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Rotating Kmart road signs

Posted: 28 Aug 2017 00:02
by Super S
I was reading an article about a closing Kmart in Mishawaka, Indiana which had some old photos and came across this one:

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnew ... 1200%2C696

The store in the photo opened in South Bend, Indiana in 1964 according to the article.

It appears that the "K" part of the road sign rotated here. Knowing that this road sign was very similar to the one many Kmart stores had for years, I got to wondering how many of the rotating variety existed. I have seen an old photo of the original Garden City store which also showed what appeared to also be a rotating sign. Were these all converted to non-rotating signs or did this vary by area? I am curious also how late Kmart still installed the rotating variety. I can't say I have ever seen a rotating one.

The full article:
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/lo ... eb629.html

Re: Rotating Kmart road signs

Posted: 28 Aug 2017 11:04
by BillyGr
Can't say I ever saw one that turned like that, but one would suspect it wouldn't take too much to fix it so it couldn't do that (say if the rules in a given area changed and no longer allowed it).

So it's very possible that many of that style did at one point move and then were converted/fixed (or simply disconnected), but it's just as possible that it was an unusual thing and there weren't many (or even any) others similar to it.

Re: Rotating Kmart road signs

Posted: 28 Aug 2017 21:12
by TW-Upstate NY
The recently closed Dickson City, Pa. store had a rotating "K" sign just like the one pictured. It opened in November 1973 (I was there opening day BTW) and left the area in mid-1980 and it was still rotating at that point. And now that Billy Gr mentions it and I give it some thought, never saw another one like it ever again.

Re: Rotating Kmart road signs

Posted: 29 Aug 2017 02:52
by Transit Road
I was reading an article about a closing Kmart in Mishawaka, Indiana which had some old photos and came across this one:

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnew ... 1200%2C696

The store in the photo opened in South Bend, Indiana in 1964 according to the article.
Kmart #4176 located at 2055 Walden Ave in Cheektowaga, NY looked exactly like the Mishawaka, IN store. The store also had the rotating K in the Kmart sign placed close to Walden Ave. The only difference between the picture and Kmart #4176 is that the Walden Ave. store did not have the "Plaza" sign on the pylon.

The store, which opened in the mid-1960's, was eventually remodeled in to a Big KMart. The picture below shows how the building looked just before it closed

The store closed in December 2016 and is still vacant.

Re: Rotating Kmart road signs

Posted: 29 Aug 2017 17:48
by wnetmacman
There were TONS of these out there. My first memories of Kmart involved the odd L shaped store in Danville, IL. It had the rotating K and the Plaza sign. It was at the top of a hill on N. Vermilion, so it was a focal point that you just didn't miss.

Later in life, we moved to Texas, and the Tyler store, which was around the same age, had the same type of sign, with the rotating K.

Mind you, Danville and Tyler were among the first 50 stores. Both had attached food stores, and Tyler even had space for an El Chico restaurant on the end.

Not every K rotated, only mostly the early ones. That was a real sad spot when the entire logo was emcompassed in the K later on, and most of these signs got replaced.

Re: Rotating Kmart road signs

Posted: 29 Aug 2017 21:31
by Super S
wnetmacman wrote:There were TONS of these out there. My first memories of Kmart involved the odd L shaped store in Danville, IL. It had the rotating K and the Plaza sign. It was at the top of a hill on N. Vermilion, so it was a focal point that you just didn't miss.

Later in life, we moved to Texas, and the Tyler store, which was around the same age, had the same type of sign, with the rotating K.

Mind you, Danville and Tyler were among the first 50 stores. Both had attached food stores, and Tyler even had space for an El Chico restaurant on the end.

Not every K rotated, only mostly the early ones. That was a real sad spot when the entire logo was emcompassed in the K later on, and most of these signs got replaced.
I consider myself fortunate to have at least seen the non rotating versions with all the neon lit up.