r/mildlyinteresting • u/bensonyourfired • 16h ago
My local abandoned Kmart still has the original signage up.
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u/ElessarofGondor 16h ago
Wait is this in millcreek/Erie PA?
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u/bensonyourfired 16h ago
Yes!
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u/ElessarofGondor 16h ago
Knew I recognized that! I feel like that whole plaza has been strange since KMart and Giant Eagle pulled out.
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u/mxlespxles 16h ago
The number of dead strip malls in Erie is so depressing. I used to commute from Harborcreek every day and Buffalo Road was so bleak
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u/Delta632 15h ago
I immediately recognized it because I used to stop here 20 years ago for action figures.
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u/Mike_Honcho_Summer 14h ago
*dolls
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u/Delta632 14h ago
Bought for myself by proxy for children. Perfect scenario for a 90s kid. I also bought plenty of dolls too.
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u/bush3102 16h ago
Paducah, KY?
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u/bensonyourfired 16h ago
No, it’s Erie PA.
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u/PoopScootnBoogey 16h ago
Ok. Now we can figure out who you are just by the metadata on this photo.
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u/C-D-W 16h ago
Gosh I must be old because to me, that's the new signage. When I think Kmart, this is the logo I see:
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u/bensonyourfired 16h ago
That is one of the Kmarts that opened with that sign! Also the Giant Eagle next to it was a Kmart Foods.
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u/GetOffMyGrassBrats 16h ago
Actually that was a rebrand sign. This was the original:
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u/pootis_panser_here 14h ago
I can still smell the fluffy salty popcorn from the cafeteria they had in there at one point.
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u/Cyber_Turd 14h ago
Oh man the Kmart cafeteria, I so miss these. When I was a kid in the mid 70s I couldn’t wait to go with my two grandmas. We would always go to 3 places when they shopped, first was Populars ( may have been a local dept. store ), they were a higher end dept. store compared to Kmart. While my grandmas shopped at populars me and my sisters would go to Detours, an arcade that was themed around construction caution signs and the what not. After shopping at the “mall” ( imagine 1960s outdoor style mall ) we would go to Kmart where I would go and pick out a Lego set, spend 15 minutes convincing my grandmas I need to go over budget for this set, haha. Once we finished shopping it was on to the cafeteria for lunch which for me consisted of a glass of chocolate milk and two servings of tapioca pudding! Oh I wish these still existed. We would finish the day at the Pic n’ Save for any bargains my grandmas could find. I spent summers in El Paso, Texas and we would do this every week, Fridays was going to the dog track in Juarez with grandpa, he knew the local crime family guy that ran business at the track and would cash in GI’s winning tickets with out paying taxes, crime boss got a cut, grandpa got a cut, and the GI would stake home more than if he had cashed the ticket himself. So even when grandpa didn’t win on the races ( which was rare ), grandpa always won at the races. Thank you for the trip down memory lane!
P.S. anyone remember the name of the shopping center that housed the populars in El Paso? I cannot for the life of me remember. If you grew up in El Paso and went to the dog track you’ll remember how awesome this place was, the most grandiose place I had ever seen as a child, so magical
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u/pootis_panser_here 13h ago
Were pic n saves always near Kmarts because the one I frequented also had a pic n save and we would go there and I would love spending time looking at all the voltron toys they had. I couldn't get anymore of them because my mom had heard something about the toys being lead painted or something.
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u/Cyber_Turd 12h ago
I feel like a lot of them were, besides the one in El Paso back home in Fort Worth the Pic n’ Save was close to the Kmart but we also had another Pic n’ Save that wasn’t close to one at all.
Edited to add: Pic n’ Save, where you bagged your groceries in actual paper bags, just to save a few bucks.
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u/osmlol 16h ago
Well, you wouldn't expect them to update it now would you?
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u/bensonyourfired 16h ago
Well they almost updated none of them but it’s been abandoned for like 7 years now and the signage is still up. Usually, they will take them down.
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u/ElCasino1977 16h ago
They were one of the first retailers to let customers “ship their pants” in store or at home!
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u/itsnorm 11h ago
I can't not share the link
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u/Snotgirl1 13m ago
One of the best ads ever. It arrived too late to save Kmart but it was fantastic. 🛏️
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u/dr_xenon 16h ago
Costs money to take it down. You’d need some kind of crane and boom lift for personnel. And a truck to haul it away.
I’d say minimum of $3,000.
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u/farmallnoobies 16h ago
I mean.... The Big K thing wasn't the original signage. I remember when they did that rebrand
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u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 16h ago
Costs money to do that, no reason to spend the money unless someone else is moving in to the space, and they usually foot the bill
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u/Animal907 15h ago
Some places have weird sign laws and a failing business doesn't want to pull a permit for removing a sign they'll throw away.
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u/slick7studios 13h ago
Building I worked at closed and we took our sign with us, a month later the parish fined the building for the empty sign cabinets.
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u/TayLied 16h ago
Heh heh Big K. As an Australian where our Kmart has a massive cult like following and still thriving this is so strange to see. (Our other store closest to that of Kmart is called Big W)
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u/FormerPersimmon3602 13h ago
The "Big Kmart" (and "Super Kmart) rebranding was a desparate move for US Kmart in its decline, as it faced increasing competition from WalMart and Target expansion.
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u/PintoTheBurninator 15h ago
I bought my first computer at Kmart - a Commodore Vic 20. Paid $99+tax.
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u/deane-barker 15h ago
Kind of weird that they're all gone now. I was born in 1971, so K-Mart and Sears were the stalwarts of American retail. I still remember when Wal-mart was a fancy up and comer. My wife's aunt was a manager at the same K-Mart for 28 years.
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u/Mfsmitty 11h ago
I continued to use the Kmart automotive center for years. Always bought my battery and headlight bulbs at a Kmart for some reason.
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u/Skipadee2 11h ago
Same with the Kmart in Palmer MA
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u/PuddlePirate1964 2h ago
Did they really rip up the pavement and leave it to grass. That’s kinda cool.
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u/OneUseHero 16h ago
The one closest to me is owned by a local grocery chain (also locally hated) that won't sell or lease the building, so it just sits derelict with a massive lot going to waste. It also still has the sign up. Probably gonna be like that for another decade like some other property they own unless the laws change and they get taxed higher unless it's put to use somehow.
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u/ashrocklynn 16h ago
Does spirit Halloween not operate any stores in Erie?!?
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u/MikeMontrealer 16h ago
How many spirit halloweens does one city need, though?
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u/ashrocklynn 16h ago
One per abandoned storefront large enough to host both the warehousing and showing areas.... They have such low overhead
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u/flameislove 3h ago
I have 4 within 4 miles of me. 7 within 10 miles. I need to find the password for the drugs they must sell to make this work.
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u/veovis523 16h ago
Mine got turned into a COVID vaccination center, and then a Target. Best case scenario, as far as I'm concerned.
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u/chestypocket 5h ago
There was one in my city that became a COVID testing/vaccination site. I moved to the area during the height of COVID and thought it was hilarious that they pretty much just publicized the location as “the old Kmart building” and I knew immediately what they were talking about even though the signage was gone and I was completely unfamiliar with the city. Those buildings just have a look, even when they’ve been rotting for a decade.
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u/FreeWillyBird 16h ago
That’s definitely cocaine bear’s stash house
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u/Starspiker 16h ago
They turned ours into the worst Target I've ever had the displeasure of shopping at.
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u/Ok-Type-8917 15h ago
There's one by my house that along with a former Masco headquarters Ford Motor Company renovated for use, I think they were supposed to house about a thousand employees. Since COVID both just sit empty.
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u/SipowiczNYPD 13h ago
Still had one in my neck of the woods until this summer. It was finally torn down and a chick-fil-a rose from its ashes.
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u/Hour_Bit_5183 13h ago
That's fucking erie PA. Someone should take down that K and send it to musk since he likes ket so much. Would be perfect for a gift insult.
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u/Then_Version9768 9h ago
It's amazing to me how many people think that once something changes -- like a company going out of business -- every trace of that thing must quickly disappear. Let me introduce you to the pyramids, the Acropolis, every American building built in the 17th and 18th centuries, slave plantations, the Oregon Trail, Gettysburg, and a million other things that are still around. This is how I know most Redditors lack even a basic knowledge of history.
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u/AwarenessGreat282 16h ago
Not surprising at all. If they never sell or lease the building, no one's gonna spend money to take signage down.