Kmart

This is a business that is very underappreciated. Everytime I have been the folks that work there have been kind and attentive. Bought some toys here for my niece’s birthday and the selection was ample. People at the checkout were very nice as always, although it took more time than I expected due to a change of cashiers (which has probably happened every time I’ve visited this store, strangely). But overall a nice, clean store that serves a real need in a neighborhood without too many other stores besides the very large African market — there may be toys there, but I am not sure cause the traffic jams entering Karmel Square prevent me from every figuring out exactly why it’s so popular.
It’s about time for a Kmart renaissance. Let’s do this.

A few days ago my best friend and I were talking about the good deals she got while at Kmart with another friend of hers. They had sales on swimsuits, clothing, shoes, etc. and I was looking to purchase some of these same articles. She said she’d like to go back as well so we planned a trip for Friday, July 3, to go to Kmart on paratransit to get the items we wanted. I told her I’d call ahead the next day and let them know we were coming and that we would be there quite a while as we were two blind women, one in a wheelchair, looking for clothing and accessories. The next day I called to let them know. I spoke to the manager on duty. He assured me it was no problem. I didn’t feel very satisfied with his brush-​off quick response and told my husband about it. He then called again and spoke to a customer service lead. This time he, too, was assured that it would be no problem. He gave the times we’d be there and she said she’d get it taken care of and leave a note at the service desk so they could get someone in ladies’ clothing or a similar department to help us. We again told her the length of time we were looking at and that there would be two of us. We arrived at Kmart Friday and I went to the service desk. I again said I had called ahead and spoken to two people and told them we were coming and that my friend and I would need help shopping. Not only were my two previous calls ignored, but we were given a male cashier who knew nothing about clothing. He, as an employee and a person, was fantastic. But I did not feel the most comfortable shopping for intimate apparel with a male not related to me. We proceeded to begin shopping and purchased some shoes, swimsuit, and were looking at pants. We had been shopping for about 2 hours. My friend and I were in the women’s fitting room trying on clothing. All of a sudden there is a loud bang on the door. In a raised, scathing tone, the general manager of the store inquires how much longer we intend on tying his employee up. I again explained that we had called twice in advance and that I had indeed spoken to a manager on duty. I explained this in a calm tone, only letting a bit of my growing frustration show. Dan, the store manager, then proceeds to publicly, loudly berate me in front of the other customers and employees and tell me how unappreciative and ungrateful I am. He said I had tied up an employee for 3 or 4 hours. We had begun shopping at 11 and it was just after 1 when the incident occured. He said that from now on they are putting a 30 minute maximum on any assistance because of my extreme attitude. I tried to reason with him as did my friend and say we were not being extreme. We’d tried to do the responsible thing and if we’d come separate they’d have had two employees tied up. It really hurt my feelings and upset me very much to be publicly humiliated and berated in front of the other customers and employees, and while I was trying on clothes in the women’s fitting room. I came out of the room in tears. The gentleman helping us was appalled. He profusely apologized for his manager’s rude behavior and said if he were us he’d just put everything back and walk out. I said I’d love to do that but with my transportation limitations, that wasn’t an option for me. We did get checked out and went to wait for our ride. When I got home, I immediately called the corporate complaint department. The gentleman who took my call was also appalled by the classless behavior of the manager. I am still waiting to hear the resolution of this complaint. I will never set foot back in that store again unless that manager is no longer working there or at any store. He is rude, unprofessional, and according to the employee helping us, he treats his employees the same way. I’ve been verbally abused before and that was exactly what this experience reminded me of. My friend said he was accusing us of having an extreme attitude, when he was actually the one acting extreme. I would not recommend any person with a disability to go to Kmart. You will be treated as less than human and given the complete brush-​off. If you go to the store on Lake St. Dan will impose a 30 minute maximum on your shopping time. This is not legal by ADA standards. He feels that we are taking advantage of a system and so I feel that he doesn’t want us there or our business. Let Dan, the Kmart manager know what you think of what you just read. I have an update to this story. It is now July 15, and I still have not heard any word from corporate of any kind. I called twice and both times was told someone would get back in touch with me promptly. This has not happened. Apparently Sears and Kmart do not care about whether or not their customers are treated in a dignified manner.

I rarely ever stop at any Kmart. The two major reasons are that I do not see many of them around and that I don’t see many good things there anymore. I’ve stopped that this Kmart quite a few times in my life. I also stopped there the other day for a quick pick-​up of something. This quick stop was only for convenience since I was in the area, and there was something I needed immediately. I was reminded the other day why I avoid Kmart, including this one.
There is a reason why the merchandise in Kmart is so cheap. It’s because their quality is poor, and they come apart quickly.
This parking lot and the inside is dirty. The floors have dirt all over them, and the merchandise is unorganized for the most part. It’s really bad when I am feeling so uncomfortable inside of a business, but it’s worse when I’m feeling this way in a parking lot. This tells me that the employees and management there are not doing a good job at observing and keeping up with the maintenance.
I added an extra star in my rating because the employees there were polite when it came time for me to check out. I observed most of the other employees there, and they were polite to their customers too. I wish that they would use those same customer service skills on the other aspects of the store.
I will continue avoiding this place like I have been in the past. I do not want to live through such discomfort again if I can avoid it. There is much improvement that must be done to this place.

To be honest I cant say anything bad about this k-​mart mmm let me think okay maybe the service sucks but whatever its Lake street South Side we some busy hungry people trying to get through the day lol nah no excuse
I have been coming to this walmart since the 90’s and its the same it has a special place in my heart just remembering when I would throw a fit in the toy aisle or I will see the cop throw down people who would steal or just coming here to just look around with my mom and getting into fights in the parking lot
They have a lot of stuff they even got Mexican groceries and products its very nice
Also if you get hungry why not walk down the parking lot and get some tacos that they sell in the corner super FAB lol
I know they are taking the Kmarts down and when they take down Lake streets that would be a sad day its a piece of my childhood here I look at this store not as some Kmart store but like memories and history a lot of things go down at this kmart I think I bought my first CD here too

I remember back in 1996 going to this Kmart with a friend, and hearing a customer, who couldn’t find anyone to make him a duplicate key, yell over the intercom in the Sporting Goods section «Does anyone speak English here!!!» Flash-​forward 18 years, it feels like it stayed stuck in the 90s. Feels like trudging through quicksand just to buy some gum.

I haven’t been to a K-​Mart since 2000 when the one on University Ave. in St. Paul closed. (I’m really a Target girl.) But, I found myself in this one after needing a hat and some sunblock. Well, this K-​Mart isn’t *so* bad! I think it seriously needs a makeover on the outside as well as inside the store. When I walked in, the store was clean, but it looked like it was stuck in 1983. Seriously. I had flashbacks of purchasing my first record from Wal-​Mart. (The Go-​Gos! Yeah!) So, I found a Jacklyn Smith hat for $ 11 and some sunblock and left. The lines can be a bit time consuming here. First, I stood in line and this one woman proceeding to argue with the cashier about using her K-​Mart rewards points and blah, blah, blah… Then, I went to another line where some guy proceeding to argue with the cashier about the price of a coat and blah, blah, blah… Finally, I was able to make my purchase and leave. Yes, the cashiers are unfortunately forced to ask you a bunch of dumb questions at checkout like: Are you a rewards member? Do you want to become one? Do you want to give $ 1 for March of Dimes? But, I don’t hold that against the cashiers since they are merely doing their job. A couple of shady looking people were hanging out in front of the store but they didn’t bother me.

It’s been over a decade since I shopped at a Kmart, and now I know why. I don’t know why I did it; I recently made the same mistake at Best Buy. Anyway, this place is filthy. They have two people stationed at the door to harass you into a Kmart Rewards membership. The grill I bought broke as I was putting it together, and when I came back to return it, I spent a half hour in one of two lines. Thankfully I picked the right one, because half the people in the other line spent just as long waiting, only to be told when they got to the front of the line that they picked the wrong one and we’re sent to wait another half hour. Absolutely ridiculous. Never again.

This Kmart isn’t much fun. I had received an Sears gift card in an email from a friend as… you guessed it… a gift. I wanted to do a couple things. First, I wanted to convert my online version to actual hard gift cards (though both work equally well, I just felt better knowing I had something physical… and you can see why after trying to use it at this location). No one in the store knew what to do with the print out I brought into the store. In fact, the location’s security manager came from the back to tell me (initially) that they couldn’t accept the online gift cards and that I had to leave and call the Sears number on the print out to get a physical card. He treated me suspiciously. OK, fine. I guess I believe him when he says they’re more of a high risk location.
Went to the parking lot and called the Sears number. Good thing I did rather than wait until I got home. The Sears number was to Sears Auto — completely worthless. Then I checked the balance on my iPhone — $ 0, when it was $ 500 before I entered the store! Went back inside, asked for the security manager and straight up told him that (a) he needed to check the cash registers that he and his team were messing with earlier or (b) he needed to put in writing that I had been in to try to redeem my card. I’m guessing he doesn’t get too many requests like that because he took me seriously then. Long story short, an hour later, I left with my desired gift cards.
Oh, y eah. Second thing I wanted to do was use the gift cards to get other gift cards that I would actually use. You’ve gotta get the right employee because many think you can’t use your Sears/​Kmart gift card to buy other gift cards. You can!
But you know… it’s a Kmart.

I love this K-​Mart. Ok, love might be a little strong. I really like this K-​Mart. It’s always clean. The pharmacist is helpful and downright cheery (gasp!). The store is well organized and carries a variety of things — including pajama jeans. Yay for Pajama jeans! There is always a sale going on — plus at Christmas time there is no better place for stocking stuffers, decorations and table complements than this Kmart. The downsides are — well, its parking lot can sometimes give a person the jeebies. Also, the exterior leaves a lot to be desired. The neighborhood is coming a long way — and a spiffed up K-​Mart could be a great addition to the area. I hope that who ever owns the property doesn’t think that because the Kmart lease goes for 65 years that it is an excuse to not update and maintain the property.
Also, K-​Mart is one of the last retailers offering lay-​a-​way. So if you need the flexibility it is a great option or you can help your karma a long way by going in and putting 20.00 on someone’s lay-​a-​way. You never know who needs it.

It’s a KMart — you kind of get exactly what you expect. Which is not much. Grading this on Kmart scale, the place isn’t bad. It just happens to be the only place on my morning bus route that is accessible to me for morning needs (juice, water, danish, lunch, whatever).
The place is fairly clean and organized (again, for a KMart). I don’t feel unsafe or unclean going in there.
The biggest thing that pisses me off about this place is all the B.S. questions you have to answer when checking out:
Do you have a rewards card?
Do you want a rewards card?
Do you want to be a super member?
How likely are you to refer other to this place?
Do you want to donate some money to babies?
Would you like your receipt?
For this last question, you should always answer no. I bought a 12-​pak of Coke once and my receipt was 17″ long (I measured it and put it on my blog).
Whatever — it’s a place.

I have such mixed feelings about this place. For one thing I don’t shop at Target or Walmart anymore — so if I do need to hit up a large box store — this is my ONLY option.
On the outside, this looks like saddest place ever. Especially with all the renovations on Lake Street with other store fronts.
Yet when one enters, the place is surprisingly clean and organized. It puts even some local grocery stores to shame. I was expecting it to be in a disorganized state, due to the exterior — I was wrong.
I found what I needed easily. The prices were equally competitive to the other big box stores, and the gal who rang me up was a pleasant person.
I don’t need to go to the likes of Target or Walmart anymore, but at least I can swing by this place if needed.
Side note: whomever owns that location, fix it up! Maybe you’ll be able to survive this challenging economy and increase your business.