Friday, September 25, 2009
Goodbye Kmart
Over the years Kmart has understandably been closing stores and losing ground to Target and Walmart. It's easy to see why. They have no point of difference and they've made little attempt at updating their stores. Going into one can be an incredibly depressing experience. I hadn't been inside a Kmart in ages until this summer when we ducked into what I'm told was the nation's first 24-Hour Super Kmart in Brunswick. It apparently opened in 1991 with much fanfare and celebrity appearances. Well, it was clear walking through it that it had not been remodeled since. The Kmart nearest my house growing up was in Minnetonka and I knew it well. My mom was the bookkeeper there and both my sisters worked there at one point. We shopped there all the time. We visited Santa there. We loved the toy department and my mom bought plenty of hideous clothes for me. But it was the only game in town until Target opened a huge store across the street and nearby in the other direction as well.
Knowing it's closing now is bittersweet. It's certainly no surprise. No one really shops at Kmart anymore. But it's kinda sad knowing one more place my mom spent so much time at is going away. Places, people, pictures, smells... they all can spark memories of simpler, happy times. And it's especially nice to have them when they remind you of someone that isn't around anymore. I make it to Minnetonka so rarely these days. The grocery store I worked at is gone now too. The house I grew up in is a different color and is being substantially remodeled. I guess someday most of the memories you have are all just left to be remembered in your own mind.
