- Part 1:
- 07/15/2017
- Part 2:
- 08/16/2017
- 08/24/2017
- Part 3:
- 09/03/2017
- 09/06/2017
- 09/29/2017
- 10/01/2017
- Post-Vacancy:
- 10/11/2017
- 10/24/2017
- 11/23/2017
Part 1: Goodbye Blue Sky. This set was taken on July 15, 2017, over a week after the initial announcement. No store closing signage was on the building in July.
Cart bay in the old cafe. This was mostly empty at the time (except for those 2-tier Technibilt 5341 carts on the right). Also there was a Technibilt 3440 with the gate broken off and the little Rehrig.
Looking out of the cafe at the front end. Store closing signs are present and the store was packed in the early stages of the liquidation.
Looking to the left is the apparel actionway. All merchandise in store was 10-30% off lowest ticketed price. Section was mostly stocked and no layout changes happened yet.
Well-stocked apparel actionway. Pretty messy Joe Boxer display there.
Plus-size pants and women's apparel here. This is 25% off.
Shoe department. It would only be a month before this section would start emptying out.
Baby department. Still stocked with baby furniture.
Shoe actionway.
Big & Tall. Not anymore.
Shoes and shirts. Are you sure those shoes are Everlast?
Middle actionway with plenty of shoppers about.
Women's fashion accessories. Wasn't there very long, was it?
Those infernal red-and-yellow signs always grace liquidations don't they? Merchandise is 10-30% off lowest ticketed price.
Jewelry. It would gradually empty out over time.
Registers. Typical modern boxes meant to emulate older ones.
Middle actionway with home goods on the left and laundry detergent on the right.
Another actionway, this time featuring the "Do It Yourself" department.
The tacky appliance department shoehorned into the "Home Entertainment" section. Still plenty of boxes like in active locations.
Automotive. Only two aisles worth.
The empty layaway. Signs had not come down yet, and the lighting is motion activated.
A straightaway view encapsulating appliances and home office.
Home Office. A price scanner is also present.
Further down is toys. Pools and pool equipment is displayed in the middle of the actionway. And there is a ball display as well.
Seasonal. Full of merchandise, this would later have merchandise still in the box.
Health & Beauty on the left and pantry on the right.
Pantry. Fully stocked, and those coolers were de-marked the year before.
Indoor portion of the garden shop. Grills are predominant in the foreground.
Outdoor portion of the garden shop. They only did this in 2017 for reasons unknown. Sells potted plants.
Garden Shop signage. Welcome to the junk corner they couldn't hide.
Our favorite part of this Kmart: the carts. Does anybody know of any active Kmart stores with old carts laying about? Or was this the last in recent years to have them? This is where I would grab a cart to use in the store.
MORE Technibilts and Advance Carts? There are already enough of them as it is. And those old Rehrigs still managed to end up in the picture.
The little 1990 Rehrig 600-10 appears. This cart, along with a few others will appear in the next 2 parts. This one is dated 12-90.
Why so excited to advertise a liquidation Kmart? Maybe they just want to go comfortably numb as Eddie Lampert drags them down by the stone. That wraps up Part 1.
Part 2: The Happiest Days of our Lives, taken on August 16, 2017. Yes, this blog, like the photo albums, overuses Pink Floyd The Wall references.
Weather is less cloudy in this shot, with the old factory in the distance. Doesn't this part of the garden center feel imprisoning in this picture?
More unused equipment and the full extent to the trashed carts. Nothing can stop someone from grabbing one of those older carts.
Back inside, and more and more boxed merchandise shows up in the indoor section of the garden shop.
View from seasonal. There are grills inside and merchandise is now 10-50% off lowest ticketed price.
Seasonal. Most of the displayed items are patio and lawn chairs. The rest is still in the box.
The corridor with Health & Beauty along with pantry. Not much has changed in the last month.
Pantry. Coolers are emptying but soft drinks are abundant.
Electronics. Exercise equipment is showing up.
Signs showing merchandise is 10-50% off lowest ticketed price.
Empty spaces in home entertainment. What shall we do now?
More from the "Do it Yourself" department. Those bikes are among the last in the bike section.
Better view of the bike section. Still plenty of bikes to fill the final places.
Sporting goods? Everything is boxed!
Deal Flash. Everything is flashing before our eyes, at 20% off.
Lots of Big & Tall shirts to be seen here.
Baby department. Still hasn't been emptied out yet.
Children's clothing. Space is starting to clear out.
"Service and Satisfaction Are Our Primary Goals." Not since 1992, Kmart.
1992 Rehrig 1900-40 A. Lots of tattered original "ads" intact.
Welcome to Kmart. And Goodbye to Kmart.
No more pharamcy. Actually closed April 24, 2017, months before the store's announcement.
Remnants of the old cafe. Currently serving as fixture storage.
Refilled again?! These Technibilts never go away...
Service desk. Placed in the corner rather than next to the registers here.
After a month, the exterior "STORE CLOSING" signage finally appears.
Another exterior shot, with less clouds.
Big Kmart, Pig Kmart. Ha ha, charade you are. Taken August 24, 2017 and more cloudier than a week ago, and using a different Pink Floyd reference.
Apparel is making its way to the front end.
Apparel choking the left-hand actionway. All merchandise is 15-50% off lowest ticketed price.
Wall of clothing is a wall of empty spaces.
The baby department is now full of empty spaces.
At least some clothing is left in the men's section.
Most of the sporting goods section is empty save for the bikes.
An entire shelving unit was removed, revealing this ugly shelf scar. Must have been cleaned recently.
More pools and pool equipment fills this actionway.
Now the grills in seasonal are still boxed. Most of the patio furniture remains.
This child seat is from one of the old 1994 Rehrig carts. It's supposed to be captioned "NO NO NO YES."
Even the plants are starting to drift away from the main section.
The indoor section facing the locked exit. Shelves are emptying fast.
Soft drinks are still abundant in pantry.
Shelf scars from removing the entire luggage department. Currently houses athletic clothing.
The Cart O'Batteries. Yet again, another boring 2010 Technibilt.
Fitting Rooms. Who knows how often they are used anymore.
More and more fixtures are building up here. This wraps up Part 2, just a few more bricks to go.
Part 3: The Last Few Bricks. Before we get to the bigger bricks, here are some smaller ones, taken September 3, 2017. A United Steel & Wire cart from 2000. 2000 was the last year for any kind of cart manufactured for Kmart to lack a bottom rack. Bottom racks become standard on all models after this point.
The 1994 Rehrig 1900-40A mentioned in the last part. This one is dated 8-94. Currently a spare for the 1990 Rehrig 600-10, which is being used to store hangers.
Now for the bigger bricks. Taken September 6, 2017. As the school year starts for some, I cover the continuing liquidation of the Herkimer Kmart. Now there are fixtures and equipment for sale.
Electronics have been disabled. Now only a few treadmills are the most significant item here.
Layaway is completely empty.
All of the sporting goods have been eradicated.
Home office and most of toys have also been eradicated.
Most of this section is now empty shelving. The outdoor section has been locked.
After being set at 25-60% lowest ticketed price, most of the apparel has been cleaned out.
So many empty spaces. Most of it sits at the front.
Another shelving unit has been removed and a dark blue tile border is underneath it. Why? There is ice grey tile border everywhere else.
The little Rehrig looks on in quiet desperation as its store slowly empties out. Picture is designed to emulate those taken during the bankruptcy closures of 2003.
Date Taken: September 29, 2017. Store is 2 days away from closing.
It is now October 1, 2017, the last day. This was the breaking point for me. I have seen the writing on the wall. It's over, walk on by.
This is what's left of the children's clothing and baby departments.
Cluster one of emptiness. There is nothing else here.
All shelving units have been removed. This covers accessories to the men's and Big & Tall apparel departments.
The darkened remnants of the Health & Beauty areas, plus pharmacy.
Toys and seasonal are taped off and darkened.
Layaway signage is coming down and electronics has become comfortably numb.
The busiest part of the store, the front end. Customer activity is only coming through in waves.
The Jewelry counter is still intact. Everything remaining is still 25-60% off lowest ticketed price.
Fitting Rooms are still intact. Who even uses them anymore?
Last dance for Big K. Big Kmart #9542, you're just another brick in the wall.
The last brick: The final receipt. All I bought was a grey suit vest. Total saved was $13.60.
These 2 were taken October 11, 2017. A distant Kmart's vacant on the horizon. Hold up, what's that?!
What a surprise! They still haven't emptied the store. No wonder the logos are still up! This must have confused a lot of people until they saw the handwritten signs titled "CLOSED FOR EVER."
Where's the Kmart gone? Will I remember this store? This was taken October 24, 2017. Despite the labelscars, the worst is still to come.
We fast forward to November 23, 2017. Labelscars were cleaned up, but good god, the doors are boarded up! Way to look like a complete eyesore within a month. More than likely will sit abandoned a good while.
The Garden Shop is surprisingly not boarded up.
Sign is fully blacked out. The elements have not eaten away at the paintjob yet.
Closeup shot. How sad and pathetic it looks, all boarded up like that. Like it's been abandoned for years.
The back of the store from South Washington St. Not much to see here. That wraps up this depressing PF-inspired liquidation blog post.
UPDATE 10/01/2022: The store's parking lot is in the process of being developed, with four new construction pads which will be a mix of commercial and retail uses, while the building got sold to be repurposed for other uses.
They sure didn't waste anytime making it look and feel abandoned once they were ready to do so. I still found it odd that the logo was kept for a little bit even after the store was closed.
ReplyDeleteThere were still employees inside when the logos were still up post-closure. Why it took almost 2 weeks to empty out I'm not sure. I can't even stand going into Herkimer anymore knowing it's fully abandoned. I rarely even go to Kmart anymore.
ReplyDeleteLikely they stayed for people to pick up fixtures and so forth.
ReplyDeleteI used to swing into this store once in a while. It felt like it was a little smaller than most locations, save a couple in PA and the Binghamton one which seemed even tighter.