Pennsylvania
Related: About this forumLast 2 Kmart stores in Pa. to close
It appears to be an end of an era. Kmart, the store known for its discount prices and its blue light specials is closing its last two stores in Pennsylvania.
The last two Kmart stores in the state, including the last one in the central Pa. region, are part of Transformcos latest round of store closures. Transformco is the parent company of Kmart and Sears.
The Kmart store at 2600 N. Willow S. in West Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, will close in mid-April. A liquidation sale has already begun. The Kmart store at 18 Mark Plaza in Edwardsville, Luzerne County, near Kingston, will also close in mid-April. Its liquidation sale began on Thursday.
In recent years, Kmart has closed stores in the Harrisburg, Hershey, Mechanicsburg, Enola and Carlisle areas as well as stores in York, Lancaster and Lebanon counties.After hundreds of closings in recent years, Forbes estimates that there are just 36 full-line Sears stores and 30 Kmart stores down from 489 full-line Sears stores and 360 Kmart stores in 2019.
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2021/02/end-of-an-era-last-2-kmart-stores-in-pa-to-close.html
kirkuchiyo
(402 posts)And I EFFING HATED having to do blue light specials. Also kids would steal the blue light, wheel it somewhere and turn the light on. M
Little bastards.
MyOwnPeace
(17,273 posts)I was amazed when the K-mart in the New Kensington area closed. It HAD to be one of their most successful places - always busy.
And I'll never understand how Sears tools and appliances would not be able to survive.
kirkuchiyo
(402 posts)We had to wear a collared shirt with a tie. Required and you'd get sent home if you didn't have one. I had a couple skinny leather ones I wore lose ala Ren McCormick in the movie Footloose (Kevin Bacon). The store manager would always tighten it up and as soon as he walked away I'd loosen it back up.
Fast forward 30 some years and my wife and I were invited to an 80's party so I wore one of the leather ties. Everyone was like, wow, where did you find one of those ties?!? They are still on a hangar, tied and ready to to, in my closet. Yeah, rambling, slow day at work...
MyOwnPeace
(17,273 posts)was the area's FAVORITE place to do donuts in the family car after the first snowfall! I laugh about that because I'm a driving instructor at a race track and we have to explain/teach understeer and oversteer (these are the 'donuts!') and so many of the attendees talk about going to Kmart parking lots!
NOW get back to work!
When I started I was the poor bastard that had to go out and bring the carts back in and this was before cart corrals. Every so often I'd see one that someone had held next to their car, accelerated at a curb and let go of it allowing ti to smash into the curb, usually performing a somersault in the process. I saw it actually happen once and saw the evidence many times. The one time I saw it I have to admit, it was pretty spectacular! But yeah, it bent the ever-loving shit out of the front wheels...
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Hey!
I graduated New Ken in '64.
MyOwnPeace
(17,273 posts)Har-Brack - '65! Don't know whether I should wave or flip you off!
Even more ironic, after college I lived in New Ken for 30 years and my kids graduated from there.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Worked Citizens' General Hospital but then got a job in CT.
Went home occasionally to visit parents, now deceased.
TEB
(13,664 posts)FakeNoose
(35,571 posts)I used to shop in the K-Mart near me occasionally, but it was so sad to go in there. The stores got so shabby and the merchandise was terrible. It was hard to remain a customer at K-Mart when there were so many better options.
MyOwnPeace
(17,273 posts)it got ugly! Fewer people working - less care of stocking the shelves and keeping the stores clean - and the product selection was getting worse and worse. They truly did drive away customers to other, better places.
Freddie
(9,687 posts)No problem parking, never crowded, no long lines at the register...no wonder they went out of business.
BTW for those of you who live near these stores, when my Kmart went out (2016) for the liquidation sale they shipped in TONS of womens clothing, not just stuff that didnt sell at that store. It kept getting cheaper, at the end I was buying tops and pants for $5.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)They had a nice variety of plants, tools, etc. Also better birding supplies than Walmart.