Marshalltown’s featured the old logo inside the mall ’till about 2001.

When I saw “Old School K Marts,” the first one that came to mind was the one in your top photo– it’s on Shelburne Road (US 7) in Burlington, VT (or maybe South Burlington; it’s right by the city limits). I first visited there in ‘03, and the store looked as if it were on its last legs (empty, outdated, kind of sad). But I came back a year later, and two years after that, and it was still there. I was there again this summer, and it looked busier than ever.

It sure is strange, though, how the building’s exterior appears stuck in a ’60s time warp. I’m surprised it never got a makeover (with the big red K and all that) when they were doing a lot of that about 15-20 years ago.

As for the Iowa Falls location…that has to be old…I recall going through there around 1990 and it was shuttered…parents said as soon as Wal-Mart moved in, KMart was done.

The Gary Indiana location on US 20 opened in 1973, and closed in 1994. It was next door to an old Zayre store, that later became Ames, and closed 4 years before Kmart closed this store. Not once did that store ever have any work done to the store. While the other Kmart stores were getting work done, Kmart decided not to do any work on the store, and was never that busy during the 1990’s. The site still sites vacant 14 years later, and the only store that retained the windows across the front of the store, where stores that had work done on them eliminated the windows in the 1990’s.

The Merrillville Indiana store opened in 1977, and in 1992, that store added onto the building. I believe the original store was at the most 100,000sq.ft, and they added up to an additional 20,000 sq.ft to the store. This store still has some of the 70’s look to it as far as the exterior of the store, but the store did eliminate the windows from the store in the 1992 remodeling. I miss seeing into the store, and being able to look at the parking lot from the front of the store. The double-sided clock by customer service only works on 1 side, but the other side quit working a few years ago, and Kmart never bothered fixing or replacing the clock. It used to always be busy, but since Meijer opend a couple of blocks west of their store, Not many people shop there. When the company was in bankruptcy, I expected this store to close, and not Hammond, but it stayed open. The most recent work done to the building was a portion of the front trim was painted orange. That’s it. The Big Kmart name is still on the building. I have seen some Chicago area stores getting the new logo, and it’s much smaller than the last 2 logos. Only mart brings back some retro look to the old logo.. Like Hammond, Gary, & this store, the original eatery was in the back of the store, but located in direct view of the front entrance. That changed in 1991 & 1992 with Hammond & Merrillville stores, when the registers moved from the left side of the store, to the right side, and the eatery was changed to K Cafe, with the Hammond store getting a full service Little Caesars, while Merrillville got a regular K Cafe with limited Little Caesars food.

The St John Indiana Kmart opened in 1982, with a modified look to the stores of the 1970 on the exterior. The brick was still used in the 1980’s, but the awning was made more of plastic than brick, and was bigger, and ugly to me. This was the smallest of the 4 stores that opened near my home. This store is the only one that doesn’t have a street sign either. Also, no eatery was ever put in this store, but did have a deli cart at one time, like the other 3 store, which I didn’t mention earlier. As merchandise got added to the store, the store started getting cramped. Kmart never planned out anything for expanding this store, and they’re now landlocked today. At one time, Kmart talked about relocating this store to neighboring Schererville Indiana, but never did, and decided to do some minr work to make the store look a bit update. For some reason, they even put the Big Kmart name on this store, and it’s at the most, 80,000 sq.ft. I believe the original logo stayed up until 1996 or 1997. This store has no layaway, due to lack of floor & storage space.

1998 brought 2 more Kmart stores to the area, and both were former Venture stores. Griffth & Merrillville Indiana. The Griffith store is located at Ridge Rd & Cline Ave., while this Merrillville store at 61st ave & Broadway (across from what was once Zayre). Both stores had enough work done to have a Kmart look, but other than that, the stores retained a complete Venture layout. Griffith store has done ok, despite a drop in business overall in the area, and the shopping center that Kmart was in lost original tenant Service Merchandise. The thing that’s bad about this Kmart store is the lack of storeage space. Venture removed a lot of storage rooms when they remodeled this store in 1990. So Kmart has no layaway at this store. The Merrillville Kmart (former Venture, and not to be confused with the US 30 location, which was there since 1977) however did poorly at that location. Venture was a lot more profitable at this site. This store closed in early 2002 when the company filed for bankruptcy. It has remained vacant since then. Venture added onto this store in 1992 or 1993 taking a portion of the old Jewel store that used to be next door. Since Kmart’s closing, Blig Lots took the spot that was added onto Venture, and remained as part of Kmart. So the building is back to its original size. I don’t know who will take over the spot, but I believe that it’ll likely be divided, as the few retailers that are left want stores to meet their specifications, in both interior & exterior.