KMart Cafeteria and Other Restaurants

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Dean
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Post by Dean »

RandallFlagg wrote:I was part of the crew that opened store 7529 in Rancho Cucamonga on Haven Ave. The store opened with a Cafeteria tucked into the back wall between receiving and the offices. We also had the deli in front of the registers on the front wall between the main entrance and the cosmetics dept. The cafeteria had the regular stuff [hamburgers, sandwiches,etc.] but it also had different meals of the day. I remember the steam trays between the register and the coke machine with vegetables, salisbury steak, meat loaf and other good lunch items. The ladies that worked in there were alway wonderful and wore brown and orange uniforms. I was an area supervisor and can remember the deli calling me to help them make ham sandwiches. I would alway make a healthy batch and buy them at closing for almost nothing [hah blue light specials]. I remember around 8 or 830 pizza and taco snacks were a quarter. A couple of those and and icee, whoohoo. I worked at the store from 82 to 85
Is that the site now of the current JCPenney Furniture Outlet store?
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TheStranger
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Post by TheStranger »

I think Charles Hathaway and I sighted an active KMart Cafeteria (now just a K Cafe labeled for "Family Dining") in Citrus Heights on Sunday.

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/ch.htm

Is this the original chainwide motif for the booths, etc.?
Chris Sampang
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Post by tkaye »

TheStranger wrote:I think Charles Hathaway and I sighted an active KMart Cafeteria (now just a K Cafe labeled for "Family Dining") in Citrus Heights on Sunday.

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/ch.htm

Is this the original chainwide motif for the booths, etc.?
Wow... I've never seen anything like that before. Funny they'd call it "family dining"... like it's someplace you would take the wife and kids to go have dinner.
TenPoundHammer
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Post by TenPoundHammer »

tkaye wrote:
TheStranger wrote:I think Charles Hathaway and I sighted an active KMart Cafeteria (now just a K Cafe labeled for "Family Dining") in Citrus Heights on Sunday.

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/ch.htm

Is this the original chainwide motif for the booths, etc.?
Wow... I've never seen anything like that before. Funny they'd call it "family dining"... like it's someplace you would take the wife and kids to go have dinner.
That's exactly how I remember the "K Café" or whatever at the Kmart in Alpena Mall in Alpena, same motif. I would say yes, that's original motif in those pictures.

That particular Kmart opened in 1977, and the mall was retrofitted to it about six years later. The Kmart moved across the street around 1998, and the old location in the mall is now a Gordon Foods Service store and a clothing store called Glik's. Part of the old Kmart is still vacant however - I wonder if they stripped it raw or if it might still have the old diner part inside?
Buckethead
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Post by Buckethead »

Old_Tymr wrote: And they still serve all the classic items.
I really find that hard to believe. Pizza, Taco, and burrito snacks were discontinued in the mid/late 80's, and the last time I went to a kmart(about 2 years ago) they had the sub sandwiches, but they weren't the same.

I cant imagine one store having these retro food items while all the other stores don't. I doubt that a company could stay in business making snacks for one store.

Please post pics of these items being sold. Like other people here, I have fond memories of eating this food as a child. Everytime we went to a kmart, the food was the main thing I looked forward to.

The person who mentioned "the Kmart stench" was right on the money. I could smell those sub sandwiches and pizza snacks a mile away.
Terry K
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Post by Terry K »

Buckethead wrote:
Old_Tymr wrote: And they still serve all the classic items.
I really find that hard to believe. Pizza, Taco, and burrito snacks were discontinued in the mid/late 80's, and the last time I went to a kmart(about 2 years ago) they had the sub sandwiches, but they weren't the same.

I cant imagine one store having these retro food items while all the other stores don't. I doubt that a company could stay in business making snacks for one store.

Please post pics of these items being sold. Like other people here, I have fond memories of eating this food as a child. Everytime we went to a kmart, the food was the main thing I looked forward to.

The person who mentioned "the Kmart stench" was right on the money. I could smell those sub sandwiches and pizza snacks a mile away.
Well if it IS Kmart #1, they can do things most cant ;)
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steps
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Post by steps »

Pavilions, the new, the unusal, the BEST of everything!
Mr. Kmart

Little Caesar's/ K-Cafe

Post by Mr. Kmart »

It seems that every Kmart I go in to has removed the Little Caesar's Pizza Station/ K-Cafe from their store. Are there any left? Where?
lvkewlkid
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Post by lvkewlkid »

I believe there's still one at the Kmart at Sandhill and Sunset, in Henderson, NV, but the place is a real dump, missing floor tiles throughout the store, the cafe looks like nothing other than a carnival booth...
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steps
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Post by steps »

Hmmm...the Kmart nearest me on Slauson/Vermont had a Little Ceasars in the same shipping Center plus they sold the pizza inside the store. The last remodel they had they completely removed the eatting area and replaced it with a "Internet Cafe". During Xmas they has a person with a cart within the store that sells Little Ceasars pan pizzas. Also the one near the Grove in Hollywood I believe still has a fuctioning eatting area although I'm not sure. There is a little Ceasars "shop" near the corner where the Kmart is if that counts.
Pavilions, the new, the unusal, the BEST of everything!
Dean
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Post by Dean »

We have family members that live in Slovakia.

When we visited years ago...K-Mart (prounced KaMart there!) had Little Caesar's inside the store.

Since then, TESCO took over the Slovakian (and probably most in Eastern Europe) sites.

Having since shopped TESCO while visiting...looking forward to their Fresh & Easy format in SoCal.
dooneyt63
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K Mart Cafes

Post by dooneyt63 »

Most of the Kmart stores in Northwest Florida still maintain K Cafes. They stay pretty busy. Recently, they all received new menu boards and started offering Coffee Beanery coffee. They still have pizza, but it is a foodservice brand, not Little Caesar's. My local Kmart is still a good spot for a quick, inexpensive lunch.
TenPoundHammer
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Re: K Mart Cafes

Post by TenPoundHammer »

My Kmart (Oscoda, MI) is one of only two that I know of (the other being Alpena, MI) that still has a K Café at all. Granted, these K Cafés are no longer Little Caesar's, having dropped the Pizza! Pizza! a while ago.
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shane
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Post by shane »

While I was surfing around on Flickr I found a vintage picture a Kmart Eatery in Kansas City Misouri

Heres the link
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id ... eam&size=l
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RandallFlagg
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Post by RandallFlagg »

Sorry Dean, I haven't looked at this post for quite awhile. Yeah, the store is now the JC Penney furniture outlet. I read the post by oldtymer, I think that's who it was and the store in Montclair had the same set up. That store is now rebuilt as a Costco. The back of the cafeteria was on the main aisle, with the icee and popcorn machine. They had a little open spot where you could buy those items without going around and into the eating area.

Also most of the stores when I worked there were numbered with 4 digits. The first digit was the size of the store. The old 60's stores usually were size 4 stores. They were pretty big for the time. My store being a 80's model size 7 was fairly small.
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