Abandoned Kmart - Altoona, PA 

This was Kmart store #4150. It opened Feb 22, 1967. I started my Kmart career in this store in 1975 and spent 20 years of my 34 years with Kmart in this store. Early in my career I managed the Garden Center before moving into Loss Prevention and being promoted to District Manager. At one time this store was one of the most profitable Kmart stores in the Eastern Region and was a Management training store. Frequently due to the high sales volume a Manager was placed in this store for one year before being promoted to District Manager. The building at the front of the parking lot was indeed the free standing Kmart Auto center which closed many years before the store finally closed. Have many great memories of the time I spent in this store and the people I worked with. In fact, I met my future wife while working in this store.

You are between a kmart, a toys r us, and a sears, the abandoned holy trinity

The Toys r us closed in June, the Kmart closed in January, and the Sears closed in March. Rough year for Altoona

Hi Walle , thanks for the great video. I grew up in Altoona and was born there in 1956 and stayed there through elementary school, junior high school, and Alttona senior high school. 2 years at Alttoona Penn State, Then the final 2 years at the main campus in State College. I only lived about 2 miles from the Logan Valley mall and K mart and an old store called Uncle Joe's woodshed . I rode my bicycle down there every weekend and at least a few days a week during the summer. I moved to San Diego in 1978 after graduating from college, been here ever since . I've only been back to Altoona a handful of times since then. Thanks for Going down memory lane. Keep up the great videos and your sincere respect for property and moral conduct. Greg

This Kmart was built new in 1967, alongside the mall. From what I could gather, this was a Kmart its whole life. The Gabe's next to this store used to be a Phar-Mor up until that chain went kaput. Also, the Toys R Us/Dunham's Sports split store across the street started out life as one location of the defunct Gee Bee Discount Store chain.

An amazing job on the video as always, Wallie! Thank you so much for referencing my retail group as well! I should have included some additional info along with my photos. My apology for the oversight, my friend. This Kmart closed on 1/6/19. I was there for the final day. And yes, that abandoned building was the Kmart auto center at one time. After Kmart closed, the liquidation at Sears started the very next day. I documented this store as well right up until it’s closing day on 3/3/19. The Sears Auto center closed in late January. Once again, thank you so much for filming this location, Wallie. It was truly my pleasure to watch this vid and to have a look back at this memorable location.

My other childhood Kmart 😭😭😭 It breaks my heart to drive past this and the toysrus sign when I'm in Altoona. I love the video! Awesome job as always!

It’s pretty cool seeing the big green mountain in the background!

Thanks for the memories. Took my mother often to Altoona Kmart shopping.

Worked in auto service center for about five years until Penske took over I was young learned alot and had cpl great guys long term, Fred, Chuck.

As they were closing they had some insane deals

I love your passion for back in the day stores etc that had structure and meaning. There's no personal touch anymore. Everything now is based on convenience and technology which has killed jobs. Yours and Nate's videos remind me of my childhood.

Always love your vids. Lookin forward to Weekends with Wallie.

Another great vid and your commentary is spot on. Your passion for places that once meant a lot for many is admirable and infectious. Come to Butler, we have many abandoned structures.

I miss this place. They’ve added a giant “no trespassing” sign in the parking lot since you were here, lol.

I stopped at this Kmart only once; my friends and I would pass by this area while going to and from Penn State as we were taking classes. It was about what you'd expect inside, nothing you haven't seen in other Kmarts but I'm glad I got to see inside when I did.

Cool video Wallie! Sad to see another store closed, and you filmed this very well! Have a great night! 💗

Grew up shopping at that Kmart. Sad to see Altoona going dawn hill. Good video man. Thanks for stopping by.

i am from that area and worked in the mall at jc penney had a coffee shop.... would go to k mart with my dad ... and my uncle worked at sears while going to college.. so sad all of the stores have closed.. thank u for sharing

Nice find! At 5:59 what a nice shot of the two signs! All of those cars parked at Sears make that Sears look busy. lol

Very sad seeing another abandoned Kmart:( I'm surprised the Kmart sign hasn't been taken down.

I hated when I was dragged into k mart as a kid and wanting to go to toys r us instead, but now I miss being at k mart

The clouds are awesome.

Love the “Garden Shop” logo scar.

Man I love your videos

You finally filmed it I'm happy love your video #savethekmart

I grew up in tyrone just 20 mins from altoona. But also lived in altoona for a few yrs but now in NY. Its sad to see all these stores closing ! I used to clean kmart when i lived there. It was a nice store. The little building in front of kmart was the sears auto center. And yes sears is also closed now.

They converted the old k mart in mt pleasant pa into an Auldi and a big lots. Turned out very nice

I miss Kmarts.

Shopped there many times. Good times... I think that was a Firestone Auto Center.

I visited Altoona a few years ago and shoped both that Kmart and Toys R us as we stayed right by it in a Motel nice memorys even if they are gone :(

The shop is in good nick!

I live about 10 minutes away from there. Many cool places to explore in Altoona.

A carousel with Kmart logos on it...just wow I'd love to have one of those.

Old Kmart are become U-Haul now in Illinois in a lot of store. Just so you know that.

Man that sucks Great video though and those label scars are like 🤤🤤

I just saw one on my way to Denny’s in Sioux Falls South Dakota.

If you take a very short drive down the road....They have the first Target store in this side of Pa. It was a prototype store. As of a few years ago, it was never updated, and is very small compared to the Target stores now. It is straight out of the early 90's! You should check it out Wallie, would make a great video! Stay awesome, keep up the great work!

That is some fine looking label scars. They Toys R Us sign is like omg.

I remember some K marts did have external auto centres.

Surprised they didn’t peel off all the window stickers when it closed. Like the Hello! and free WiFi. Good video!

I visited this Kmart in Mid-December. The same day, I went to the Logan Valley Mall and entered the mall through the Sears store. I thought the Sears store looked fairly nice and it took me by surprise when it was announced a few weeks later that the Sears would be closing. The mall appeared to be doing well, although it has lost several stores this year already.

We need the sign for our non closing store. Looks a lot better.

Sucks that it closed. It was always busy for Kmart standards

Relics of the time before the Technological Revolution.

I miss K-Mart and the blue light specials! LOL

That's ok i live in Erie i think we got 2 or 3 of them here !!

It was the k mart auto center

You mentioned about Sears across from Kmart. Yes it closed during the pandemic.

Shoutout from me and rob we love your content! You should go back and get inside :)

Try making it to Allentown PA we have an abandoned K-mart on South 4th Street

Sad to see Kmart close

We have the same in philly Sears 1st, toys r us and now kmart in a 1mile radius. Toys r us will open back up I believe online

The auto shop was Kmart auto center then became a Penske. Been closed for some time now. Kmart was bought and is becoming a Rural King. Sears is also closed for good and the Sears auto center became a marijuana dispensary. The amc theatre is also closed down for good. The toys r us across the street became a Burlington.

It destroyed me that we lost ToysRUs. We're losing a lot of our brick & mortar stores quickly. Thanks, Amazon.

When I had went there, there was a hand saw in between the two doors.

Beautiful area there never been above the mason Dixon. I just started to want to film the Sweetwater Tx abandoned K Mart it has label scars all over it. I'll film it when I'm up there Wednesday

My dad managed this Kmart for 25 years . Then he worked for a company who liquidated it . Seeing it empty is sad . We used to run into his office and get money to go to the mall 😂

that kmart is literally night light mode

Childhood Kmart

Please stay away from magnets! Love, Carol

Every town and city in America has these some have several actually.

Sad when you think about it because WALMART is not in every town an for some towns Kmart was their towns store an with all the Kmart's that have closed some towns are left with no where to shop which is really sad because I do believe Kmart could have been saved

Danm I haven't seen the kmart in a while

When my sears closed cars were in the parking lot the sigh was still up and the doors were pitch black and it was abandoned

What concert are you going to? Have you ever seen a Foo Fighters concert?

The Kmart Distribution Center in Chambersburg PA closed in April

I was in it February it was barren , only bought white Halloween makeup in December for a beard for santa. That was last thing I bought there

Well, anyone who was planning to get some supplies for their trip to Horseshoe Curve is outta luck - they'll have to go somewhere else to do that... (I actually got to visit the Curve back in '11.)

This reminds me of canton Kmart kind of I don’t know why

Wallie can you film the abandoned Kmart in Cleveland Ohio

So, my K Mart closed early last year.Toys R Us closed early last year.Sears closed early last year.Elder Beermans closed early last year.

Omg. I pass this daily

Sears is shut down along with many other stores in the mall and the sears auto center which is terrible for me because it was the best place to get tires! K mart toys r us and sears were always "sometimes stores" growing up... Toys r us was for birthdays k mart was for christmas and sears was black Friday and back to school because they were more expensive unfortunately!

That auto center has been closed for a long time

Nice video! Is all shopping going to be on line someday?

I liv 14 minutes away in East Freedom

Sear Auto center,it was

I live in Altoona and can remember when it was open 💀

The Kmart in Reading/Shillington PA is still open but i have no idea how

I miss pool hall

Altoona is known for leaving abandon buildings up and also as of 2023 we dont have the good air that we used to

I stopped in there before I do not like Altoona Pennsylvania

Is the Hills still in Altoona? Or has it been demolished/converted?

Spirit store in there now. You should go back, but beware magnets!

Hey man I’m late to the party but my company is thinking about opening a clothing store in Altoona. How was the vibe there, motivated shoppers, busy stores, or not really? Love to get your opinion on the town’s shopping sense. Thank you brother!

The Sears in Altoona is now closed for Good

#SavetheKmarts #SavetheSears #SavetheToysRUs

Lol I actually moved here right when they were shutting down and I got to grab a few cheap shirts 😂 they probably literally just closed down when you took this.

Ya I Steeler Fan

Fifth comment you rock wallie

pretty sure this one is a Rural King now..hopefully i googled the correct location 🤣

Another awesome video even made better by Sherry's purrfect photos. I hate seeing this Kmart (and Sears) closed thanked to the wicked Fast Eddie. I can't believe the company would let these stores just shut down. Altonna must have a lot of potential customers about. Where are they to go. Thanks for documenting these stores. People should not forget the great retailers KMart and Sears are (don't want to use the word WERE since they are holding one, for now.)

Fun Fact: It opened in 1967.

My mom lived there

They better figure out something to do with all of these empty buildings on the blvd, you can only have so many medical centers, psyche places, and meth clinics in this town.

I’m tryna figure out what’s so amazing about it😭 I live 10 mins away from altoona lmao just everyday stuff for us haha

Just Incredible how much altoonas in decline. So Glad I got out when I did.

I am from ALTOONA

Nothing on the slefs