Kmart - Cranston Parkade - Cranston, RI

Kmart - Cranston Parkade - Cranston, RI

  April 15, 2018    Robby S.

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KMART
CRANSTON PARKADE 
296 GARFIELD AVE 
CRANSTON, RI 
CLOSED 2017 

Hey everyone! I'm back with a report on my second abandoned Kmart, which is located in the Cranston Parkade on Garfield Ave in Cranston, RI.

This particular location opened in 2001, but despite its large size, never earned the classification of 'Big Kmart'



In contrast to the usual Little Caesars Pizza Station, this Kmart location featured a Famous Eddie's Legendary Food cafe. Although it's pretty uncommon, and information on Famous Eddie's is hard to come by, there were a handful of locations that opened up with this style cafe.

Below is one of the few references I could find about Famous Eddie's. Judging from the emblem on one of the employee's shirt, I believe that the particular Famous Eddies was located within in Super Kmart

 

At the time of its closure, this Kmart was the final location in Rhode Island. This particular location was located just off of RI-10 in Cranston, which is a large suburb of the state's capital city of Providence.

It's a real shame this location closed... This particular location was in great shape and it looks like the space could be easily re-purposed - not to mention that the building was GINORMOUS. According to the security guard that was on-duty at the time of my photographing, the entirety of the Cranston Parkade shopping center, including the Stop and Shop, is slated to close in April 2018 and will be destroyed to make way for condominiums. 

Getting up close you can really see the labelscar on the front of the building. There's a distinct discoloration where the Kmart logo once was mounted.

The entrance to the store is distinctly Kmart-esque. It was actually in really good condition, considering how there were no tiles missing from the facade. There was an attempt made to cover the windows, but the condensation from the recent rainstorm likely pulled the paper down.

Looking towards the leftmost side of the store

Here is the most direct remnant of the former Kmart store: a banged-up shopping cart wedged between a lift and the doors. Sadly, I was dumb and didn't take any pictures of the side of the cart, but I can assure you it looked exactly like this cart (pictured below) from the Vernon, CT Kmart.

There were some papers on the front doors which outlined where the next nearest Kmart location is, which is in Brocton, MA. 

Now peering inside... It was pretty dark, but you can still make out some things

Now a few things I'd like to point out about these pictures... In the first picture, look at the top portion of the rightmost window. There you'll see a small decal for Famous Eddie's. I don't know exactly where it was in the store, but I suspect it was facing in towards the back of the store. In the third picture, you can just see the outline of a former window decal which gave information about how to apply for a job at Kmart (example pictured below). 

© GoNordrike! via Flickr

Some scars left over from the 'Kenmore', 'Craftsman', and 'DieHard' signs

A Google Earth screen-grab of the signs ©Google

Markings left over on the front of the store from an old banner that once read "KMART: MAJOR APPLICANCES".

A Google Earth screen-grab of the sign ©Google

In the picture above, I was on the Garden Center side of the store facing the main entrance. The metal right there was leftover from an awning in the front of the store where they kept some plants on display.

This particular location had a really nice Garden Center entrance. Most of the time the Garden entrances are pretty neglected and don't look too nice, but this one looks like it's in great shape... Likely a result of the building's recent construction.

Peering inside the Garden Center entrance. Despite this Kmart being built in 2001, it still bore the standard 1970s Garden Center layout.

The outdoor section of the Garden Center wasn't anything special either. It was your standard fenced in Garden Center. 

Sadly I was kind of in a rush the day of photographing and I didn't have too much time to explore the back of the building, so sadly no pictures there :(

That about wraps up this article on the Cranston, RI Kmart. If you want more posts from my trip to Cranston, be sure to check out my older article about an old-school Stop and Shop HERE!

Until next time,