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The long vacant Kmart/Big Kmart at 13 Mile & Little Mack is rapidly disappearing...drove by today [[sorry...didn't snap any pics) - but the majority of the store is gone - interesting to see some signage still on the interior walls. Anyone recall the closing date? I seem to recall it going in one of the earlier rounds of closings. Was definitely an "early" build for the company.
Kroger Marketplace is taking it's place.
I believe that Kmart on 13 Mile and Little Mack closed in 2003, when the company filed for bankruptcy.
As a note, the Kmart at Frazho & Gratiot is also slowly disappearing. It's no longer a Super K. The area where the meat/deli/bakery used to be has been completely walled off. The produce is also gone while most of the food aisles have been removed and reorganized to accommodate only general merchandise. The electronics "department" also has very few electronics these days. It's basically now just one big clothing barn with a limited amount of jewelry and home goods...
I'm always surprised to see a Kmart still open anywhere. Seems like there's less and less cars in the parking lots of each one every time I pass by.
Not surprised about the location on Gratiot - I went in there about a year ago and it was...well...the door opened and I was in 1990. It's really sad actually given the company's long history in the area. The closest location to me is the SCS location at Harper and 9...location #2...I go in from time-to-time for nostalgia...because the way the place is operated I don't see it, or any others, enduring much longer.
The last time I was in the Kmart on Harper, in S.C.S., I saw a woman stuffing merchandise into her pants. Two other shoppers saw this, and the woman was later confronted by security at the door. I was amazed at how openly she hid the items, with no concern about those nearby watching.
A proposed Imagine Theater is to be build in that area.
Indeed it was Danny - Emagine was supposed to take that property but backed out [[...this was their 2nd choice after building in the GP Village also fell through.) Kroger is building a large-format "Marketplace" store and Fuel Center there - and closing the location in SCS at 13 and Harper. As for theaters - the old Silver Cinema at Macomb Mall is supposed to be closing - there has been some discussion of a new theater going somewhere at or near Macomb Mall.
On a sidenote-with this development on Gratiot, this leaves the Super Kmart on Van Born as the only Super Kmart in Michigan.
It still is the only Kmart in the Downriver area, seeing as back in October we lost the Super Kmart on Fort Street.
Some internet research seems to indicate that most - if not all Super Kmart locations are reverting/converting to regular Kmart locations -- apparently with an expanded "Pantry" department. Additionally, kmart.com lists the Taylor-Van Born site as a "Kmart" location - so perhaps a conversion there is imminent. Still remember the Fairlane North/Dearborn location in it's heyday -- one of the first to go [[now a Walmart)...at one point it was the company's intent to roll out the Super format broadly--in much the way Walmart subsequently has...clearly they were on to something - but as usually - executed poorly.
Believe it or not, the SCS Kmart at 9 Mile and Harper was usually the #1 store in the chain in terms of $ sales. Year in, year out it topped $30M in sales. Occasionally, a store in California would top it, but it was always close.
[[A former Kmart Associate with access to the numbers.)
My in-laws live in the neighborhood around there. I think I remember seeing it closed before then, like in the late 90s.Quote:
Originally Posted by 313WX
I've been in the Kmart at 9 and Harper a few times in recent years. It looks ok, but it always reminds me of my childhood - it doesn't feel like a place that can exist in the 2010's - yet, there it is. Its a shame how far the brand has fallen.
K-Mart has often been considered sort of a raffish place [[what are the first English words a Mexican immigrant kid learns? "Attention K-Mart shoppers"). K-Mart was also the first to employ 70 IQ checkout [[as in "super market cashiers used to be great, now they have all been K-Marted").
Please, it's Kmart - without the hyphen.
Won't matter in a year or two.Quote:
Originally Posted by GPCharles
Like Radio Shack.
I picked up an arm load of t-shirts when they closed, and in a few years some kid will say, Radio who ???
A small group of homeless people have lived very near the former K Mart on Thirteen Mile Rd, for some time. I wonder if the construction of the new building will chase these people, and to where?
Bobl - presumably Kroger Marketplace will not be interested in hosting a homeless encampment on their property. While I never knew such a group existed - I have, on occasion, come across people who I would identify as potentially homeless, roaming/panhandling at or near the adjacent Meijer and Cracker Barrel properties - and always wondered why they were in that particular area - perhaps that answers my question.
Yes, they have been there, for years. I have bought fast food "meals" for some, occasionally. St. Margaret's Church, nearby, tries to help. The homeless problem exists everywhere, especially since the economic collapse of 2007/2008. Returning from work on the afternoon shift, I often saw small campfires along the freeway ditch at Masonic & I 94 area, too.
Retired now, I am thankful for a roof over my head.
I'm old enough to remember Tandy Leather [[on Woodward near Warren), which was often built next door to most Radio Shacks along the early strip malls, or was it the Floor Tile place?
Anyway in deference to Miejers, I gave up on Kmart long ago when they were doing that super-Kmart thing and the grocery prices always seemed very high.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigb23
For a long time, Tandy and Radio Shack were the same company [[TRS).Quote:
Originally Posted by Zacha341
The Kmart in Farmington [[Grand River/M5 X-way) was demolished recently. There's a lot of that going around.
Am never out that way but pulled it up on Google Maps...appears to be a similar vintage/early build. Orange trim though so obviously it lasted longer than some others.
Noticed today that Gratiot/Frazho was stripped of it's "Super" signage this week. The K remains with the dirty "Super" 'labelscar' beside it. Hopefully they at least clean it up - if they don't replace it with the newer 'kmart' signage. The pylon logo on Gratiot is still Super...for now...