Kmart in the 70s & 80s - Why We LOVED IT

it's the name brands and it's a saving it's a good good day to be at Kart Kart we've got it and we've got it today there are currently just two Kmart stores that remain open in the United States and embarrassingly one of them was just forced to reloc ate its entire operation into the former Garden Center while the main area of the building was leased out to a more profitable tenant no doubt this was a humiliating experience for a company that as recently as the 1980s reigned Supreme as the king of American Discount stores in fact just a few decades ago Kmart operated more than 2400 stores across all 50 states and for millions of American families shopping at Kmart was a monthly if not weekly event join me as we take a trip back in time before the bankruptcies and before the big KS back to the days of Kmart cafes mint green smoks and layaways attention Kmart Shoppers for the next few minutes there's a blue light special happening in the history Lounge as we revisit the Golden Age of Kmart the letter k in Kmart comes from the name of its founder Sebastian spearing kesy a man who were he not the owner would likely have been a customer renowned for his stinginess kesy was said to wear cheap suits until they fell apart and to put paper in his shoes when the souls wore out born on a farm outside of Scranton Pennsylvania in the 1800s Sebastian kesy was raised on the principles of hard work and frugality two traits that would serve him well in 1899 at age 34 Sebastian used his savings to open a chain of five and diamond stores which he named SS kesky by the 1950s kesky company had grown to 694 stores and was the second largest variety store chain in the United States second only to Woolworth's but the retail world was evolving and kesky was determined to evolve with it on March 1st 1962 in a suburb of Detroit 4,000 curious customers stood in line awaiting the grand opening of the nation's first Kmart in Gard City Michigan upon entering Shoppers would find over 75,000 ft of Bargains across a range of departments including clothing kitchen items Home Improvement Sporting Goods electronics cameras jewelry toys and much more the store was a hit and by the end of the year Kmart would open 17 more stores in cities across the country back in the 1960s the availability of such a vast array of merchandise inside a single store was a new thing for most Shoppers in decades past the only retailers with such a wide variety of goods would have been large department stores such as seedar which at the time were mostly located in the downtowns of larger cities with the introduction of Kmart Suburban Shoppers could avoid the trip to the city and purchase nearly everything they needed at a convenient location near their home and parking would be less of a hassle than at a downtown department store as Kmart stores offered plenty of free parking in their own Lots Kmart just kept expanding and by the early 1970s they had over 800 stores up and running all across the country giving them a seemingly insurmountable lead over any of their competitors in 1976 Kmart made history by opening 271 stores in one year Kmart now had over 1,000 stores with 8.4 billion in sales and stood as America's second largest retail only Sears was bigger the beauty about Kmart was that it really did have something for everyone families could go there for almost all of their usual household needs and with the convenient locations and plentiful parking it was easy enough to stop in and grab just the one or two items that you needed of course once you were inside a Kmart there was a good chance you'd be sticking around unlike traditional department stores Kmart made shopping carts available for their customers to use with the convenience of a cart customers could carry more items without being overburdened allowing them to spend more time browsing and filling up those shopping carts as a little kid I knew what I was in for when we stopped into Kmart for just a couple quick things as soon as my mom pulled out a shopping cart I knew we were going to be there for a while but shopping with Mom at Kmart wasn't really so bad although rolling around in the kitty seat of the shopping cart as my mom perused the racks of polyester slacks wasn't very exciting I'd usually be treated to a bag of delicious Kmart popcorn and maybe a cherry icy to wash it down Flash Forward a few years when I was old enough to graduate from the kitty seat and could wander off on my own life got even better as Kmart always had plenty of stuff to keep a kid entertained the toy department in Kmart was larger than other stores and had better prices and traditional toy stores personally I prefer to spend most of my time sorting through the matchbox and hot whe Wheels cars hanging from the pegboard priced around 78 a Hot Wheels car was a prize I was sometimes lucky enough to take home then just down the aisle from the toys was the pet Department with tropical fish parakeet and hamsters over in the direction of the Kmart Auto Center was a wall of car stereos and speakers that could be cranked up to volumes guaranteed to annoy any other Shoppers in the immediate vicinity when the Atari home gaming system came out there would usually be a buch bunch of kids over in the electronics department lined up to play Pitfall Missile Command or whatever other new game was plugged into the console you could also sometimes get your hands on a sample version of a handheld LED sports game like Mattel football one or football 2 or basketball or soccer or baseball other interesting departments worth checking out were sporting goods bikes records and tapes and the photography Department that was stocked with cameras binoculars telescopes and super eights of course of course Kmart was also the place everyone went to for back to school shopping I remember starting many of my grade school years decked out in a stiff new pair of rustler jeans and a pair of colored suede tracks sneakers remember these outfitted with a Trapper Keeper me spiral notebook and my Star Wars lunchbox I was ready to begin the New Year all items courtesy of Kmart need a break from all those Bargains just park your shopping cart outside the cafeteria at the back of the store and sit down to a hot dinner of Fried Chicken Salisbury steak or meatloaf served with mashed potatoes and gravy along with a Toasted Bun and butter and the more time you'd spend in the store the more times you'd hear those familiar words over the loudspeaker attention Kmart Shoppers followed by a description of the latest Blue Light Special nobody knew it at the time but the 1980s would be the end of Kmart's reain as the nation's top Discount Store in November of 1990 Walmart was would surpass Kmart to become the nation's number one retailer after that things started to get ugly literally all the familiar details that made Kmart Kmart began to disappear in 1990 the logo was changed from the italic red K and turquoise Mart to a block letter K with Mart written inside along with the logo uniforms and store signage were also changed to red and white the Blue Light Special was taken away in 1991 a subsequent partnership with Little Caesars resulted in the removal of most Kmart cafes eventually most Kmart stores were rebranded as Big K which claimed to have new layouts brighter lighting wider aisles and spotless floors but it was too little too late in January 2002 Kmart with its 2,114 stores filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection it turns out that the new big case stores couldn't compete with the wider selection or rock bottom prices of Walmart and they couldn't match the style and quality of Target and if you ask me the updated stores just didn't have the personality or Charm of the old stores if you can call it that they were just kind of bland and uninteresting following the 2002 bankruptcy Kmart found itself under the control of billionaire investor Edward lamper whose hedge fund ESL Investments now owned a majority stake in the company in 20 2005 Lampert would Leverage The assets of Kmart to purchase another struggling retailer Sears expenses were slashed for both organizations and with hardly any reinvestment back into the business sales continued to drop for both companies more store closings followed and a second bankruptcy was filed in 2018 from a peak of 2,486 stores and 350,000 employees this former giant of American retail has been reduced to just a handful of stores hidden away in some unlikely locations safely buffered from the nearest Walmart by a th000 m of ocean Kmart operates three stores on the islands of St Thomas and St Croy making it the largest private employer in the US Virgin Islands a Kmart can be found on the island of Guam as well as in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island located in one of the richest ZIP codes in the country this store apparently caters to Millionaires and non-m millionaires alike and of course there's the Miami location doggedly staying afloat while running their store out of the narrow confines of the former Garden Center for most of us Kmart is already just a memory but as for me when I look back at Kmart I'm not going to be remembering the big KS with their bright lights and wide aisles my mind will be strolling across those beige tile floors under the rows of fluorescent lights munching on popcorn and listening for that next Blue Light Special cue the nostalgic musical Montage you can get a helping hand at Kmart stores they understand Kart is your saving store where your doar buys you more they give your dreams a helping and G stores they understand moving like this good your get satisfaction even more at Kart that's your Value Store Kart is your saving [Applause] store will security please report to section 3 security to section 3 [Music] please Kart is than any store you have known before Kmart means you get quality it's friendly and warm and service does not take long one visit and you will agree Kart is all the things a great star should be quality at discount prices satisfaction always you'll see K attention Kmart Shoppers if you enjoyed this video I bet you like this next one as well just click to watch attention please there is no smoking allowed on the sales floor for your convenience smoking is permitted in the snack bar area only

Channel: The History Lounge

Views: 1,075,295

Keywords: kmart, history of kmart, kmart documentary, vintage kmart, kmart in the, kmart in the 70s, kmart in the 80s, when kmart was king, old kmart, 1970s kmart, 1980s kmart, kmart jingle, the history lounge, history lounge, vintage photos, old photos, memories, nostalgia, kmart nostalgia, kmart remembered, remembering kmart, kmart memories, 1970s, 1980s, kmart in the 1970s, kmart in the 1980s, kresges, kresges department store

Id: yjPyvoAx6qc

Length: 12min 33sec (753 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2024