Here is part one of the final months at the McAllen Kmart. These 2 visits happened on January 11 and January 12, 2020, just before the store closing announcement was made public. Part two will show the store exactly 30 days before it closed for good at 4pm on April 11, 2020. The closure of this store is significant because it was the last Kmart in Texas. As of this post, Texas does not have a Kmart location within 800 miles. Southern Florida and California are the closest locations. This may be my last footage of a Kmart store while in normal operations.
Day 1, January 11, 2020.
Even though the Sears appliance banner was probably over 10 years old, it still looked fairly new.
The jewelry counter was to the left as you entered the store.
Just past the jewelry counter.
Not sure if you can see the dates, but there were 2018 and 2019 calendars mixed in with the 2020 calendars here in January 2020.
The long lines of checkouts were empty.
One of the wider aisles that no longer had middle displays. Without the displays this aisle seemed empty.
Looking down the front main aisle towards toys and the garden shop.
One of the good things about this location was that the store had the newer signage inside and outside.
Unfortunately the pharmacy closed sometime before my first visit in 2019.
Valentines day stuffed animals had taken over this aisle.
Health and beauty signage. The newer photos were not as vibrant as the 90's Big Kmart era signage.
Books and magazines were thrown in next to health and beauty.
A wide view of the grocery, toys, and seasonal departments.
The remains of the separate garden shop. Seeing that there was barely any garden shop items in stock for the spring planting season, things did not look good for the prospects of the store.
Back inside, to the pantry section.
Tons of toys left over from the Christmas season.
Looking back to the main entrance of the store.
More toys loaded up in the seasonal department.
Most of the seasonal department was being cleared out.
This corner of the store had a lot of toys on one side.
Aisles and aisles of toys, leading up to the main toy department of the store.
Here is the main toy department of the store.
Toys were spilling into the former tool department as you can see by the signage on the wall.
This display is a magnet for kids.
More toys!
Tools and home improvement department.
Was anyone looking for more toys?
Stretching towards the sporting goods, we have even more toys!
More toys stretching to the appliances and electronics departments.
The very plain electronics signage.
Clothes had been moved into the electronics departments to fill empty space.
More Men's clothing across from the electronics department.
More views of the remaining electronics department. This department was probably 4 times this size just a few years ago.
The Kmart kiosk was hidden in the back of the appliances.
More appliances and mattresses.
Sporting goods.
As you can see, large items were stretched across shelving to make aisles look fuller.
Hunting and fishing items were hurting as well.
Pantry department.
Dollar items in the pantry department.
More dollar items across the aisle. This was a pretty good idea that Kmart management could have used to attract shoppers, but if you were not looking for these items they were somewhat hidden.
Cleaning supplies and Valentine's day displays.
A wide view of the remaining electronics.
A wide view of the appliances and mattresses.
More clothes.
The many aisles of shoes across from Men's clothing.
Can't get any more Kmart than this shot right here with the round A/C vent and Kmart signage.
A closeup of the layaway counter.
Children and Women's clothing.
Pretty sure this was the former restaurant area. Not sure if this was a Kcafe, Little Caesars, or Krestaurant back in the day.
So much red here at the checkout counters.
Women's clothing across from the checkouts.
Open register light and gift card display.
The moon rising just above the store, made for a perfect night photo of the store.
This sign was in poor shape despite being fairly new.
The former auto center is on the far right of the building.
Day 2, January 12, 2020.
The Big Lots in this photo closed between my January visit and my March visit. The inside of the store has the same large A/C vents as the Kmart. I am guessing this was a Kmart foods store in the past.
The sign above the main entrance was starting to show signs of wear and tear.
We start this visit by going to the Women's clothing and associated departments.
I picked up my phone as high as I could to get this shot in the back corner of the store in Men's clothing.
The NFL headquarters sign was still up even though the remaining NFL merchandise was moved away to a different area.
Back to the pantry and cleaning supplies.
As we take a closer look at the pantry department, we see that water has taken over a lot of shelf space. Jarritos were still available, but not as much as the last visit in 2019.
As you can see, barely any Coke products.
More Pepsi and a look to the seasonal/toy departments.
A closer view of the main toy aisles.
Now for a better look at the home improvement and tool departments.
The automotive department. Car batteries nearly gone, and almost no motor oil left.
This was just about all that was left of the automotive department.
Generic tools had filled the space where Craftsman tools once were. This brand of tools had made their way into Sears stores as well in late 2019.
Outside of the tool department, we browse a few more toy aisles.
Back to the pantry.
Just past the cold cases, we see water has taken up nearly the entire side of the aisle. Most of the remaining beer, Jarritos, and just about everything else was in the cold cases now.
Housewares
The Gatorade and energy drink selection.
More views from this part of the store.
Health and beauty department close ups. Shampoo was really thinning out.
Home goods just across from health and beauty.
Deodorant was thinning out as well.
Cough and cold was also thinning out. Remember these images are from January 2020 before stores started running out of these items during the Covid-19 buying spree.
Lots of isopropyl alcohol, you will not see that in May 2020 anywhere in the USA.
A decent amount of stock here.
Toothpaste and dental products were seriously wiped out.
Near health and beauty, we see the purses, home goods, and Men's clothing down at the back of the store.
Now for a better view of the home goods.
Not looking good here either, lots of empty shelves.
It looked like some things were being consolidated, but there was nothing to fill the empty shelves. In the old days, products were stacked at the top of shelves to refill spaces. Not anymore, unless it was toys, water, or Men's clothes, there was nothing left to stock here.
A half hearted effort to fill some empty space by spreading out storage containers. Most of the shelves could have probably been taken down at this point and the aisles made wider.
A look at the Women's clothing from the home goods department.
Cosmetics and health and beauty.
A few more closeups in health and beauty.
Water thrown in to fill empty spaces here too. They needed a lot more water to fill the shelves in this part of the store though.
Just about every aisle in health and beauty was stretched thin or barely stocked.
Greeting cards.
I love this surprise sticker, I guess the bags change too often to price the bags.
More views at the front of the store.
Battery supply was pretty good.
The service counter was tucked away in this corner of the store.
This is the entrance/exit of the store.
Next up, Amigoland Mall in Brownsville Texas.
