Sunday, December 1, 2019

Kmart #4751 Tehachapi, CA Closing Store Tour! Double upload!

This is the Kmart location in Tehachapi, CA that will be closing in January 2020. This location was part of the "unofficial" closing list that was leaked online in September 2019 and has since been confirmed as closing. Tehachapi is a smaller town in the mountains east of Bakersfield and this was one of Kmart's top preforming stores at one point. Walmart opened a new Supercenter literally next door on Aug 7, 2019 and 2 weeks later this store made the closing list. From what I have heard a lot of Kmart employees jump ship and got jobs at Walmart which nobody can blame them. This Kmart is the last location in Kern county and opened on January 18, 1993. This location is 90,979 sf. This location had a pharmacy but at the time of my last visit it had already closed and I believe never had an auto center. This will be a double upload as I visited this location before the closing was announced but never uploaded the pictures to the blog so this one will be extra long! As you enter the store the Pharmacy was on the left with the pantry across from it and the Customer Service area is to the right just passed the registers. Lets see the closing pictures first!




Let's head inside! Registers to the right and pharmacy/pantry area to the left








Garden Shop along the left wall of the store that is currently being used to store the fixtures





 



Looking towards the empty auto care area with furniture across from it and what's left of the electronics next door












Toys just passed the sporting goods area across from shoes and the clothing areas. Layaway just passed toys in the back right corner







The fitting room just after the kids/infants area along the right wall of the store with the adult clothing across from it and the kids clothing in front and on both sides. 


The front restrooms and Jewelry are located up front in the front right corner of the store. If this store ever had a KCafe or Little Ceasers it would have been located here. 


The customer service counter and registers are to the right of jewelry. There are 10 registers at this store and at the time of my visit it was busy enough that they had 7 registers open. 






 Former fountain soda and Icee area by the doors. This will conclude the closing tour of this Kmart location but below I will post the pictures that I took in May 2019 before the closing was announced!


Pictures taken 5/25/19 





 













































































That will round up the double upload from the closing Tehachapi, CA Kmart! I hope you enjoyed this blog update as much as I did bring it to you. This one closing is really a slap in the face to these dedicated employees as fast eddie waited only 2 weeks after Walmart opened to announce that this store is closing. I understand that Kmart just can't really compete with well anyone at the moment but they could have put up a bigger fight here. This Kmart has been here with hardly any competition since 1993. I feel that if the company would have put the money into this store for a complete remodel and really deliver the products their customers want and love this store could live on. Lower prices and try to compete with Walmart could win back a lot of customers who jump ship to Walmart. This store would also have to expand their grocery offerings as they were lacking even before Walmart opened. I'm not sure if I can make it back here before the store closes for good but I will try. I wall also be visiting the closing locations in Atascadero, CA and Lake Havasu City, AZ so look out for those coming soon. I wish the employees here the best as they try to find new jobs so close to Christmas/New Year's


Kmart #4751 Tehachapi, CA
710 W. Tehachapi Blvd Tehachapi, CA 93561
All pictures from the liquidation were taken 11/10/19
All pictures from before liquidation started were taken 05/25/19





























1 comment:

  1. Neat looking facade on this Kmart! Crazy how a Wal-Mart was built right next door. Kmart stores usually need a large buffer in order to stay open. If there's a Walmart, even in the same town they can't survive. It's such a shame to see a Kmart closing because they are such large buildings.

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