K-Mart in the 70's

[supercrazy]

I remember K-Mart quite well as a kid. Most of the time my parents would leave us in the family station wagon knowing if they took us inside it would be a living hell for them. It was great though when we would go inside. Megos, star wars, dungeons and dragons, duncan batmobiles. Great stuff. I always loved going to K-Mart, Jewel, and Zarye. I lived in Gary Indiana as a kid and we had great stores close to home. I miss being a kid and I will go back if they ever make time machines. I also remember my father going to a mom and pop store as a kid and buying me a mego penguin and joker. I broke the penguin in less that five minutes. He was a type 1. My dad then went back to the store and bought me another one. It would be so nice if dc direct and marvel would bring mego back for one more run even if was for a short run at that. It is time for everyone here to petition. We mego crazed people need our childhood back.

[brannon86]

K-Mart

Actually the original K-Mart in my town is a Big Lots now. It was a lumber supply place before BigLots. Its the arch style building design....

[brannon86]

K-Mart

So true, but we have the memories...

[EmergencyIan]

I know it's cliche', but it really does seem that most things change for the worse. It sure is sad, but, alas, you can't go back.

- Ian

[brannon86]

K-Mart

Yeah, all thats left in my town is the EVIL WAL-MART, and Target. Everything else has been gone for years....

[Marvelmania]

Woolworths was so much fun. When I lived in Nashville back in the early 90's there was still one open downtown, still had the lunch counter with the spinning stools and all. Sadly it closed the doors around '92.

[brannon86]

K-Mart

I really hated it when K-Mart went BIG or SUPER. It really lost its charm, but I guess it did not matter, because it was never the same as it was back then. Different time, and different vibe. Dont even get me started on the evils of Wal-Mart...Ha....

[toys2cool]

Not to get off track too much but but the K Mart we went to had a small restaurant/cafeteria area in it. As a kid I loved to eat there. Buying some toys, eating a cheeseburger. Back then it didn't get any better!

My Woolworths was like that in the mall,I remember eating these awesome Ice cream Sundaes while opening my Ljn WWF figures,mad balls,Gi joes and the fisher price people

[Bionic Joe]

My parents were not big K-MART shoppers so i have few memories of them, But i do recall getting my Mike Power the atomic man there

[brannon86]

K-Mart

Cool, thanks for the input guys/gals. I see that alot of you haunted K-Mart as well back then. I got most of my toys thereas well, and also school supplies every year, and speaking of Ben Cooper Halloween costumes, I got mine there. K-Mart had a great selection. I remember seeing 2-3 isles full of those boxed costumes that we all remember and loved so well. Talk about being hot under those rough plastic mask, Ha. Also, do you guys remember the awesome selection of metal lunch boxes K-Mart had. Just like the Ben -Cooper costumes, K-Mart had isles filled with them.I think they had a lunch box for every primetime tv show and Saturday morning tv show that was out back then. I also rememer the Icee machine, the popcorn, pretzels, and the smells, oh yeah, the special smells. I remember my grandparents coming to visit every once in a while(the lived about 100 miles from me) and everytime, we had to go to K-Mart when they came. They probably came twice a month, so. Also, I lived about 5 minutes away from K-Mart back then. Oh, what great memories. Makes me sad to remember, but it also gives me a great warm feeling to remember those times....

[Marvelmania]

Not to get off track too much but but the K Mart we went to had a small restaurant/cafeteria area in it. As a kid I loved to eat there. Buying some toys, eating a cheeseburger. Back then it didn't get any better!

[EmergencyIan]

I was very familiar with K-Mart as a child too, and loved it! I still love the memories of it and being there with my grandparents. I was most familiar with the toy department (of course) and also with the cafeteria!

Most of my Mego's were purchased at K-Mart. I remember looking them over intently. Also, remember seeing Kresge's. I even got lost in K-Mart once because I was staring at Doc McCoy. Crying and lost, I ended up at the service desk with the ladies there paging, "Will Ian's grandpa come to the service desk?"


- Ian

[Ranger 3]

I have very fond memories of Kmart as well. The Kmart I used to frequent in St. Petersburg, Florida in the 70s is still there. My K-memories are tied strongly to Star Wars toys; the local Kresge store was where I remember older items like Bionic stuff, Megos, etc.

One thing I will NEVER understand is how every Kmart I have ever been in smells the same. And its the same smell from the 70s too. How is that possible?

Hey Flynne- maybe you mom knows about the secret Kmart scent generators issued to each store... perhaps it releases some sort of mind-altering chemical that stimulates the shopping center in the brain.

Mark

[Flynne]

I am intimately familiar with the KMart toy section. For the better part of a decade my mother worked in and supervised the toy section at the KMart about a mile from our home. I spent many week's allowance there on Megos, Star Wars, Transformers, and GIJoes. As an adolescent it was one of my favorite places in the World.

One nice thing about Ben's book coming out was the opportunity to sit down with my Mother and revive her memories of Mego back in the day. When Mom saw all of the variants of Spider-Man it reminded her that over the course of a decade my parents bought me at least 6 different Spideys.

[HardyGirl]

Growing up on the West Side of NYC in the 70s, I never even heard of K-Mart. There was a mom & pop toy store 2 blocks from my house. Since I only got a quarter a week, my allowance was mostly spent on candy, ice-cream, soda and chips, bubble gum cards and Bazooka. Occasionally I'd get something from that ole toy store; Finger Pops, Mickey Mouse ears, a baton for my baton group in school, jacks. And while it's true my dad would sometimes come home from work w/ surprises for me, most of my toys were acquired on birthdays or holidays. But I still loved walking home from church or day camp, stopping and staring into that big picture window display of the toy store, planning what I was gonna ask for next. Oh yeah!

But I guess the closest thing to K-Mart was Woolworth. I loved that place, especially at Christmas or Halloween. Decorations, Ben Cooper costumes, dolls and other toys, story records, candy. And let's not forget the lunch counter! When I got a little older, I used to go and look through the albums, 'cos they always had sales and overpressing stock.