I hated this place but damn if it wasn’t there exactly when you needed it most. https://t.co/NowUTx0nbz
— Hannah Vanbiber (she/her) (@HannahVanbiber) July 14, 2021
The last time I was in here (ca. 2000), I had just left Other Music when I stepped in a pile of dog shit so massive it rendered my shoes unsalvageable. I left my shoes sitting in the pile, walked barefoot across Astor Place, into this K-Mart & bought a pair of fake Chucks for $15 https://t.co/qufptWM0dI
— Ben Boyer (@sleezsisters) July 14, 2021
RIP Astor Place Kmart, you were literally the worst. https://t.co/6GPcz3oW6M
— Jason Selvig (@jasonselvig) July 13, 2021
I once held the door open for Chloë Sevigny here. A part of my history. https://t.co/veASuznu20
— Angel Lopez (@Ariessoul329) July 13, 2021
This plus the death of the Kmart Penn station for the late aughts FIT girlies … end me https://t.co/l29yY3sNPH
— carina hsieh (@carinahsieh) July 13, 2021
rip to this alternate dimension of a place that inexplicably didn’t carry marshmallows https://t.co/iLKASo4kXh
— aloe fullee (@alliefulls) July 13, 2021
On hot summer days, I would stroll through this K-Mart while waiting for friends, who were running late—to not have to wait in the NYC heat/humidity. Rest In Peace to iconic relic. https://t.co/AqiddjKt1K
— BG (@TheBGates) July 13, 2021
I used to lowkey walk through here to kill time when I went to school in the area from 4th - 8th grade
— Toxic Crew (@ToxicCrewNY) July 13, 2021
RIP TO A FUCKING LEGEND https://t.co/x16XSymSIQ
When this moved into the East Village, it felt like end-times. https://t.co/zYO8UQLB6q
— Charles McNulty (@CharlesMcNulty) July 13, 2021
Don’t usually have sympathy for large chains but am deffo a bit emotional as this is where I repeatedly tried on items from the Adam Levine clothing line and cried about gender in the dressing rooms. I mean truly, THIS is where most of my gender CRISIS happened. https://t.co/YLwWg4sQKl
— Futaba Shioda (@FutabaShioda) July 12, 2021
roaming the aisles of this kmart in 2012 with my girlies texting our rolodexes “whats the address of that st mark’s deli that doesn’t card againnnn (:” https://t.co/ERMlEflDvV
— Vassileia Kazee (@vassileiafoxy) July 12, 2021
RIP I once went in here deeply drunk after doing $2 shots at The Continental thinking it would be the easiest place to find a public bathroom, couldn’t find it until I had substantially pee’d in my pants, and then bought new jeans and changed into them and threw my old ones away. https://t.co/l5omUaoYfr
— Jesse, Alternatively (@shartlito) July 12, 2021
Fun fact, this location was my FIRST job. I am in shock right now! https://t.co/6cEPy91dF0
— who? (@yeahokgurl) July 12, 2021
Wait, I need to return the Martha Stewart sheets I got there in the '90s! https://t.co/IBJl0acTvJ
— Robert David Sullivan (@RobertDSullivan) July 12, 2021
I once had a date and decided to wear a NuBra but couldn’t figure out how to stick it on and started sweating on the 6 train and one of the boobs migrated down to my rib. The Astor Place Kmart bathroom is where I finally tore the thing off and stuffed it into my purse. RIP. https://t.co/Wgd1ewrXW0
— Joyce Wu 吳 元 欣 (@oneandonlyjoyce) July 12, 2021
RIP Astor Place Kmart. You outfitted generations of freshman NYU students in the span of a week and then did seemingly no business the rest of the year. https://t.co/5reqxCNqgT
— Kirby Pate (@KPateNews) July 12, 2021
As a real piece of shit 18 year old, I used to steal 10 packs of Double A batteries from here for my Walkman that I had spray painted white and written "iPod" on in magic marker. https://t.co/Jc2nR6IwXo
— Easy Miyake (@popopopolio) July 12, 2021
Through thick and thin my faith in New York was always underpinned philosophically by the existence of the Astor Place KMart. This one hurts https://t.co/qw9uJNbgi9
— kelly farber (@kelfarbs) July 12, 2021
RIP to this incredible and bizarre place. Saved me so many times. She held out and gave NYC her all❣️ https://t.co/kwLtz9GtZ5
— Marlene Lenthang (@marlenelenthang) July 14, 2021
where my friends and i killed time between school and driver's ed 😢 https://t.co/G5jOTLeYaW
— Hannah Bloch-Wehba (@HBWHBWHBW) July 12, 2021
seeing fran lebowitz doing irritated pre-storm shopping at the astor k mart before hurricane sandy remains my favorite celeb sighting, RIP to this big box legend https://t.co/ajNnWHGPbI
— Virginia K. Smith (@vksmith) July 12, 2021
We're losing all the local businesses that made New York great. If this becomes a bookstore I'll cry. https://t.co/eBVg8KdDPh
— Matt Nedostup (@nedostup) July 12, 2021
Got a Furby there the year you couldn’t get a Furby for love or for money. I kept showing up in the toy department asking for a Furby. Finally, a shipment came in and that night I showed up asking again for Furby and they’d saved one for me! I took it to the checkout and everyone in line pointed and asked where I got the Furby. I was nervous walking home, thinking someone would follow me a steal the Furby. Got home safely and FedExed it to Canada just in time for my friend’s kid to open it on Christmas Day. Kid hated it because it was pink and he was a boy. Where’s gender fluidity when you need it?
ReplyDeleteI love every single one of those comments.
ReplyDeleteI don't have many amusing memories except maybe for the guy who was trying to cash an obviously counterfeit $100 bill by buying a pack of gum. After shutting down all the registers so all the cashiers could gather together to inspect the bill, lines backed up and people were pissed. In the end, they let him have the cash and gum!
Bye, Kmart. I took a pregnancy test in your restroom and found out I was pregnant and also went into labor while shopping for some baby things there. Good times.
ReplyDeleteIf this turns into a bookstore I'll wake up because that would only happen in a dream in 2021. More likely is joining the vast number of empty street level retail spaces as real estate patiently waits for prices to reinflate.
ReplyDeleteNo comment!
ReplyDeleteLost track of all the times I would sit in the large, never-busy, quiet cafe by a window in winter drinking hot chocolate and watching people and traffic go by. A truly Zen experience...
ReplyDeleteI love this post so much, I've read it several times. These tweets could be set to music and turned into a song. I'm not musical, or else I would give it a shot.
ReplyDeleteOne of the places I associated most with my move to NY and the EV 7 years ago, Decking out my apartment with anything and everything the bizarre basement had to sell, conveniently accessed from the station en route home from work (???). Truly a liminal space.
ReplyDeleteI bought the cutest plush stuffed strawberry here once. When I got to the register there was no price tag on it, and it was the last one. I was regretfully putting my money away when the cashier hugged it to her chest, looked at her Goliath of a manager with dewy anime eyes and said "but I want her to have it!". 5 dollars later I left with the prize and I still think about that sweet kid whenever I use it.
ReplyDeleteIt's true it was an excellent place to buy new pants for your kid after he peed in the old ones. Otherwise. Nah. Not so much. Really depressing escalators.
ReplyDeleteAlways felt like such an odd and random kmart. The selection sucked, but always used the bathrooms and bought random things like tooth paste here, or a cheap flannel when I was out and about all day and it got cold in the evening.
ReplyDelete