K-Mart in Penn Station is Closing

It is the End of an Era!

If you got it at K-Mart, you lied. You said it was from your aunt or, if you had to admit it was from K-Mart, you lied and said you shoplifted it. Or maybe you really did steal it. Then you bragged.

The point was that K-Mart sucked.

It was a stupid place to shop that reeked of American consumerism at its worst (oh, our foolishness in the days before Walmart and, gods help us, Amazon). We deliberately shopped anywhere but that fluorescent hell.

I have to admit that following the Christmas Eve fire that burned out house down after I’d first moved to Cleveland the Big K-Mart on West 65th Street was a frequent destination (Super K-Marts came later). What made that K-Mart memorable was its location next to one of the last remaining slaughterhouses in Cleveland and the pens of cattle were right behind the store.

The Big K-Mart at 150th and Lorain Avenue in Cleveland was built on land that had previously been one of the last trailer parks in the city. I used to cop from people who lived there. So when my “friends” got evicted and that Big K-Mart got built on their former home site, it was yet another affront.

Then I moved to New York City

Ok, I actually did bring more than the bed, the cat, and the computer in 2000 when I moved here. However, when I was finally semi-settled in, I needed a lot of stuff.

My first roommate in New York clued me in about the K-Mart (note that this is not a Big or a Super K-Mart even though it’s bigger than the K-Mart on West 65th Street with the doomed cows behind it) in Penn Station.

I was thrilled. Like, really and truly thrilled. When I took the 1 train down to Penn Station and walked into K-Mart, I felt goose-bumpy and warm with familiarity. I actually had my first full-on New York City screaming match with an MTA agent after shopping at K-Mart and having too much stuff to go through the turnstile. The dummy kept yelling for me to “turn the wheel” after he unlocked the gate for me to go through. What fucking wheel???

The nimrod meant turnstile.

There are actually two K-Marts in Manhattan: the one in Penn Station and a smaller one down on East 8th Street and Astor Place. The nifty thing about that K-Mart is that there’s an entrance from the lower level of the store that goes directly to the 6 train (subway) platform. Remember: The shortest distance between two points is indoors.

I prefer the one in Penn Station. For one thing, it’s insanely convenient as I’ve always lived on the West Side of Manhattan (by far, the better side of town with more trains and far fewer ladies who’ve had “work” done on their poor faces). It’s a bigger store with a better selection of everything.

That said, I haven’t really shopped there in years.

I’ve been known to swing by for specific things I might want to get like summer slip-on shoes or potting soil. But I am not a shopper by nature. I don’t shop. I buy. The concept of trying on various types of clothes or going shopping as a form of recreation mystifies me. Also not “doing” Christmas saves me loads of money and grief and K-Mart line-time every year.

Even so, I was shocked and a little sad to see the huge yellow Story Closing sign in the Penn Station K-Mart last week.

It really is kind of the end of an era much as I hate using that phrase.

New York City is a city of eras

And every time you turn around, another one is ending. When Tavern on the Green closed, the end of an era. CBGB’s, yep, the end of an era. The really excellent Ukrainian restaurant, Kiev, well that really was the end of an era and I still miss their superb vegetable soup served with warm challah bread. 2nd Avenue Deli with all the names of Yiddish theater greats set in stars on the sidewalk? Now the 2nd Avenue Deli is on 1st Avenue in the 70s and all those long-forgotten Yiddish stage stars grace the sidewalk in front of yet another Chase bank. Classy.

St. Mark’s Bookstore tried to make a go of it after one more rent increase but finally caved in and now there’s yet another ever-so-chic coffee shop in its place. Trash & Vaudeville ditched their iconic St. Mark’s Place location and are doing much better further east in Alphabet City. The tourists haven’t even noticed it’s gone.

Some eras cling to life

Gem Spa is still at the corner of St. Mark’s Place and 2nd Avenue and you can still get the best egg creams there. Veselka not only survives but is the cool destination for far too many of the young and hip on the lower east side and still serves a mean pierogi (or vareniki since it’s a Ukrainian place not Polish; these things matter).

We recently learned that Joe’s Pizza, the best slice in the city, is moving back to its old corner at Bleecker and Carmine after the gelato franchise couldn’t keep up with the $22,000 a month rent.

But K-Mart is going the way of The Claremont Riding Academy on West 89th Street. The signs say that they’re closing in May 2020 but most of the useful stuff is long gone. Bare shelves throughout housewares and health and beauty. Although come on, it’s K-Mart so there are still plenty of bargains on crap like these stuffed sheep unicorns (excuse me but WTF?).

It’s become brutal for brick and mortar retailers and the city abounds with empty spaces. In the meantime, our streets are increasingly jam-packed with delivery vehicles as more and more people do their shopping online and have their purchases delivered (thanks Amazon and Fresh Direct).

I’m not a shopper but I am someone who goes out and buys her own stuff in stores, often handing the cashier actual pieces of green paper to pay for it. That’s me, total retro. Deliveries are for people who live in doorman buildings or who are home all the time anyway.

Good-bye K-Mart and thanks for all the stuff.

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