Groceteria.com

I was up north again today, this time in Spanaway, WA. I stopped at the Kmart there, which from the outside, I would guess was a 1980s build. The store number is 7904, at 17705 Pacific Ave. This store was in a strip mall and had no auto center, but had a garden center off to the side. In fact, the entrance resembled some of the pictures in the "Very Small" Kmart thread.
The interior of this store baffled me though. It had the recessed 8-foot light fixtures that were found in the Kmarts built in the early 1990s. However, it also had the round air diffusers (slightly smaller than most) common in older Kmarts, and had a lower ceiling like some Kmarts of the late 70s. Also, in the "pantry" area, there were additional 2'X4' recessed light fixtures over the aisles which I presume were added for the "big K" conversion. It also had a closed-down K Cafe. The store size itself seemed like any typical Kmart to me. I have visited quite a few Kmarts around the country, but have never encountered one with this interior setup. Anybody know details about this location?

This store was damaged by a fire set by a shoplifter in April of 2011 resulting in significant smoke damage so the store had to be repaired before reopening which might explain newer fixtures.

eric1972sea wrote:This store was damaged by a fire set by a shoplifter in April of 2011 resulting in significant smoke damage so the store had to be repaired before reopening which might explain newer fixtures.

Note the date of the original post...I knew about the fire but that visit was before then.

In some ways it struck me as a store that might have incorporated some new ideas before Kmart went on a building spree in the early 90s. But I have never seen a 90s build store with the lower ceiling...do these exist?

Mystery solved... this Kmart opened on November 8, 1984. I found out thanks to the "wildfire improved Kmart store list" in Google Fusion Tables.