Kmart Closing & Going Out Of Business in Belle Vernon, Pa. This store has been here for 40 years and announced in June that it would close in early September. From the looks of things inside the store, it may close sooner.
If you like that sign, you should see the Berwick, PA kmart. It has the classic garden shop sign and all the signs are up. It has old sale signs in the dumpster, and even the "Big Kmart" sign is still up!
Great take away with the Balloons!! I went to the 1st Kmart in Garden City Michigan liquidation sale, the store manager gave me a store circular add from 1979, it was awesome!!
WallieB26 I miss Kmart. Canada believe it or not had Kmart woolco and zellers for years. As Wal-Mart moved in and made zellers feel crowded zellers panicked bought up every last Kmart in an effort to try to get a leg up on Wal-Mart. Zellers went pretty much defunct up here 2 years ago then target left. Last time I went to Kmart was in Hadley Massachusetts
good to see that store again, it's long gone now .basically torn down and then rebuilt ,housing other stores now...I sure did spend some time and money in that store over the years,,,sad to see it go, always seemed busy to me ,the café had some decent food priced right and the café was always busy , at times you had to wait for a seat. Thanks wallie for taking the time to do this video I enjoyed watching
Thanks for capturing this because years from not many people will remember that was even a k mart and us oldheads can watch this for the nostalgia. 😔 they had the best after holiday sales! 😔
Another awesome video. You and the other retail documentary artists should see if your work can be preserved in the Library of Congress for future generations to study.
I just got one too for $5! I got it at the Butler store when I filmed it but chose not to mention it on camera because I didn't want to get any employee in trouble. Now it's irrelevant because they don't work for Kmart anymore anyway. I got some other goodies from another abandoned kmart that I found on top of everything in the dumpster out back. I grabbed the few things I saw to save them from being destroyed and have a piece of Kmart history.
That was the very last full service Kmart restaurant. We had one here in Erie, PA on East Grandview that closed long ago. That Kmart closed this year. It was really a great place to eat breakfast and lunch back in the 80's. Went there a lot with my grandfather. It is pretty sad to see. End of an era :(
At the start of every Kmart liquidation sale, ALL product price points are put back to full retail OR manufacturers suggested Price. That Mac and cheese at $1.69, would be full retail. Notice all the price tags on the products, every item in the store is price tagged at the start of the liquidation.
I did notice that. However, when I was at the Meadville Kmart and Erie Kmart, things weren't marked up. At least nothing that caught my attention. This Kmart and the Butler one caught my attention though. I couldn't believe it.
The liquidator controls it, not the store, so they can set whatever price they want. They buy the inventory for pennies on the dollar, then sell it for MSRP (or more), to "lower" the price to make money. Liquidation companies make their money doing this. They've also got to sort through a crapload of stuff as you see, but they're the ones running the store, and calling the shots.
how sad!!!! its upsetting to keep seeing our kmarts close they deserve better than this! i work at a kmart. it does well and i pray it stays opened so lets pray with me that they will not close it. its like family there and they really are good to their people as much as they can. now it takes 3 months to close a store. so what happens is when they announce a store closer a liquidator comes into make as much as they can off of what is there still and a little after. so that means the liquidator has main control over what they want to charge not our corporate office we have no control over it from what i know. the prices are weird is because not only they are trying to make money off of what we had but they also make a percentage off the sales. the higher the mark up the higher they make. im confidant that kmart has a place in this world and will be around we just need people to have loyalty and not believe the nasty disingenuous slander social media says about us. its really hurtful and depressing, it hurts our company in more ways than one. online shopping is an evil thing it takes more jobs, out sources resources and promotes lower wage jobs so PLEASE people think of the long term affects it will have on us now and us in the future. use smart sense!
I can imagine how much better those signs looked then. I'm surprised that they were still rocking out the original sign but at the same time, not surprised because they didn't have the money to update it and replace it. I wonder if it even lit up at night or not.
23:27 watching this again, yes, Grant's at least had auto centers, so if Kmart wanted to, they could have replaced it. They likely did when they first took it over, but as time went on eventually closed it.
Well Wallie i thought the food in the uk was expensive but the price of some of that and in a sale blows my socks off lol keep the videos coming mate could watch theses all day thank you :)
Wonder when was the last time that the bowling ball drill press was used? I haven't seen a Kmart sell a blank bowling ball and offer custom drilling in over 30 years! Seems like that thing would have been snapped up by a pro shop long ago, or sold for scrap metal or parts if it didn't work. 😀 Caught the Christmas Story leg lamp on your rearview mirror.👍 Makes me wonder if I've missed it in other videos.🤔 Also, don't go too hard on places around there selling '49ers merch. Joe Montana is from Washington County after all.🙂
I'm gonna be SO sad when Kmart is a thing in the past. It's my favorite store and since they're all shutting down I'm not even sure where the closest Kmart to me is anymore. I'm not sad about Sears shutting down but I am horribly sad about Kmart
You get better deals online on the kmart website than these actual closing sales through the shopyourway point program and coupons. If you know how to look, these sales have brand name stuff that you can resell, like Woolrich merchandise.
There are only 3 Kmart stores left in the State of Minnesota. I think we had 37 stores operating here in the 1980's. We don't even get a Kmart ad in the Sunday paper anymore.
Mister Hat I don't even know at this point. They used to. We would get them in the Sunday edition of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette but not anymore. He'll, when I was growing up, we would get the occasional ad in the mailbox when all the advertisers would send out coupons and flyers, etc.
I am guessing they have cut back due to the fact that Sears Holdings is in such a deep financial hole. I also think that a lot of stores have shifted in advertising from papers to online or social media.
Deal Flash are brand names.. apparently brands that have bulk are being bought by Kmart, Goodwills, etc. and being sold at a discount. Interesting tip.
Mister Hat That's exactly what I thought. The prices were outrageous. Did you see how much that electric stove was? Or how about the lawn mower, or refrigerators? The before prices were insanely high making the "discounted" price what they should have been in the first place.
That was my K-Mart store. I was at Aldi's yesterday down in that plaza and K-Mart looks so vacant now, even the parking lot on that side of the plaza too.
It really does. I drove down there to visit the store again a week and it was eerily quiet and empty. There were guys on a cherry picker removing the Big K sign from the plaza signage. I drove around and had planned to film but there were still people inside messing with store fixtures. I plan to go back again soon now that its probably completely abandoned.
They started demolishing the left side to the restaurant now. I don't know if the whole thing is coming down. I don't even know what is going in it's place or being built too if it all comes down. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LZ9WXXO7kHQ.html I believe it is all getting torn down...there was something mentioned about asbestos in the building from a woman at Aldi's today.
ghostlyme : Back when I was a kid back in the 80’s, the Kmart closest to where I lived had a full service cafeteria and it just simply said Cafeteria above at the front entrances to the cafeteria. The Cafeteria was in the back center part of the store. Also back in the 1980’s, Kmart owned two Cafeteria chains beside the cafeterias they ran inside the Kmart stores. There was no Little Caesar’s Pizza to be had in the Cafeteria’s back in the 1980’s. If I remember correctly, the colors of the inside of the cafeteria in the Kmart store I’m talking about it was brown and orange. The cafeteria eventually moved to the front far right part of the store and was renamed KCafe with the Little Caesar’s pizza items being sold inside the cafe. This Kmart was in Zanesville, Ohio which has since closed and part of it reopened as Big Lots store with the remaining part left to be occupied.
The one in Binghamton, NY, had a full restaurant. Ate breakfast there a lot with my grandparents. They were regulars and all the servers knew them! Also, travelling around the country, I saw stores with a Cafeteria in the back center. However, these all seemed to have closed down anywhere between 1987 and 1991. Those locations that kept some semblance of food service did indeed have K-Cafes up front, often near restrooms and/or the service desk. Some did sell Little Caesar products, others were just burgers & hot dog kind of places.
Many of these liquidation sales are run by outside liquidation companies. Sometimes the original prices on the signs are inflated, these companies intentionally make the store look messy, and sometimes even bring in merchandise that was never in the store to begin with, often left over from a previous liquidation sale. Usually the liquidators raise sale prices up to full price and the gradually lower them as time progresses.
If anyone wants to go to a Kmart store & you can't find any around there are plenty of them here in Southern Cal yet going strong haven't heard any of them going to shut down though I think it''s a matter of time when every Kmart & Sears will be shut down..
Old Timer Wow, that's impressive to hear that. They're becoming less and less common around here. I mean there are still a handful around Pittsburgh but you have to drive far to get to one. I'm just lucky yo have a Kmart less than 3 miles from our place.
But yeah, I agree. I see the entire company folding by the end of next year. I believe they'll get through this holiday season but I firmly believe that'll be the nail in the coffin for them.
There are only three Kmarts (that I know of) in the Chicago area, one of which is on the chopping block: Steger (the one that’s getting the Eddie Lamppost treatment), Bridgeview, and one in Chicago proper, just off the Addison Blue Line stop on the “L”. There are no more Sears in the Chicago area, the last one closed earlier this year.
*looks on Sears Web site* Well, blow me down, there are a few in Chicago still open. Thanks! If I can get to them (I don’t drive, so that would be a challenge), I might check them out. I know Sears Outlet and Sears Auto Center were spun off of the actual store, so they’re going to remain long after Eddie Lamppost is done picking at Sears’ and Kmart’s carcasses.
I'm just curious if this store opened as a Kmart. The thing I saw was the restaurant sign which looked like a Grant City restaurant sign. I have a Kmart near me in Walnutport, PA, Kingston, PA.
Wouldn't be surprised if this place originally was a Grant's. Most Grant's locations were taken over by Kmart upon the demise of Grant's. A lot of videos on dying Kmarts in NY and PA commonly receive comments about it having once been a Grant's, which is highly likely.
Some of the common going out of business liquidation companies include Great American Group, Gordon Brothers Group, Hilo Merchant Resources, Tiger Capital, and others.
Thanks for sharing these links! Sorry, they showed up as spam but I just got on my computer so I could approve them. I will check these out. Thanks so much!
When I was a merchandiser for Pepsi, I visited this store quite a few times. It was a ghost town back in 2006. I remember this psycho woman that was Loss Prevention that worked there. She demanded you wear a sticker that said "GUEST" in magic marker. If you didn't, she threatened to kick you out of the store. I guess a shirt that said Pepsi on it wasn't good enough. She sounded like a mean version of Fran Drescher on the Nanny. Later I heard that she tried to stop a shoplifter and got knocked out..lol Sadly, I have no sympathy for the psychotic woman.. Nice video btw. :-)
If kmart goes out of business i will look back on all the kmart/sears closing vids and I will wish the worst for Eddie dumper, I hate him I love sears and kmart
I don't know why I Kmarts needs the grocery a section part of the deal because there are grocery was a lot more expensive than the regular retail grocery stores why would they go into something they can't compete price wise
Me, marathoning abandoned Kmart videos all day at work: I should REALLY get some pizza for dinner. Do I really feel like driving to the Little Caesars on the other end of town?
The abandoned Explorer It's a shame. I just filmed another closing Kmart on Thursday. I plan to upload that video next week. And thanks. I had a good Friday. I drank beers with the boys from work and then I filmed 6 places.
Ask if you can buy the basket - it's probably for sale too! Those store baskets are pretty rugged. These suckers are just dropping like flies, the question is will Sears Holdings survive the year? The last one in Phoenix just shut, think about that, a city the size of Phoenix isn't enough to keep even one going. They're toast.
$1.69 for Kraft mac & (powder) cheese. I think the normal price is $1-$1.29 just about everywhere. A I know Rice a Roni is $1 most places. $5 freaking 99 for mayo!?! WTF?
I did try to buy the basket. They wouldn't let me buy it but I did manage to buy one from the Kmart that closed in Butler! And yeah, those prices were unreal.
I think that Kmart's decline started about two decades ago was run into the ground by Sears Holdings. It seems as if Target and Walmart beat them in terms of quality and price, and unlike Sears they invested in the look and quality of the look and fixtures of their stores.
Alec Salloum I figured as much. I just filmed the Butler Kmart a couple of days ago. They're closing too, and their dumpsters had fixtures in them. I plan to put that video up next week.
I've come to a conclusion with Kmart. They should just close them all and get it over with. It's like they are bleeding a slow death. Avoiding the inevitable.
Thanks. I don't want to see them go. I have another Kmart video I shot at the Butler, Pa Kmart which is closing the same day this one is. I'll upload it later this week. In that video, I tell my story of what Kmart means to me and how it was a part of my childhood. If you watch that video when I upload you'll know what I mean.
WallieB26 - Oh yes, I know how you feel as I feel the same way, Kmart was the store I grew up with in the 1970's, Miller Road Store in Flint Michigan, in those days, you traveled to get to a Kmart, in my case only about 25 miles. That store was magic, I remember begging my mother to eat at the Kmart cafe, and playing under the clothes racks and wondering about this mysterious stair case in the back room and where it went to, and to get one of those famous Kmart ham and cheese subs!! what a treat. I was always amazed at their price points, $1.77, $2.88, $1.92 this was part of what made Kmart a success. This store closed going on 3 years now, it was devastating!! I went a couple days prior to the liquidation and spent $100.00 and 2 hours shopping, I refused to go to the liquidation could not bear it!! I will watch for your next video, check out my play lists on my page for Kmart shut down history and Kmart!!
tmm226 Thanks for sharing your story. You'll hear mine in my Butler Kmart video when I post it. Probably tomorrow or Friday. When I get home from work, I'll definitely check out your Kmart playlist!
Hey Wallie, I'm sorry I haven't been active on here recently, I was camping and I had no wifi at all. It sucks to see this store go out because before we know it, I'm sure Target and Walmart will go out of business and a new store will come out to replace them. Also, I've gotten some nice clothes from a Kmart in Watertown NY and they announced that they are closing recently. It sucks. Anyway, nice video!
Thank you. And don't feel bad about your inactivity on here. I've been inactive too other than uploading a few videos until recent. I was dealing some health problems that really wore me out especially after work. I would upload a video and just go to bed. But I'm here trying to catch up on everyone's comments on all of my videos. So no worries, my friend. Yeah, I've found some nice clothes at Kmart before too. I'm actually currently wearing my Pittsburgh Penguins pajama shorts I got at the Meadville, Pa Kmart I filmed right before it closed. These things are great for Summer and I like that they have pockets. I can even sit outside wearing them and people think they're just a normal pair of shorts. Really comfortable and inexpensive. It'll be a sad day when I can't get things like this this nice anymore. I can usually never find pajama shorts I really like anywhere other than Kmart.
mannequin legs were pretty funny. i find it odd that its like they put the shelves down first then the flooring, then when they move the shelves theres that hideous underneath. another great video bud
Yeah, I don't understand that either. Wait until you see the Closing Kmart video I just filmed at the Butler Kmart. I found old baseball cards embedded in the filth where the gondolas stood in that store. They date back to 1992! I'll have that up later this week. I was losing it when I saw the mannequin legs. I almost thought for a split second about buying one to make a Halloween prop but I know that would never happen. lol
The floor is put down first, then the shelving gondolas, the mess underneath is a buildup of dirt from years in operation. No retailer cleans the floor under the gondolas unless they have to move them, which isn't very often and only happens with a layout reset.
Those mannequin legs would go for 3 to 4 times the money that you would have paid for them on ebay bet you would have gotten 75 or 100 bucks each those are not cheap
The store I worked in would basically strip and redo the floors a few times per year, plus nightly cleaning. But the stripping around the bottoms of the gondolas is not water tight. You bust a container of juice in aisle 2, some of it is going to live forever under those shelves.
Found some images of the store in full operation here: facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1546696282018220.1073741929.358693197485207&type=3 Apparently it used to be a Grant's department store, which offered full service restaurants for shoppers in their stores. When Kmart took over that location, they retained it as a Kcafe. Sad to see that farewell sign. It looks like the last vestiges of a local institution that knew and valued their customers.
VenerableEvil They did. When Kmart announced more store closings in late June/early July, the local media (KDKA) did a story here. They interviewed customers who said they've been coming here for years. They all knew each other and they feel terrible that the store is closing. Even the employees said they felt like family. That's what makes it more sad. Also, someone said this Kmart had the last operating KCafe but I have yet to confirm this.
WallieB26 on another viewing, you can spot a 40th anniversary banner for the store at 11:59 - its very sad to see corporate mismanagement affect the workers who have poured their time and effort into a business. If you get the chance, there is a RU-vid Kmart tribute video made by an employee of the Rome, Georgia location, showing the faces behind their operation with what looks like decades of photographs from the store. It's a shame.
HOLY HELL! I'M BLIND! I did not see that poster on the wall when I was in there. Had you not say about that 40 year banner, I still wouldn't have noticed. Good eye! I saw that tribute video you mentioned. It made me really sad and feel really bad for all those employees who were basically family.
Zachery Alderton It was on the second to last round of Kmart/Sears store closures. This as well as the Butler and Indiana, PA stores were on the same list of closures.
