Big Kmart, Rehoboth Beach, DE ~ Brands "R" Us

Big Kmart, Rehoboth Beach, DE

February 07, 2018 Robby S.

BIG KMART
STORE #7725
REHOBOTH BEACH, DE
RENOVATED 2017
19563 COASTAL HWY
REHOBOTH BEACH, DE

I'm sure for many of you seeing a Kmart store
on here is no big surprise. In recent years, the national chain has been on a decline and quite unsuccessfully has tried to make a comeback

This store in Rehoboth Beach, DE opened sometime in the 1990s and was one of Kmart's branded "Big K" stores. Larger than traditional Kmart stores, the "Big K" stores are more comparable to Walmart stores, featuring extensive sections of clothing, food, sporting equipment, electronics, and health & beauty supplies.

A BACKGROUND TO SEARS IN THE DELMARVA REGION

(Skip this unless you're really keen on learning about former Kmart/Sears locations in Delmarva)

The recent struggles of Sears Holding (the parent company of Kmart) coupled with the tough competition in the resort city of Rehoboth Beach makes it unsurprising that Kmart was looking to downsize in the area.

Kmart was not Sears' only location in the Rehoboth area, however. A few miles North of the Rehoboth Beach "Big K" was a Sears Hometown Store, which specializes in appliance sales and repairs. This location closed sometime in 2016 and appliance sales were transferred to Kmart until the store's downsizing in the summer of 2017

The former Sears Hometown Store, now occupied by a Thrift Store for the nearby Bebee Hospital

Incidentally the sign for Sears is still present on the side of the road nearly two years later

The Sears sign was at the top and shared a sign with EZ LOAN$

Sears has not been doing well in the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) market for a while, frequently shutting down stores over the last few years. Most recently Sears Holding announced that they would be giving the axe to its Wilmington Sears (3240 Kirkwood Hwy), Salisbury Kmart (301 Tilghman Road), and Crofton Kmart (1647 Crofton Center, Crofton, MD), which I have pictures of below:

Sears store at 3240 Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE

Kmart store at 301 Tilghman Road, Salisbury, MD. This was a Big Kmart store which downsized sometime between 2008 and 2013

The Kmart store in Crofton, MD. This at one point was a Big Kmart store

As a sidenote: The closure of the Sears location in Wilmington may be a result of another Sears location in Wilmington a mere 5 miles away

Additionally, Sears has failed to update many of its stores in the area. Take the Wilmington Sears location for example. This location clearly was not kept up to date, and the exterior still bears the signage that was phased out in 1994. Similarly, the Sears location in the state capital of Dover (1000 Dover Mall, Dover, DE) has this same issue of being extremely outdated.

The Sears store at 1000 Dover Mall, Dover DE

ABOUT THE BIG KMART IN REHOBOTH BEACH, DE

Now with all the background aside, lets dive into touring the Rehoboth Kmart itself

One thing that I want to get out of the way was that the Kmart store in Rehoboth was in the process of downsizing from the "Big K" to Kmart store. This is a trend that many other Kmart stores in the area followed, so my bet is that this store won't last too long.

The Kmart in Rehoboth Beach is being divided into three parcels, with the left third remaining Kmart, the middle one becoming an And That!, and the rightmost becoming PetSmart.

As it stands this is how the building is being divided.

Here are some photos of the exterior of the store before any work begun (Circa 2014):

and here are some snapshots of the building weeks before the store begins its renovations (April 2017)

Inside the store was a completely different story. There was evidence of renovation everywhere, so let me summarize in brief what was going on:

1) The Little Caesars Pizza Station/K Cafe was completely blocked off (this would eventually become the checkout area)

2) The checkout area had the number of their registers reduced from about 10 to just 4

3) The Layaway and Fitting Room areas were filled with food from the food center as part of the clothing department was to become the new grocery section

The former checkout section overrun with shelving. Notice the 'Thank you for shopping Big Kmart' sign in the background

A store directory, which showed where everything was located in the "Big Kmart"

The Little Caesars Pizza Station / K Cafe fenced off during renovation

Grocery started to move into the clothing section on the far left of the store

The Layaway department was left empty besides some food waiting to be stocked

I was able to stick my camera into the Pizza Station area under that barrier. The photos are really dark, but from what I can tell Kmart was in the early stages of renovation and there weren't many changes made. The tables were removed, the ceiling tiles were taken out, and the signage was gone, but besides that, there wasn't anything else done.

These photos came out really dark so I made some adjustments to make the features more visible.

For reference, here is a picture of the K Cafe before any renovations were started

Courtesy of Yelp

The renovations for the store were in full throttle on the right side of the store. I was able to take some pictures in this few-day period where Kmart was both renovating yet still moving goods off the sale floor, so I was able to get some interesting shots of the store being worked on.

These photos were taken in the rear right of the store

ft. my dad on the left who still legitimately shopped at Kmart

Something else interesting that I found was the old shelving and register units that were moved and placed in the back of the store

A lot of this Kmart store hasn't been updated since its opening in the 1990s. Evidence of this is the (severely) outdated Electronics department, which I guess is actually still very common in many Kmart stores

Lastly, I got to explore a bit of the Pharmacy / Health & Beauty department, which is in the front of the store where And That! and PetSmart will be going. Renovations were going in full swing here and there seemed to be no actions taken to hide it from Kmart shoppers

That's the pharmacy right below the red wall

That about sums up the renovation from the inside. I had the pleasure of driving by the Kmart while renovations were underway and took some pictures of the building being worked on. By this time the renovations to the Kmart part of the store were over and now construction was only on And That! and PetSmart: