Key West Kmart - Another One Bites the Dust!

 

One of my earliest memories after moving to Key West in December 1993 was the day I was standing in the checkout line at Kmart. I spoke to the young lady behind or in front of me. I told her how cute her child was and asked if she lived here. (That's a fair question: we have lots and lots of tourists.)  She said yes to which I replied that her kid was a cute little Conch. She said her husband was in the military and they were leaving as soon as possible She was HORRIFIED at the prospect her child would be a Conch. She hated Key West and everything about it. Okay, Karen. The kid was still cute. Conch or Not Conch.

 

Before it was a Kmart, the building was a Zayre department store. Zayre filled for Bankruptcy in the early 1990s. The facade, signage, and store brand and merchandise changed. The Key West population also changed over the years. Key West has had a stable population base of 25,000 for generations. The populations needs and desires evolved as the base population became more affluent.

Back in 1993 Key West had a Burdines, JC Penny, Sears, and Kmart. Kmart had all kinds of departments including apparel for men, women, and kids, home goods, some limited furniture, sporting goods including fishing gear, home and garden including tropical foliage of all sorts, television and electronics, toys, and a Little Caesars Pizza. You could buy just about anything you wanted. You can do that now with Amazon except for the pizza part.

Kmart was located in the Keys Plaza Shopping Center at 2900 North Roosevelt. The Gulf of Mexico is located across the street to the north separated by a Home Depot and a string of town homes. The shopping center was swamped in 2005 during Hurricane Wilma. All stores flooded. Kmart was never the same. The Albertsons grocery store (previously a Woolco department store) later became a Publix.grocery store. 

I remember going back inside Kmart after Hurricane Wilma flooded the eastern end of the island. I was surprised at how the store changed - they didn't fix anything. The tile floors buckled from being under sea water. Departments disappeared or shrank in the amount of goods offered. It was like shopping in a third world indoor flea market. I only shopped there a few times thereafter. I had a "why bother?" attitude about Kmart and its merchandise. Kmart closed its doors forever in Key West last week. Another one bites the dust!

The Searstown center is located three blocks east of Kmart. SEARS was the anchor store for decades. Like Kmart it had a variety of departments plus furniture, mattresses, tools, and automotive center.Years ago each department had a cashier and sales people for that department. The Key West SEARS had a large and well stocked supply of televisions and major home appliances. A few years the store changed. There were fewer sales people who assisted in various departments (if you could find one).  And there only two checkout counters with people standing in line.  I renumber looking for a Blu-ray player at SEARS where once there were many and then there were none. The TV department had three TV sets. They gave in to Amazon and other internet sales sites. The departments and sales people had vanished. Cost savings measures led to lost business opportunities. SEARS closed its Key West store forever in 2020.

I feel a sense of loss for all the Kmart and SEARS employees except one - that long-haired assistant manager at SEARS who was a little p-word. Years ago I bought one of those behemoth TVs from SEARS plus an extended warranty. When the TV stopped working while under warranty, I took it to SEARS for repair. It was at SEARS for over half a year. When I complained, the assistant manager told me I should have bought a better TV. He was right. I bought one over the internet just like thousands and thousands of other Americans do each year. 

I later found out that the SEARS assistant manager was Karen's husband. They never left Key West and live in the trailer park behind SEARS. They both now work at the DMV.  

A Thanksgiving Memory

Like many of you I can remember specific holidays from my youth, particularly Christmas Eves and Christmas Days as well as notable holidays later in life. I especially remember the Thanksgiving Eve in 2004 when I drove from Key West with my then real estate broker to look at trailers on Big Coppitt Key.  

I picked her up at her condo shortly around 5:00 PM.  It was still daylight, but I recall the skies were gray and sad. That's unusual for Key West because our skies are normally sunny until near sunset when they explode with color. But on that day they were gray. As we drove up the Overseas Highway she told me about this man from her church who owned several business in Key West and several trailers which he rented out on Big Coppitt Key which is located about five miles east of Key West. He was thinking about selling his trailers and wanted an opinion of value. She wanted his business. I have no real idea why she wanted me to go along, but I did.

We drove up US 1 to a bar where the owner was waiting for us. I recall we followed him down various roads looking at four or five trailers. They were all immobile mobile homes - the wheels were removed. Each place probably dated back to the 1960s of 1970s. There was no measurable difference between them except age and the size of the lot upon which they sat. The lots were the only thing of value. And he owned the lots.

The last trailer is etched in my memory. It was dark when we got to the final trailer. He knocked on the metal door. The woman tenant opened it. She had a cigarette in hand. He explained who we were and why we were there. She waived us inside as she moved to the far side of the kitchen where she grabbed her drink. She didn't care why we were there. She didn't care about anything as far as I could tell. Her oldest son was frying hamburgers. A little one minute movie played out in my mind as I walked quickly from room to room. I remember the smells of the frying meat competing with the lingering odor of mama's cigarettes and the noise created by the meat as it was being destroyed in that too hot skillet while the TV blared and mama spewed out nonsense from her drunken mouth. I moved as quickly as I could to get out of this place. 

The last room I looked in was occupied by a younger boy, perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old. He was laying on top of his bed trying to read a book or magazine. There was a small lamp on the night stand or table next to him. I remember the light was so dim. I felt I had invaded this kid's space and left. God, I felt so sorry for that kid who had to live in that hell hole with his cigarette smoking and rum guzzling mother who was too lazy to cook a meal for her kids. I couldn't imagine what their Thanksgiving Day would be like. I was as down as down could get when I walked out of that place.

Eleven months later Hurricane Wilma caused catastrophic damage to Big Coppitt Key where most of the mobile homes became uninhabitable due to severe wind and water damage.

Key West was damaged by Wilma as well. I don't recall when it was that I thought about that boy. In that room. In that hell hole. I am sure he didn't drown or anything like that. But I thought what another indignity for him to have to live through. That trailer must have been destroyed.

Thirteen years have passed since that Thanksgiving Eve. I hope that boy made it out of that living situation okay. I understand why some people end up as criminals and why others end up as successes.  I wonder which he became.

 P.S.  She did not get any listing from the old investor. He listed with someone else. Figures!

 This is a repost of my blog November 22, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Dear Readers.

Harvey Hurricane Relief

We have all seen things in the past few days that most of us probably never expected. Hurricane Harvey has forced thousands upon thousands of people from their homes with only the clothes on their backs. The storm is not over, and it will take weeks to even obtain a semblance of the physical damage to the homes, businesses, infrastructure, and, most importantly, to the lives of those who have been impacted by this storm. If you have not been affected by a hurricane, consider yourself lucky.  You have no idea how demoralizing it is and how even the word "hurricane" stirs recurring images in your head. The four million people in Houston and environs lives will never be the same.

Like many of those of you reading this blog, I have often given money to the American Red Cross in response to tragic events I saw on television. I could see the need and I felt it necessary to give something to help others impacted by whatever event triggered my need to give.

Key West was devastated by Hurricane Wilma in 2005.  I remember an aid worker from the AMERICAN RED CROSS who came to my door asking if I was okay and if they offer me assistance.  Those workers went from door to door throughout Key West offering aid to rich and poor alike.

How odd it was for me to be contacted by the American Red Cross to ask if they could help me.

I urge everyone who reads today's blog to contact the AMERICAN RED CROSS and give something.  We all have more than we really need. It is time to help others.

CLICK HERE to go to the official American Red Cross website and make a donation.  You can donate by credit card or send a check.  You can even designate where you want your money go.  If you send in a check you can avoid getting on a pesky email solicitation that seems to never stop once you do give.

The Big Bounce

The Big Bounce


I have lived in Key West for 13 years and have shared two major life-changing events during that time. The first was 911 and the second was Hurricane Wilma.

I was at the gym that fateful morning. Ron who worked the front desk said a member just called him and said two planes (a big one and a small one) had hit the World Trade Center. I knew the chance of that being an accident was impossible. I suspected the worse, but did not know what the worse was. I sped home on my bike screaming expletives. When I got inside the kitchen I turned on the tv to watch the horror as it happened. We all remember the madness as is unfolded.

I had afternoon floor duty that day and I questioned why we were keeping the office open. But I went as requested (I was at a different company then). Town got dead real quick. There was little traffic and hardly any tourists. They closed the office about an hour after I showed up. I drove out to Walgreens to stock up on vodka, knowing the next few days would be awful. The clerk did not really understand what had happened. I told him, and he got the most awful pained look on his face. He said he had heard that the navy had posted armed guards at Sigsbee. I drove out to see them. Yep, they had their weapons out.

Town (that's what a lot of call Key West) died that day. Business went away. Fantasy Fest occurred, but it was subdued. The tourists just did not return for the normal fall schedule of events.

Then the day after Christmas town bounced back---big time! And the dead real estate market exploded. The demand for real estate could not be met. Prices rose by double digits for Key West and the other Keys as well each year through 2005. Buyers started questioning whether the market could continue to grow at the rate it had for the previous 4 years. Reason suggested that the market would continue to grow, but not at the rate previously experienced.

By Spring 2006 (prime selling time in Key West) the market slowed a bit. Then we had four hurricanes. Each one brought CNN and other national media to report on the fools walking on Duval Street hours before each hurricane. They could have shown re-runs of the previous storms because each hurricane was the same--until Wilma. Yes, we had some damage with each hurricane. Usually the wind uproots a few trees that fall on roofs or a car. Some minor flooding, but usually no structural damage related to flooding. But Wilma changed that as well.

Hurricane Wilma brought wind and water damage from one end of the island to the other. Most of the Old Town area was spared flood damage. But the damage elsewhere was physically and emotionally devastating for most of us. People with nothing and people with very expensive homes and toys shared equally in their losses.

I rode my bike around town every day for over a month just looking at the piles of trash and debris piled in the streets. The winds and ocean water from the tidal surge took its toll on our lush green gem of an isle. The palms and ferns looked like hell. The small foliage we all see and enjoy seemed to disappear. The island was no longer green, but grey.

But one of the great things about living in Key West is the resilience of the people who live here. When someone is injured or gets desperately ill, there is always some fund raiser to help raise funds. The people who live here do care about each other. We really do care.

I wrote last week about the smell you experience when you get off the plane at Key West International Airport. The very next day my neighbor across the street who moved to North Carolina in the spring of 2006 was down to check on her house. She mentioned the smell when she got off the plane and noted how beautiful everything was again. She said she forgot how beautiful Key West is.

The pics to the right show a huge tree in the Battleship Maine's cemetery on White Street, a tree near the Casa Marina hotel that toppled during Wilma, a house on upper Duval that was being remodeled as it looked on Nov 17, 2005 and a pic as it looks today, Jan 30, 2007.

Key West bounced back from 911. I'm waiting for The Big Bounce to occur in the real estate market. It will come.