Televisions at K-Mart, 1963

[veg-o-matic]

I came across this picture at Pleasant Family Shopping. It's from late '62 or early '63.
Anyone recognize any of the models on display? I'll take any of the consoles, please

veg

[Tony V]

The portable in the upper left is an Emerson as i have one just like it in my collection.
-Tony

[drh4683]

There's a zenith space command 300 on the upper shelf. 5th from the left. Also confirms that this photo is indeed from '63 as that zenith is a '63 model.
Ive got that same model:

[Sandy G]

Boo ! hiss ! No Roundies..None visible, anyway...

[andy]

000

[truetone36]

The consoles on the left and right are most likely Motorola, but I don't know about the one in the middle.

[Eric H]

I believe the 3rd set on the top left might be this Zenith.
I shot the picture at the same angle to show the similarity.
I've always thought this was a 62 model but i could be wrong, then again I bought a set at K-Mart in the late 70's that turned out to be 3 years old.

[bgadow]

That had to be pretty early in the history of Kmart. Someday I need to borrow my Mom's high school yearbooks and do some scanning-there are some great ads with shots of the TV department in the Sears catalog store. I know there are some color roundies in there.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by bgadow

I need to borrow my Mom's high school yearbooks and do some scanning-there are some great ads with shots of the TV department in the Sears catalog store. I know there are some color roundies in there.

My Mom's HS yearbook couldn't have anything newer than a TRK-12... She graduated in '43


I can't offer any more IDs on the photos, but Thank You for the site link! I was just thinking about K-Mart last night when I noticed another one gone. Not a big loss, I guess, but it's part of history. Most of the ones here in SoCal closed during the first bankruptcy in the late 90s, and a few more lately have turned into something called Sears-Grand. Never been in one. Sears bought K-Mart, if I recall, about 10 years ago.

Charles

[Sandy G]

We had a Super K-Mart here for awhile...I know why they went Tango Uniform-that was the biggest store full of absolutely NOTHING I ever saw...

[zenithfan1]

Yes, thanks for the link! Pretty interesting reading. I wish I could go into a store now and see a tv display like that. I was born way too lateBut, better late than never

[bgadow]

When I was a little kid, Kmart was a magical place. Biggest store anywhere, and a whole lot more interesting than Ames or Woolworths. Where they still do well today are communities where they are the only game in town. Not too many places like that left.

In my stash I have a folder of service manuals for"Kmart" brand color consoles, built by Admiral in the later 70s. If that doesn't scream "cheap" what does?

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by bgadow

When I was a little kid, Kmart was a magical place. Biggest store anywhere, and a whole lot more interesting than Ames or Woolworths. Where they still do well today are communities where they are the only game in town. Not too many places like that left.

In my stash I have a folder of service manuals for"Kmart" brand color consoles, built by Admiral in the later 70s. If that doesn't scream "cheap" what does?

I've seen a few cheap K-Mart branded B&W portables from the '70's. What was really cheap were those TG&Y brand sets that were sold by none other than TG&Y stores. The color sets I saw were rebadged NEC's and the B&W's were made by Sampo.

[truetone36]

Ah, those K-Mart B/W sets. KMC was the brand. They must've sold tons of them as I see them all the time. I've got a couple of them. Both from '78, both made by Admiral, and both very cheap although the ones I have still work even though before I got them they were sitting outside for a couple of years!

[NowhereMan 1966]

I remember my local K-Mart had a tube tester, this was the early 1970's. Mom worked there for a while.