Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Thanks for the Kmart memories

Spring Valley store to close in November

“Kmart is closing because the baby boomers are now gone.”
“Kmart is closing because the baby boomers are now gone.”

On August 23, I visited the Kmart at 935 Sweetwater Road in Spring Valley by the 54 Freeway.

“It’s because of Amazon, bro, the internet.”

A lady with a blue shirt that read “Attention Kmart Shoppers” on the front was helping me.

“When are you guys closing?” I asked her.

“In November,” she responded, “It’s OK. I need to move on anyway. The last one is in Ramona.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

According to the Business Insider, “Sears is closing 46 stores; the closing locations include 13 Kmarts and 33 Sears stores. Closing sales will begin on August 30. The new list will bring Sears’ total store closures this year to nearly 300.”

“I didn’t even know they were closing, bro,” said Archie, a mechanic at RCR Smog Inspection, which is across the street on the north side of the store. “I’ve been going there since when it was a Kmart, then it became a Sears Essentials, then now it’s a Kmart again.”

“Why do you think they are closing down?” I asked.

“It’s because of Amazon, bro, the internet,” he said.

“Sears [and Kmart are] closing more stores as the company’s sales slide,” reported the Business Insider, “with revenue falling in the most recent quarter by more than 30%, to $2.9 billion, from $4.2 billion in the year-ago period.”

“Kmart is closing because the baby boomers are now gone,” said Brigham, a Spring Valley resident, “and I’m one of them.”

When I shopped at the Kmart, I noticed the sign that read 90 percent off of fine jewelry and another one that read 50 percent off clothes and shoes.

“That Bluelight Special sale was back in the day,” said the Kmart employee helping me earlier, “it’s non-existent now. They would get on the PA and say ‘Bluelight Special.'”

“There was a blue light spinning and I remember when a certain sale was announced on the public address system,” said John a customer, “a crowd of people would run towards it. That was in the 1970s and then in the 1980s, Kmart would advertise “Bluelight Specials” in our newspapers.”

John remembers when S.S. Kresge had smaller stores in the Mission Valley and Chula Vista malls, and the price labels were the same as Kmart’s. “I guessed that the ‘K’ in Kmart stood for ‘Kresge,'” he said.

In the last couple of years, many patrons complained on the Yelp and [Nextdoor] sites of a “smell or stench” inside this particular Kmart — which I couldn’t smell this day.

“I don’t know if it’s a sewage leak, dead critters in the walls or just somebody trying to win the blue ribbon for farting all day long,” posted Em, an Elite ’18 member on Yelp, “but it sure does smell something awful in there.”

When Juan T. posted on Nextdoor that the “Spring Valley Kmart is one of 13 stores in the United States being closed”; in less than 12 hours, his thread had seven comments that corroborated with Em’s review.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
“Kmart is closing because the baby boomers are now gone.”
“Kmart is closing because the baby boomers are now gone.”

On August 23, I visited the Kmart at 935 Sweetwater Road in Spring Valley by the 54 Freeway.

“It’s because of Amazon, bro, the internet.”

A lady with a blue shirt that read “Attention Kmart Shoppers” on the front was helping me.

“When are you guys closing?” I asked her.

“In November,” she responded, “It’s OK. I need to move on anyway. The last one is in Ramona.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

According to the Business Insider, “Sears is closing 46 stores; the closing locations include 13 Kmarts and 33 Sears stores. Closing sales will begin on August 30. The new list will bring Sears’ total store closures this year to nearly 300.”

“I didn’t even know they were closing, bro,” said Archie, a mechanic at RCR Smog Inspection, which is across the street on the north side of the store. “I’ve been going there since when it was a Kmart, then it became a Sears Essentials, then now it’s a Kmart again.”

“Why do you think they are closing down?” I asked.

“It’s because of Amazon, bro, the internet,” he said.

“Sears [and Kmart are] closing more stores as the company’s sales slide,” reported the Business Insider, “with revenue falling in the most recent quarter by more than 30%, to $2.9 billion, from $4.2 billion in the year-ago period.”

“Kmart is closing because the baby boomers are now gone,” said Brigham, a Spring Valley resident, “and I’m one of them.”

When I shopped at the Kmart, I noticed the sign that read 90 percent off of fine jewelry and another one that read 50 percent off clothes and shoes.

“That Bluelight Special sale was back in the day,” said the Kmart employee helping me earlier, “it’s non-existent now. They would get on the PA and say ‘Bluelight Special.'”

“There was a blue light spinning and I remember when a certain sale was announced on the public address system,” said John a customer, “a crowd of people would run towards it. That was in the 1970s and then in the 1980s, Kmart would advertise “Bluelight Specials” in our newspapers.”

John remembers when S.S. Kresge had smaller stores in the Mission Valley and Chula Vista malls, and the price labels were the same as Kmart’s. “I guessed that the ‘K’ in Kmart stood for ‘Kresge,'” he said.

In the last couple of years, many patrons complained on the Yelp and [Nextdoor] sites of a “smell or stench” inside this particular Kmart — which I couldn’t smell this day.

“I don’t know if it’s a sewage leak, dead critters in the walls or just somebody trying to win the blue ribbon for farting all day long,” posted Em, an Elite ’18 member on Yelp, “but it sure does smell something awful in there.”

When Juan T. posted on Nextdoor that the “Spring Valley Kmart is one of 13 stores in the United States being closed”; in less than 12 hours, his thread had seven comments that corroborated with Em’s review.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Woodpeckers are stocking away acorns, Amorous tarantulas

Stunning sycamores, Mars rising
Next Article

Second largest yellowfin tuna caught by rod and reel

Excel does it again
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader