Yellow Triangles and Fake, Drop-Shadowed Rivets
WEEK 25 – Columbus Kmart Closing, Set 2
We end this week on a straight-on shot of one portion of the rear wall, this specific section graced with a patch of red paint and also – more importantly – on that pole in front of the red, one of this store’s crown jewels: a surviving 90s triangle-style price scanner sign. I explained this before on my first visit to this store, but to repeat: we’re all familiar with the triangle signs on the walls of practically every Kmart store out there, hailing from the 90s just prior to the Big Kmart experiment; what you may not be familiar with is that all the department signs once featured the same triangle motif, price scanner signs included, before later being replaced with the more familiar green and blue signs that we all know and love (okay, maybe just “know” XD ) once the Big Kmart concept and décor finally did roll out later in that same decade.
(In effect, Big Kmart left the walls alone, if I’m understanding correctly… which means either most stores already had the previous triangle décor, which makes for a really quick turnaround remodel-wise [surely this didn’t help the company as it hurdled toward bankruptcy in 2002…!]; or, alternatively, the wall-mounted triangle signs were simply retained in the full Big Kmart design, and installed new in stores that didn’t have them yet. That’s actually fun to think about, if true. Can you name any interior décor elements that have transcended across design eras? Best I can come up with are the similarities between Target’s P04 and P09…)
More from this store in two weeks, so be sure to stay tuned for that! In the meantime, next week – beginning our other major, five-week summer tour…
(c) 2020 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Yellow Triangles and Fake, Drop-Shadowed Rivets
WEEK 25 – Columbus Kmart Closing, Set 2
We end this week on a straight-on shot of one portion of the rear wall, this specific section graced with a patch of red paint and also – more importantly – on that pole in front of the red, one of this store’s crown jewels: a surviving 90s triangle-style price scanner sign. I explained this before on my first visit to this store, but to repeat: we’re all familiar with the triangle signs on the walls of practically every Kmart store out there, hailing from the 90s just prior to the Big Kmart experiment; what you may not be familiar with is that all the department signs once featured the same triangle motif, price scanner signs included, before later being replaced with the more familiar green and blue signs that we all know and love (okay, maybe just “know” XD ) once the Big Kmart concept and décor finally did roll out later in that same decade.
(In effect, Big Kmart left the walls alone, if I’m understanding correctly… which means either most stores already had the previous triangle décor, which makes for a really quick turnaround remodel-wise [surely this didn’t help the company as it hurdled toward bankruptcy in 2002…!]; or, alternatively, the wall-mounted triangle signs were simply retained in the full Big Kmart design, and installed new in stores that didn’t have them yet. That’s actually fun to think about, if true. Can you name any interior décor elements that have transcended across design eras? Best I can come up with are the similarities between Target’s P04 and P09…)
More from this store in two weeks, so be sure to stay tuned for that! In the meantime, next week – beginning our other major, five-week summer tour…
(c) 2020 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)