Or should I say Super KWalmart! Walmarts aren't normally the most exciting subject matter, but this store is a bit different from normal. It was built in the 90s as an extremely short-lived Super Kmart, which aerial imagery appears to show had already closed by 2002, and was already converted to an RV dealership by 2004. Yep, unlike some stores, this didn't go straight from Kmart to Walmart -- in fact, its longest-lived tenant by far was Camp America, which lasted until 2018 when Walmart took over. (Strangely enough, this isn't the only Walmart I've ever visited that was previously a not-quite-car dealership, but that's a story for another day!)
Huh, I don't know what's more strange, you covering a Walmart or you covering a Kmart on this blog! Well, in this case, it is a little bit of both! Given how bad Walmarts look these days, hopefully the interior here is more Kmart than Walmart kind of like that regular Walmart in an old Kmart near Portland, ME, but I'm not going to assume that is the case!
ReplyDeleteThis may not even be the strangest converted Walmart in Fresno! Basically across the street from the motel I stayed at in Fresno in 1990 is, in modern times, a Wal-Mart in an old Mervyns! Of course, in a way, that makes it a Wal-Mart in an old Target! I can't say I remember for sure what it was in 1990. Maybe it was a Mervyns by then, but I really don't remember. Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/t7A48pLD28U97YeA7
The problem with both Walmart and Kmart is the same -- there just aren't (or in Kmart's case, weren't) a lot of them in my area! In fact, I'm pretty sure I only ever visited an operational Kmart once, and that was to get pictures when it was about to close. Port Angeles had one, but it closed either before I was born or when I was tiny (can't remember which), and I don't think we ever stopped in at one elsewhere (Costco and Safeway were our normal road trip stops).
DeleteI didn't visit that Walmart in a former Mervyns, but I have visited a near-identical store in Factoria! That one's even more interesting now, since it's about to become a T&T (Loblaw) in an old Walmart in an old Mervyn's! I almost visited a Walmart in an actual former Target on my California trip, but that ended up being one of the (many) stores that I just didn't have enough time to visit.