For the final Kmart tour in the Syracuse market, we find ourselves in Mattydale. This location was actually the first Kmart store in Syracuse- opening in the late 1960s. It technically opened for a second time in 1970 after having been damaged by a fire. This location also wound up being the last Syracuse store in operation closing its doors in late 2019. There was once a cafe, but it appeared to have been closed for quite some time. The pharmacy operation closed a few years before the rest of the store did. Since this was an early Kmart, the auto center was detached from the building and is now being used by Dunn Tire/
I love the sunset scene in the last image!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteYou're welcome!
DeleteThis was "my" store, the closest one to me, so I was here pretty regularly for years. I remember they even tried being open 24 hours one holiday season. Not sure why, I went over just to check it out and I was the only one in the store, I had a clerk kind of shadowing me following me around so I left.
ReplyDeleteToward the end, I think the manager cut spending to the bone, sometimes you'd go in and only half the lights were on, and the outer front door was broken for months, just left open when the store was open. Maybe that kept it going as long as it did.
The cafe was a Little Caesars like the one in Victor, but the older K-Cafe equipment was still there and I remember peeking in there when they were either closing or close to closing - for a while the cafe area was clearance corner and just shelf units walled off the cooking area - but all that stuff was back there and apparently not sold when the other fixtures were. Maybe it's even still there now, as nothing seems to have been done with the store.
This is also the only store I remember to have seasonal clothes clearance have about half a rack of stuff last long enough they marked it down to 10 cents each.