Kmart #3266

Another month brings us to another Kmart location. I've saved the best of the Wyoming Valley stores for last and this particular store is among Kmart's best. Both in terms of profits and store appearance. Read on to find out why.

This store, which was also a former Arlan's department store, has no immediate competition. No Walmart or Target on this side of the valley which gives it a monopoly. The store is also quite famously known for reopening after being under 10 feet of water back in 2011. And despite the rest of the attached plaza not reopening after the flood, this Kmart continues to keep going. This is because this location is in the top 10 most profitable stores.

I visited this location twice (as the map below will indicate) and saw changes between the two visits. The most notable change is the closing of the Nathan's Famous restaurant and some of the departments being moved around.

We'll start the tour of with the June 2015 visit and conclude with the changes seen in November 2016.

Love these bed displays!

The pharmacy as seen in June 2015. While the store did get the latest pharmacy design like Wilkes-Barre, it did not yet have it when I visited in November 2016.

A larger than normal frozen foods selection that even has ice cream

Updated pets department

Now for the newer pics:

A new candy department

Seasonal now in the back of the store

Electronics shrunken to 2 and 1/2 aisles.

Toys moved to where seasonal was.

Rating: 10 out of 10.
Clean, well-stocked, plenty of customer traffic all creates a recipe for a successful store. While I'm a little disappointed the in-store restaurant closed, I won't mark any points off for two reasons:

1. Clever reuse of the space. Mattresses is an out-of-the-box solution when most other stores would just use the space for excess product making it tacky looking. Other than the floor, there isn't a lot suggesting this had been a restaurant before. Sure, they do use some space for extra product here, but they do it in a way that actually looks pleasing. So kudos to the employees here!
2. Kmart moving away from in-store restaurants in general.


In Danger of Closing?
No. This store is a top 10 performer for Kmart. So unless the chain goes bankrupt, I don't see this store going anywhere.