all the hard work you do Nate.
Speaking of K'Mart, there are no more K'Marts in San Antonio TX... They left around the mid 2000s.
This video makes me cry inside.
I could recall from my childhood there was a Kmart near me and I spent 2007, 2008, 2010 up until about 2013 or '14 in that BIGKmart and it was honestly the first relic from my childhood that wasn't a person or a small thing, but an actual place. It closed in 2015 and I didn't really know about it until me and my mother took a trip to where we used to live and I saw it and was surprised, a piece of my childhood that I couldn't control or manage gone.
Of course Kmart was never really a "popping" place in the 2000's but to me that place had value, kinda like the movie rental store in my current town that I also spent many hours in, gone as well.
Tab 13 man do I miss my local video rental stores!!!! There's actually one I'm going to be exploring pretty soon that is still stocked :)
Skatemaster Nate I bet that'll be a nostalgic trip. not too many left, kinda a jem nowadays
Tab 13 ;"( Touching Story
+Mason Miner yeah I suppose, hate my grammar more though.
Tab 13 I know that feeling too well. My first visit to Kmart was on my 4th birthday. Years later, in mid 2016, I visited it again, and saw how empty and awful it became after the years. I'd never imagine it gone. :(
I worked at the West View location (Pittsburgh store #3529) from April 1997 to March 2003. I was 17 and it was my first job. So many memories and so many good times. I can still remember the re-launch of the Blue Light Special in early April of 2001. I also remember working the evening of 9/11. I worked in the sporting goods department and was told to take ALL of the guns and ALL of the ammo out of the display case and put them in the back stock room. Those items were not to be sold that night. It was also gloomy in the store because they were trying to be energy efficient by turning off half of the fluorescent lights in the store. That didn't last long because shoplifting went through the damn roof. No wonder they went bankrupt.
We used to have a K-Mart on Route 114 in North Andover MA. It shut down in 1984. I loved that Store! My Daughter and I used to take a Walk up there on my Days off and I used to blow half my Paycheck in there! Lol! 😃 That was when Prices were more reasonable. And of course my Daughter was 1 Year old at that Time so it wasn't that hard to get her a Treat every Weekend either! When that K-Mart closed down, Bradlees moved into it. Than Bradlees went out in 2002 and it was replaced with a Kohl's and a TJ-Maxx which has been there ever since. I miss K-Mart. Thankyou for the Video. It makes me very sad seeing these once thriving Businesses going out so rapidly.
It's so sad to see this. There were a lot of good times in K Mart growing up. I wonder if that coupon from 96 is one I just pulled out of the old electric coupon dispenser just for fun as a kid, then threw it on the ground 😂 that place is where I fell in love with Icees and Little Caesar's pizza. I remember that's the first thing you could smell walking into the building, and it would instantly make me hungry. My parents would always take me to the photo studio for pictures. We have so many! Thank you for visiting and taking this video. The music you chose was so fitting, kinda haunting sounding but calm. Pretty!
Great video! Brings back memories of shopping there as a kid. Sad to see these stores go.
Thanks! Wow I just realized this video has almost 10,000 views! That's even more than my Canton Centre / Mellet Mall video lol :)
Leeann Fox 15:01 at that mark that pizza oven is only $100 buck wow!
When this particular K-mart announced they were going out of business, I had to stop going. I know, keep going for sentiment, get the closeout deals, all that - couldn't do it. My mind would have blown if I'd had to watch this store slowly empty out. (seeing it as it is here just confirms it) This had been my go-to stop on my way home from work for about the 5 years before they closed for quick things I needed, and on very bad days, some "depression pizza" from Little Caesar's. Great garden center. Best place to go for Christmas decor. Always well-organized - the remaining K-marts in the area all seem to be messes compared to how tidy this one was. This is recent enough for it all to just be surreal, even though I still pass by it every day. Now the parking lot is full of barns. I could be wrong, but I believe the shopping center across the street - not where Walmart is, the other street, where the rest of the barns are - used to at some point be a Piggly Wiggly, and on special occasions when I was small, we'd come up to this area to hit Green Farms, Piggly Wiggly, and K-mart. It may have been a different store and not the Piggly Wiggly, but the patterns on the brick really stuck in my memory. My dad used to work in both Canton and Alliance, so we were often up in this area.
Anyway, your videos make me very sad. Great job. :)
I'm lucky. My town. We have a very loyal K-MART customer's. That refuse to let our K-MART go anywhere. Our Sears went out of business but our K-MART will always be here as long as the company itself stays in business. Even after the addition of 2 super Wal-Marts our K-MART is still thriving.
So i went on google maps a while back to find that it did indeed close way before 2013. I also managed to find a picture of the Kmart Service Center and i'm guessing they closed when they we're remodeling from a regular Kmart to a Big Kmart.
I agree with everything you say except how hard it is to compete with Walmart. If you did not know Walmart is also loosing business. Walmart issues are bottom shelf items and do not sell any quality. They have no customer service to speak of, and I hope they go the way of KMART.
It's a pretty damn shame that the economy is so lopsided nowadays. I read articles, watched TH-cam videos and explored the 1980's via my laptop and it seemed like there was so much propseration in that timeperiod with AMES, Circuit City, Kmart, Target, etc all thrieving (along with Woolworths)and then by the time Walmart got big in the 90's it seemed everything collasped by newer and shitter (or supposed) better companies.
Circuit City died because Best Buy (which is inferior to Circuit City), Ames died due to stupidity, Woolworth died I believe due to Walmart, Kmart, Target and other shopping centers are dying because of Walmart (I play Minecraft yes, but I found it ironic that the mall I built that of course has anchors and stuff are all ether dead businesses or entirely defunct from JEWELS to Woolworth).
the middle class is dead. the middle class has not seen an income boost in decades YET the cost of living goes up every year. around here there is a LARGE precentage of jobs paying $10-$12 but minimum wage is $9.70, so a $10 job is meaningless low pay. its so bad that i got my CDL and im going to drive truck, even if it means i have to leave my home-life and family to go to work. does leaving my 5 year old and wife suck, YES IT DOES. I WILL pay the bills.
see the whole system is dependent upon on another. in order for the wealthy to have money (large store owners) the middle class MUST have money to spend. the rich think its a joke they sent the manufacturing jobs out of the country so they can pay 25 cents per day for labor. then this happens. they are their own worst enemy and are causing their own demise as much as they caused the demise of the little guy. the roosters are coming home now.
@woah Most Walmarts are always busy. That’s an irrefutable fact.
As a kid growing up in the 80s there was a Kmart in every direction no matter where my parents went shopping. There was one in Norton, VA, Middlesboro, KY, Harlan, KY and Kingsport, TN and I went to them all. As something to restore some hope it could come back. I remember as a kid in the 80s there being a Roses Department store, one in Wise, VA, another in Middlesboro, KY and Kingsport, TN and all those closed and now there's a Roses in the Middlesboro Mall where the original anchor was Kmart. To me Sears and KMart joining together just doomed both.
Another awesome video. Nicholas is a nice dude, glad you could incorporate his photos. Good work.
I was so glad to have them! I framed up my exterior photos to match them as perfectly as I could, and it was ass cold out there so I was dying!! lol :)
Great production! You have a unique talent of communicating your passion along with enough music and commentary. I am glad I found your channel after first becoming a fan of Dan Bell. Unfortunately many other retail youtubers just seem to be following, you have something different. Please produce more retail exploration in 2018!
i love dead mall & urbex videos so much but never really looked for ones around me. this is the kmart my grandma and i would come to every weekend to get a new toy when i was little. we lived literally down the road. it’s so surreal to see someone explaining it to all of youtube when i could draw a map of everything just from memory. i really like your videos & i hope you start them up soon! you must live really close to me, since you’re posting about all the places i’ve been/go to. i’d like to get into making my own videos too :)
I absolutely love your videos like this. Love from Australia.
Benjamin Caudery thanks! Lots more coming every Saturday at 6pm 😊
With living in Michigan, there are still a few K-marts yet they too are slowly closing.
I remember shopping with my parents at a Kmart and it really being a part of childhood.
The smuck Eddie Lampert that is running Sears Holdings and Kmart is literally running the businesses into the ground. How sad!
Great video, thanks for posting.
i live in michigan too, all the ones in rochester are closed and its always sad to drive by them
I'm near a big Kmart, specifically the Maryland one, thank god its still open... I miss Kmart, they're blue lightbulb was always fun to watch on tv
My sister worked at Kmart a few years and we as kids grew up with Kmart.Oh the Blue Light Specials! I'm saddened to see it go like this. It was a classic.
I don't think any of our K-Marta were ever that big. I do remember their lay-a-way plan. Back in the day with 5 kids that's the only way I could afford toys for my kiddos. Great job and kinda sad too.
I remember going to Kmart in the mid 70's. getting a icee and popcorn while checking out the newest 8-tracks and albums. A whole different universe........
Sad. I have great memories of shopping at K Mart. All of ours have closed in the Atlanta GA area, I believe anyway. I really wish they could've held on.. RIP. Great work on this video btw. I like your channel.
I was surprised this Kmart stayed around so long. When Walmart moved into the old Hills and Gold Circle property across the street i figured Kmart would be gone in a year, the gas station probably helped a little though. The problem in that area is the crime, Walmart trains their LP associates at the Walmart across the street because of that. A friend of mine actually used to work at the Kmart service center when it was open.
M Cantrell
I’m still trying to remember shopping in the store. My top 3 memories are 1. The checkout, 2. Walking past the electronics section, and 3. The garden center area. I also remember putting gas in mom’s car at the gas station, but that’s about it
I really enjoyed this video. Your stories are great and you did a super job showing off this Kmart.
This brings back memories.
so many cool items in the trash
It feels slightly erie to drive down 62 and pass the abandoned Kmart at night. It's so dark without the parking lot lights. I'm kind of sad it's gone...
In Australia K-Mart is massive. They are one of the biggest retailers
our kmart closed permanently 3 years ago (2014), the nearest one is 86 miles away in duluth Minnesota, we only have a mall, walmart and target
That looks like an early 60s pioneer store. We have one in Springfield IL that has a plaque on the wall from 1963. The way Eddie Lampert has destroyed that company is just heartbreaking. It's the longest, most painful non-bankruptcy liquidation ever.
Kmart is still strong in Australia
Love the music,great editing ,and nice detail.
I remember buying my PSOne console from that East Canton Kmart in 2000; along with a few games... ah, the memories. Now gone forever.
Thankyou!
it's sad and fucking upsetting that our favorite shops and places to eat and to play and to have fun are long gone it fucking sucks big time but hey things change people change and worse times are changing it's been like that since the beginning of time and history do you agreed on this? people.
My KMart in Joliet IL closed down this past month. Chances are it will be torn down because there was a Showbiz Pizza/Chuck E Cheese attached to it that has been closed since the early 2000s with no other businesses that have moved in, and it can't be safe. The KMart was open for 50 years, one of the oldest buildings still with its original tenant on that street.
Where was this BigK and Little Caesars at? There is an open and still functioning (not kidding) Big Kmart 5 minutes from me, and it has a Little Caesars inside of it, also still open. The store has a musty merky smell to it, but it's still in operation. It's in Bridgeville, PA, located approx 13 miles southwest of downtown Pittsburgh, PA off of I-79.
Chad Burkhart this one was in Canton Ohio on Harmont Avenue. In our neighboring town there is still a fully functional Kmart with a little Caesars, but I don't know how long that one's going to last either because it's been going downhill for like 20 years, I honestly don't know how it hangs on
That is how I am with this one here. They have some foot traffic but not alot, and it's even in a very busy area. I don't know how they survive to be honest.
I've had a strange passion for "exploration" since I was a little kid. This stuff fascinates me. If someone asked why, I guess the best explanation I could give is that while we as folks have lives and souls...we also "give" lives to things like structures, to quite an extent. Once that life is gone, the difference is HUGE...and exploring these once that life is gone is not unlike some sort of modern archeology..
If you don't get into this, I can't explain it to you.
Thanks Russell! I do all my exploring on another channel now, called That Nate Guy On TH-cam. Come on over !!!!!
Mine finally went a few months ago. Had a huge liquidation sale one day, next day it was gone. The only trace that it was once a Kmart is the faded outline of the sign on the building. Pretty sad, but I'm hoping they put a Target there.
I grew up a mile away, on Cathy Drive. This video was heartbreaking.
The Kmart nearest to me just closed down a few months ago and it was a big Kmart and they didn't have a Kmart cafe of a Kmart express? But they did have a garden center and a little grocery section. I'm kinda confused
the kmart in my my town closed in 1991 but the building reopened as an HEB grocery store. and walking in you can tell it used to be a KMart XD
Is it hard to find big Kmart’s that had an auto center and a gas station?
There's a Kmart near my grandmothers house. I didn't know they were struggling
I am five years too late in my response but our local Kmart supposed to be here Forever but it went out of business a couple of months before the pandemic hit. The old building was used at least for the first year of the pandemic as a play switch it sanitized masks and things like that since getting masks was impossible for healthcare workers. At the present it’s still an empty space - While it’s in a plaza type area, I’m not sure if this is going to be retail space or watt. I think the whole Plaza might be dismantled and bigger retail spaces might be put in its place. It’s quite sad seeing the old buildings go. This particular Kmart that I am talking about was a place I went to ever since I was a kid and I’m much older now and it’s completely gone. I think someone else had a video of the last Kmart still in operation United States closing recently if I’m not mistaken. Sometimes I still listen to the Kmart music that other creators have posted. And I agree about the Caesars pizza although I do miss the K Café so much I think the Caesars pizza aspect to it was really more exciting.
this was a really great tour I like how you didn't just walk around while filming but took care to get some good shots
2015 was the last time I was in a Kmart. I was going through Alabama on a Honeymoon and I seen it and was like we gotta stop Lol. We spent like an hour in there. Wish I would have recorded. It was actually like a step back in time because they still had the old Tiger electronic handheld games and stuff.
I think one thing that really sticks out is the filth. Stores need to be cleaned to be safe and sanitary for everyone who is in them, and it's obvious Kmart definitely dropped the ball on that one. When you have expired coupons from the late 90s buried in the dirt, that's quite sad. I loved Kmart but they really dropped the ball on their stores presentation.
I have two Kmarts near me that will be closing within the next month, both of which hold several good and vivid memories for me. Part of me wants to go to one of them on the last day, but part of me would hurt to see part of my childhood being torn apart like that and it might be too much to bear. There will still be one Kmart left around here but I've only gone into it once so it doesn't hold the same sentimental value. It's a nicer Kmart compared to others, but I doubt it will survive much beyond the other two.
Back in my youth I went K Mart/ Big K Mart/ Super K Mart stores and went to stores closing sale in Big K Mart and Super K Mart back in 00s or my last year of 5 th grade.
Those steps lead to more storage and the upstairs of the store. They used it for layaway during holidays. It is scary, dangerous, and wet up there! I also heard that there is an upstairs portion of the store in several places.
At 7:53, what is the song name? Comment if you know!
Kind of makes me sad... I remember back when Zellers shut down a few years ago in Canada... They sold out to Walmart and Target (who shut down a year later). Its somewhat funny though, we used to have Kmart here in Canada but they sold out to Zellers
MR101722 damm my Canadian cousin that suck
MR101722 you any link of zellers store in CA?
There is still 2 Zellers open as liquidation centers.
I Was Love Key Mart❤😢
When I lived in East Canton this is the closest area to aim for a Little Caesars my mother was really old school Lovin those stores she left Kmart but last year a closed my mother always bought my coats from here winter coats
Thank you for making this video, i shop at my local kmart when i can. so sad, that places and stores that was normal things for me are soon to be no more. Most of the kmarts in my area already closed down, and all the actual pizza huts are closed. I still have a block buster card. My favorite thing of microscrew drivers came from radio shack, now i can't find replacements that i like.
Well anyway, you did a good job on this video. hope you have a great day
The BigK Marts in my area (there are two of them. One is its own store and one in a mall) are still very popular and the one in the mall still has the little ceasers
This Kmart was 5 minutes away from my house, we used to go there all the time to get Little Caesars pizza. Sad :( In the last weeks of it being open I bought a cash register drawer since they were selling fixtures, still have it.
i know kmart has no prices like walmart but when i need something i got to buy from kmart 4 blocks away from my house i buy everything there. kmart located Elden St Herndon Virginia i have been going there since 1998. thanks for sharing this video.
Araniva Brian you either live alone or have a well paying job, because everything at Kmart is overpriced as hell. $6 bucks for a can of axe? No way!
when on vacation I stopped the big K Mart in Kingman and it was dead, ran down, and the pharmacy was closed. asked one of the employees if the store was gonna close and she said it actually has very good business but we came at a slow time. the Kmart near me recently got a little ceasers and was remodeled about 10 years ago. the paint splatter rooms were the olan Mills studios. my store had them shut down years ago. I predict mine will be one of the last to go cause it has good business and they own the land it's on.
Great video as always!
Grew up in the town down the road from this place. Bought Weird Al's Running with Scissors there.
i started to see some peaple start moving in to the abandoned store right?
I live in Hancock Mississippi & We Used To Have A K-Mart But They Closed It Down A Long Time Ago
17:10 Did you buy that monitor for a $1?
was this the big Kmart in brookpark Ohio, Walmart is right next to a car dealership, I ask because I went as a child with my mom😢 if it is, so many memories, that coupon June 28 1998, my bday, I was 8
Kmart is down to its last 32 stores across the Country
:(
If you pause at 4:57, And if you look on top of where it used to say ''service center'', You can see supports when in the 70s, It used to say , K m a r t
service center
RIP Kmart 1970-2016/2017
Where is this located?
When I was a little kid Clarkins was across the Highway,late60'searly70's
My pastor used to live in the Akron Ohio area we are near were rolling acres used to be him and his wife used to go to this Kmart and the Canton Center mall back in the 90s he even remembers the fight that happened at rolling acres in 1991 with the movie theater incident and the people thinking that the metal sign that fell down was a gunshot
Do more videos like this. I love them!
Amazing how we went to Kmart as kids we would say stuff like
"we should have gone to Gimbals or Sears" But today when we
see the Kmarts becoming extinct we remember all the good times
we had there as a kid. So long Kmart.
We still have a Kmart here in Iowa,but its on a fast decline (Our two Walmarts are pushing everything out).Gotta keep up on that debt/equity ratio...Customer Service is always #1,if you can keep up with changing times and shopping habits.Walmart isn't the greatest on customer service but they keep on top of forseable changes!!!
Which Kmart is this? Where is it?
Any skating footage on this skate channel?
dmoeller0 in the skating videos yes
Only 3 left in Phoenix but there closing one so now there's 2
We have plenty of Kmarts where i live. They seem to be doing fine