• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Amish 365
  • About
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • Amish Marketplace
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Amish Recipes
    • Amish Culture
    • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Everything Amish » Plain Culture

    SIGH, Bye-Bye Beerman

    Published: Jan 3, 2017 · Updated: Jan 3, 2017 by Kevin Williams | 9 Comments

    elder1elder2By Kevin Williams

    I often lament the loss of store chains from yesteryear. But my hometown seems to get hit especially hard not by chains that are necessarily closing up shop altogether, but ones who just no longer think the economic climate of my town is viable.

    SIGH, I still find myself missing Kmart which closed its doors in my town in 2009.  The space has been since been redeveloped and divided an is now a Big Lots and Tractor Supply.  A couple of years ago, Target, fled my town too.  That left us with just a handful of stores left to get a last minute Christmas gift for someone or buy a shirt.  Dillard's fled town years ago also.  Elder-Beerman (owned by Bon-Ton) is in the process of winding down operations in my town.  That store has been a mainstay in my town since I was born.  My Aunt is 83 years old and has worked there for as long as I can remember but she'll be out of a job once things wind down, although, at 83 I think she was itching to retire anyway.  These are photos my Dad took the other day in the Elder-Beerman looking positive picked clean and ghostly in its final days.

    And, then, sheesh, I just saw a list of yet more stores Sears and Kmart are shuttering.   I've been to a few of the stores on this list: Crystal River and Sarasota are two towns that I have been to and I've been in the Kmart in Crystal River, I am fairly certain.

    So are there are any Sears or Kmart stores in your hometown on this list?  Will you miss them?

     

     

    http://www.businessinsider.com/list-of-sears-and-kmart-stores-closing-2016-12

    « The Amish Cook: This One's For the Birds
    Only Two Shakers Left? »

    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. tomthebackroadstraveller

      January 03, 2017 at 4:04 pm

      Oh Kevin, there is alway Amazon!

      Reply
    2. Amy Roark

      January 03, 2017 at 5:03 pm

      I also miss our local K-mart that closed over a year ago. I was just mentioning to my mom how I miss our former Kmart at Christmas time. It seemed like they always had some affordable finds for decor, Christmas needs etc. It seems as these chains leave a piece of my youth does too. I remember shopping at Sears with my dad in the tool or appliance department. The Sears where we use to live closed several years ago. I guess my kids will remember Target and Walmart the way I remember the stores of my youth.

      Reply
      • Kevin

        January 04, 2017 at 9:41 am

        Where was your former Kmart? Seemed like Greater Cincinnati used to have Kmarts all over now I am hard-pressed to think of any that are still around......

        Reply
        • Linda from KY

          January 04, 2017 at 10:44 pm

          There is still a K-Mart on the Dixie Highway in Erlanger, KY, which is part of the Greater Cincinnati area. I don't shop there very often, but I have been there fairly recently.

        • Kevin

          January 04, 2017 at 11:42 pm

          Good to know, Linda...I hope you shop there as often as you can, I'd hate to lose another in Cincinnati area!

    3. Aimee

      January 03, 2017 at 9:43 pm

      That's a shame about all the stores closing! I've run the gamut of towns that had very little shopping and so going to a mall 20-30 miles away was a real occasion. And I once lived in a town near one of the largest shopping malls in the country. Have also lived in towns with shopping in the middle range of availability.

      I remember Elder-Beerman fondly from when I lived in Indiana; it was a nice store.

      Sears and K-Mart have been going downhill for a long time, and their slide doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

      Reply
      • Kevin

        January 04, 2017 at 9:40 am

        Aimee, SIGH, you are right...don't know what, if anything, can stop the Sears-Kmart slide....it's just a different retail environment right now and those stores are dinosaurs...I am a fan of them and would hate to see them disappear, but that is the direction it is going....

        Reply
    4. Karen Dulin

      January 04, 2017 at 2:12 am

      Yes Kevin, our K-Mart in Hopkinsville Ky. is closing. I will definitely miss ours. I buy certain items of clothing at our K-Mart...that I can't get at Wal-Mart.

      Reply
      • Kevin

        January 04, 2017 at 9:38 am

        Always good to hear from you, Karen....too bad about your local Kmart closing, I do miss ours!

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

    More about me →

    Latest Amish Recipes

    • Homemade Chocolate Crunch Easter "Eggs"
      Homemade Coconut Crunch Easter Eggs
    • 5 Amish Copycat Recipes (Fast-Food Favorites: Big Mac Dressing, Pizza Hut, and More!)
    • Amish Wedding Customs and Traditions
    • Amish Wedding Cake
      Amish Wedding Cake Recipe
    dutchcrafters

    Download The "Almost Amish" Ebook

    Footer

    Footer

    About

    • About The Amish Editor
    • Download "Almost Amish" Ebook
    • Amish Communities
    • Amish Marketplace

    Contact

    • Work With Us
    • Contact

    *As a member of various affiliate programs I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2000 - 2020 Amish 365 | Powered by Touch The Road