http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com/ - retro pictures of department/discount stores

I know someone posted the Kmart pic earlier, but the image was lost... plus I found some other cool ones from Sears and Zayre so I wanted to share...

ETA descriptions:
1. Kmart TV department 1962
2. Kmart ad 1969
3. Jewel grand opening ad 1956
4. Sears TV department 1956
5. Zayre TV department 1975

Note on #4: is that a picture tube with its vacuum broken and phosphor damage in the display at the upper left?
Note on #5: Sony 12" in front, second from the left... I like these sets...

Neat. In the Sears picture I spotted three radios I own!

The 4th picture...Left edge near the top. Is it me, or does that CRT look like someone popped the neck off? There's a big black splotch in the middle, like the phosphor got blasted off by the inrush

Yeah....I saw that, too. It looks like the crt is in some kind of display. Perhaps a careless Sears employee necked it?

Saw that. Lol. In the last pic Zaire's dept has what looks to be a Sony kv-1220u.
And the last set on the bottom is a 9" hitachi. Repaired one of those.

I think the broken CRT is part of a display... Probably to scare buyers into a service plan! The more things change, the more they stay the same!

In the K-mart photo, the family is loading the trunk of a 1965 Dodge Monaco coupe. The K-mart store looks like it could be the one near my job (one of the first) located at Sherwood and Outer Drive in Detroit. Less than ten years ago this was a "functional" K-mart store. It closed in one of the first rounds of K-mart Klosings, maybe 2003.

In the time since it closed, the entire building was painted lime-green with yellow diamonds and re-opened as some kind of shitty dollar-store that lasted about a week. Then someone drove a car through the distinctive 1960s-looking glass front wall. Then someone set the car on fire, inside the building. Now the entire parking lot has turned into a landfill of sorts, in fact I watched a guy dumping tires just a couple weeks ago in broad daylight.

The place fascinates me in a sad way. (as do many abandoned retail buildings) The other day I drove a company car through the parking lot (that which was passable) because I didn't want to flatten my own car tires on the broken glass... it's just incredible to look in and see what it's become in such a short time. Let's just say there is a certain element of society lacking the common sense to not shit where they eat... Even a dog knows better than this. :no:

In the meantime, a K-mart in my own neighborhood shut down in the same round of Klosings and it still looks pretty much the same as it did in 2003 except for the zillions of seagulls that hang out in the parking lot.

Maybe I'll go back with a Camera. :scratch2:

I had a bike like that second pic, gear shift on the it, sissy bar, very cool. Man have things gone down hill in the past 50 yrs...

Let's just say there is a certain element of society lacking the common sense to not shit where they eat... Even a dog knows better than this. :no:


Maybe I'll go back with a Camera. :scratch2:

I totally agree with you and have said something similar.
Please do go back with a camera :yes: