Demolishing Kmart - Broadway Marketplace - Denver, Colorado
The Kmart that used to anchor Broadway Marketplace, just south of downtown Denver, Colorado, fit that description. Built to replace existing outdated and abandoned retail, opening on March 24, 1994. Closing for good, 23 years later. Sitting vacant for a year, then demolished in favor of a large apartment building.
Unfortunately, this ad isn’t for the grand opening of the Broadway Marketplace Kmart, but the store in Lake Wales, Florida. Both stores were built and opened in early 1994. Sadly, the Kmart in this advertisement didn’t even last a decade. Closing in May 2002, during Kmart’s bankruptcy restructuring. Guess that manic woman didn’t do enough spinning around the clothes racks…
After this Lake Wales Kmart store closed, an indoor flea market operated inside. In 2014, the building was renovated, and opened as Rural King. Selling farm equipment, livestock feed, tools and clothing. Kind of like Kmart, only with a farm theme.
Why didn’t they call it Fmart?
Probably because when the M burned out on the sign, all the immature kids (like me) would giggle at it.
The big red K, with script “mart” in the middle was part of an early 1990’s corporate re-branding. No longer “The Saving Place”, Kmart wanted to be more… Like Big! Or Super! But they had no clue how to get there…
Kmart reached its retail peak in 1994 (around the time the Broadway Marketplace store opened), with 2,323 stores open nationwide (and 2,486 worldwide), employing around 350,000 people. What happened next was a pretty sad and steady downfall. WalMarts rose to prominence because (and it pains me to say this) they simply played the big box retail game much better than Kmart ever did. WalMarts focused on improving technology behind their inventory tracking systems, ensuring stores would be stocked with the most popular items. Kmart got worse and worse with this. Stores never had the most popular items, and no one was interested in the items that did fill their shelves.
There are many other reasons why Kmart went from over 2,300 stores, to zero in less than 30 years. Poor corporate leadership pretty much covers all of them. Kmarts ownership spent all of their energy in expanding the brand, as the brand collapsed around them. Kmart didn’t need to also own Borders bookstores or OfficeDepotMax, while they neglected what brought them to prominence. 8 years after they reached their peak, they found themselves struggling with bankruptcy. Then a hedge fund manager took over and merged Kmart with Sears. However, when you ask a hedge fund manager to right a retail ship, without knowing how retail works, too much of the company’s resources were wasted on acquiring real estate, rather than properly running retail operations.
Not a surprise Kmart ended up gone forever from the retail landscape. Corporate management lead it down that road by not knowing what they were doing, and refusing to try to make it work. Starving the big box, while buying more big boxes…
Kmart’s disappearance shocked no one, considering how they ran it.
******
Monday, January 6, 2014.
Driving east on Alameda, before turning into the Bannock Street entrance to Broadway Marketplace. Kmart would be directly behind this tacky wall, next to the sidewalk. I don’t know if it once branded the name Broadway Marketplace or not, but it really looks like it should have. This was a nice warm morning after a recent snowfall. Laura was vacationing in Minnesota for the holidays, and I was using my free time for one of my typical photo tours around town. Driving to different parts of Denver and the suburbs, taking hundreds of photos of things I had no specific use for at the time. I didn’t come up with a purpose for the thousands of Denver area photos until I started writing this blog, over 9 years ago now.
For now, I was going to take a look at Broadway Marketplace!
North end of Kmart, featuring the pharmacy and garden shop.
Kmart’s entrance, at the south end of the store. Not overly busy this morning, this appeared to be a typical amount of customers for mid-morning Monday. I’m using the former Englewood, Colorado, Kmart (1974-2017) that I frequented, as a frame of reference. I was inside the Broadway Marketplace Kmart exactly one time. It was in September of 1998. I was on my way to a Colorado Rockies game, and decided that sunscreen was a good idea, given the location of my tickets. So a single tube of sunscreen was the only item I ever purchased at this particular Kmart.
As far the rest of Broadway Marketplace goes, I never shopped anywhere here, as the buildings were so far back from Broadway, I rarely looked over when driving by. Had it been more visible, I would have paid closer attention. You had Kmart and Albertson’s on the north side of the property, smaller in-line retail walling off the complex to the west (by Cherokee Street), and a massive Sam’s Club parked on the south end, fronting Virginia Avenue. Open sprawling parking lot in the center, with Broadway serving as the east side border. A smattering of smaller buildings, both old and new, pop up facing Broadway.
All of the buildings in Broadway Marketplace shared a basic southwestern style architecture. Which made Kmart look especially strange, because I’d never seen a Kmart with a facade looking like that.
Never been inside either the Office DepotMax, or the Albertson’s grocery store.
(Surprised that I had a picture of Albertson’s, when it was still Albertson’s.)
I don’t have picture of Sam’s Club because it’s Sam’s Club… All the years I lived in Colorado, driving past Broadway Marketplace a minimum of three times a week, I never took a picture of Sam’s Club. Now that I’m writing this story, I really wish I had one. Not because of Sam’s Club, but for what it replaced...
Time to hop in the way back machine, courtesy of the Denver Public Library’s website!
Additional thanks to the Lincoln Street Community website for providing additional information about some of the non-Kmart buildings in this area.
October 19, 1928, construction progress on the $2 million Montgomery Ward & Co. Rocky Mountain Home. Wards massive building would open to the public on February 2, 1929, with a department store on the first two floors, five floors dedicated to Wards’ mail order catalog business, and the 8th floor consisting of executive offices and the employee cafeteria. Business remained strong through the 1970’s, but the retail landscape was changing. By the early 1980’s, Wards catalog business was floundering. (Many point to the 1976 acquisition by Mobil Oil Corp. as the beginning of the end of Montgomery Wards.)
Montgomery Wards sold their Denver retail and mail order center, for $10 million in 1984. Which at the time included the 900,000 square foot building, an additional large warehouse, parking lots and 26 acres of land. Shortly after, they ceased operations, packed up and left their once impressive palace of retail sales. Abandoning the property in 1985, it never found another tenant willing to update the monstrous structure. Which sucks because with a lot of effort, it could have made a great apartment building…
Early morning, on Sunday, February 14, 1993, the former Montgomery Ward & Co. Rocky Mountain Home, was imploded.
Sad to see a once spectacular structure die such a sad spectacular quick death.
And you guessed it, the land once used by Montgomery Wards, and whatever else sat to the north of it, became Broadway Marketplace. Retail evolves from the gigantic castle to a sprawling stripmall. Which has more recently evolved back into residential, as the state of retail doesn’t resemble what it was even 25 years ago.
Dating back to the fall of 1996, when I first moved to Englewood, and began exploring my new city, I became familiar with this McDonald’s, located on the southeast corner of Broadway & Alameda. Broadway and Lincoln Street were split into one way roads, north of Interstate 25. You could only drive north on Lincoln Street, and only drive south on Broadway. Alameda Avenue provided an often used turnaround point. Typically coming from the east, McDonald’s would be on your left as you waited for the light to turn, allowing you to travel south on Broadway.
I’ve never eaten at this McDonald’s.
I’m sure it’s the same as every McDonald’s.
Driving south on Broadway waiting for the light at Alameda… The strange sculpture on the right side of this picture is part of Broadway Marketplace, which really should have had some sort of sign declaring the name of this complex. Maybe it did at one point? I don’t know. I don’t remember ever seeing anything. But I wasn’t always paying attention. But let’s pretend that I enter the sculpture gates into Broadway Marketplace, and I’m going to Kmart!
“I can play my cassettes on it too!”
Here to help me out with some insider information, is disgraced former Kmart spokes-figure-thing, Dusty Lenscap. Once known as Kmart’s Goodwill Photo Ambassador. I resuscitated Dusty for the Rochester, Minnesota, Kmart story, and figured he could add his expertise for another discount big box store in the chain!
Yeah well…
You have to adapt with the times, or else you see your massive worldwide retail chain slowly disappear from the face of the planet. Reduced to a poorly reviewed website, striving to stay relevant in a market they could never compete in. It’s very sad…
Speaking of reviews, mentions of the old Broadway Marketplace Kmart have been scrubbed from the Googles, There’s still a small amount of mentions on Yelp. Who was nice enough to provide a few photos of the sales floor, when it was still open (and standing).
Yelp photo of the Kmart entrance doors, in October, 2010.
That strange discolored pattern in the brick under the big K, was a thing even back in 2010…
Random shot of the Kmart sales floor in October 2014. I did like the font choice Kmart used for the price signs, in their later years. It’s distinct, kind of like Helvetica is to Targets. This isn’t the best example since it’s in the distance and out of focus, but you get the idea.
Kmart’s limited book aisle, in January 2015. You have adult contemporary on the left and children’s books on the right. The far back wall is stocked with plastic storage drawers and some craft tape. Kmarts became more and more random as the franchise faded. There wasn’t a whole lot of rhyme nor reason for how the store’s inventory was placed/displayed in later years. Which seemed like an increasing struggle to keep any level of any quality inventory on the store shelves.
On February 8, 2015, Some woman decided that she was being treated “rudely” by the Kmart cashier, and took it upon herself to take her photo and upload it to Yelp. I don’t know if this was her attempt at shaming this poor cashier, but there isn’t much that cashier could have to done to warrant being put on blast like this…
Perhaps she may have been a little rude? From your Yelp review, I can tell exactly how you carry yourself in public. And that cashier likely had enough of your entitled, awful ass. Doubt you’d like it if that cashier took YOUR photo and posted it to Yelp, calling you a gross, spoiled, dried-up, middle aged, egomaniac, who feels she deserves special treatment from minimum wage retail workers (who are beneath her). I see directly through your fake pearl clutching.
Because I still wanted to show the Broadway Marketplace Kmart cashier stands, and their plastic-bag-go-rounds, I’ve obscured the poor maligned cashier’s face. And made her appear happy and pleasant for your camera! (Which I’m confident you likely didn’t start the encounter out with.) I made her happy, because the further away you get, the happier she becomes. Certain that’s not an isolated situation when dealing with people like you…
You get out what you put in, you stupid twat.
******
Sunday, January 22, 2017.
Through no fault of any of the Broadway Marketplace Kmart cashiers, it was announced this store would be closing in April 2017. I caught wind of this news and finally made an effort to go and see the place. It was still too early for the store to be open that day, and too cold to get out of my car. So I simply wove through the oversized parking lot for some sun-drenched exterior shots, then went on my merry way.
To the immediate left of Kmart, was a store named Cross Fit Wash Park. Unclear if they were still open at this point, but they were gone long before the building was torn down.
A better look at the entrance, on the south side of the building. I’m going to again blame cold temperatures for me not getting out of my car to take better pictures. Simply snapping photos out of an open window, as I slowly drove by. My car casting an obnoxious shadow across the handicapped parking spaces. Wish I would have sacrificed a little and walked up for a picture of an orange “store closing” poster, taped to the glass doors.
The north side of Kmart was home to the Garden Shop.
Display shelving pushed in front of the exit doors, locking shoppers inside.
Underneath the “osing” is a beautiful label scar left behind from the closure of the Little Caesars pizza shop. Previously tucked inside the Broadway Marketplace Kmart, which closed in early 2016. A year before the store did the same.
Little Caesars pizza was fairly popular in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, especially if you played Dungeons & Dragons. However, by the mid 1990’s, its popularity was waining. The chain saw a resurgence after latching onto Kmart, then developing their “Hot n Ready” program. (Rarely was it either…) In the late 1990’s, many Kmarts dropped their long running Kmart Cafeterias in favor of brining in these Little Caesars pizza stations. Those cafeterias were a traditional Kmart icon, dating back to the earliest day of their big-box stores. Ranking second to only the Blue Light Special, as most recognizable features of Kmart.
No more Pizza! Pizza!
All child safety seats and boxed futons now…
Yelp photo of what became of the Broadway Marketplace Kmart Little Caesars pizza shop, after it was shut down in early 2016. Just use it for storage! They didn’t even bother removing the old Kmart Cafe logo from the wall, before adding Little Caesars next to it. Tells you a lot about the state of Kmart in 2016…
You have my sympathies, Dusty…
Channelling my longstanding need for Public Access Television quality content, I found an unlikely tribute to the Kmart Cafe’s of years gone by, from some California teenagers in 1992…
A 1992 class project from several students at Temple City High School. They wrote, performed and filmed this video tribute to their local Kmart Cafeteria. Somewhat amusing, but I’m so happy it was put on YouTube. They’d have no idea what a time capsule they created 34 years ago.
201 Proof Television only wishes it was this cool…
But if you’d rather cook your own food…
As of January 22, 2017 (but probably earlier), Safeway has taken over Albertsons, in the Kmart parking lot.
The closing Kmart hadn’t opened yet, when I drove by the following week. Had it been open when I drove by, I planned on going in. But it was too early again, so I left and didn’t make it back before the store had closed for good.
You know, Dusty… That was common complaint about the Broadway Marketplace Kmart. Especially in the entryway for some reason. Enough Yelpers made that same statement about the store, that there had to be something to it. As soon as you walked through the front doors, it hit you. Not overpowering, just not right. No one really did a good job of explaining the origins of the odor, and it’s not like you were walking through a pile of fresh dump to reach the discount sweat socks. It was just one of those quirks, I guess…
Going back to Kmart, in order to check out that smell, didn’t happen before I read news that the store had now permanently closed. The front glass doors were all papered over. And I can find no reason why I didn’t get out of my car and snap pictures around the paper covered windows. Plenty of gaps for a camera lens existed… Pure laziness!
That paper signified the Broadway Marketplace Kmart had seen its last cash sale…
Someone that worked in the back rooms of a random Kmart, brought their camcorder to work one day in the early 1990’s. Their mission was to film the middle-aged women that worked in accounting. Piles of cash and confidential documents are shown freely in this video, showing a side of Kmart few have ever seen. Doing something like this today would likely get you sued. Fired, at best… But thank you so much for doing it!
Look out for the customer service drawing attached to a desk, that points out how obnoxious working in customer service can be.
Either way, a fascinating look at the state and sales of big box retail, from 30+ years ago.
******
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Parking lot is empty beyond some melting snow from the previous night’s dusting. That weird paint mishap looks even worse with the big K logo removed. The sign for Cross Fit Wash Park, next door, was still attached. Guessing they were still open at this time.
Since I didn’t stop to get out of the car, I simply drove south across the parking lot. Pausing for a picture of this strange statue, on what would be the corner of Bannock and Dakota. It doesn’t make sense, and doesn’t fit in with any of the other “art” in the shopping center. But there it is…
In April 2017, it was fair to say that Broadway Marketplace was failing. Vacancies were outnumbering leased storefronts, throughout the shopping center… Dollar Tree chopped down… Ace Hardware made a soft exit… Things turned ugly for Sally Beauty Supply… GNC got off the gas… Pep Boys is still going, if you care…
Radio Shack couldn’t survive here…
Of course Radio Shack couldn’t survive anywhere after 2017. Their closure as a chain was rather shocking to me. Just one of those business that was niche, but popular enough that you always imagined them surviving whatever the economy did. However, corporate mismanagement combined with a failure to adapt, spares no brick and mortar. As the 21st century has taught us. Just look at that big empty Kmart across the parking lot…
Same for the Broadway Cop Shop. Previously a volunteer run storefront that was used to assist the Denver Police Department. It provided a place for citizens to deal with non-emergency police issues, without dealing directly with a police station. It opened in March, 2017 (a month before I took this picture), and closed in 2023.
Broadway Marketplace is starting to depress me…
Let’s go over to Broadway, and look at a couple of buildings on that side of the shopping center.
This chapter of the Denver Masonic Temple is till that today. According to the Googles, this building went up in 1910. However, the Roman numerals above the second floor windows indicate the date of 1893. Which would also make sense given the area. Hmmm… Further research indicates this building was constructed in 1910, but the chapter was established in 1893. So it all makes sense now.
So what about the neighbors?
Atomic Records closed August 1, 2013. One website has the following under Company Description: “Atomic Records Denver, formerly Cheapo Discs, strives to be the best used CD, DVD and Vinyl record store you’ll find.” Well, no… If you’re talking Denver alone, explain how you would compete with Angelo’s CDs, Wax Trax or Twist and Shout? You can’t and you didn’t. That’s why they’re still going strong, and you’re a forgotten storefront that didn’t last five years. Nice mission statement, but it was ultimately meaningless.
A few years after Atomic Records closed, the building (which dates back to 1922) underwent a slow renovation to become Allure Rug. From what I could find online, Allure established this store in late 2016, but didn’t stay open here for long. While I couldn’t find out when Allure officially opened or closed, Googlesmobile drive-bys show the front windows full of graffiti with no signs of sales of rugs to be found, from 2017-2024.
I took both of these pictures in March of 2015, not long before the Atomic Records sign was taken down in favor of Allure.
Let’s go back to the west side of Broadway and look at some stuff that outlived Kmart…
There’s Taco Bell, with a small side of Pizza Hut, conveniently placed by the scourge known as Yum Brands…
I never got “food” from this Taco Bell.
However, I once had food from the Blue Bonnet Cafe, seen further down the road from the Bell. Far better food at the Blue Bonnet, which dates back to the 1930’s, even if I don’t remember much of my single visit. Which took place in the Summer of 1997. Pretty sure it was August, because it was really hot that day. One of the more wild days of Overpriced Art School…
I’d worked the overnight shift at Cherry Knolls 99, then I attended five hours of classes at Overpriced Art School. When that ended just before noon, the typical assemblage of my peers met down the street, at the Aurora Hooters. After several hours of drinking there, many of us drove back to Amy (With the Big Hooters, not to be confused with the restuarant) apartment, for more drinks and some weed. It was late on a Friday afternoon now, and those of us that didn’t have to be responsible, made our way downtown to the Capital Hill neighborhood. For more drinking… And more weed…
There was a pit stop at Joe’s house. Just for a couple of beers and some more weed. I rode along in Amy (With the Big Hooters)’ Jeep. Don’t remember who was riding in the passenger seat, but I was sitting next to Joe in the back seat. My car was left at Amy’s apartment. After our brief delay (just one beer and one bowl), we met back up with 6-8 of our fellow students at Cafe Netherworld. For more drinking… A few hours later it was after 10pm, and I’d been awake for about 27 hours. Someone proposed late dinner at the Blue Bonnet. Along with even more drinking…
Remember a vague burrito…
Remember it being good…
Remember some spinning and nausea as we made our way to our several cars, as we all went our separate ways, a bit after one am…
Remember feeling pretty pass-outable in the back of Amy’s Jeep, while bringing Joe back to his house at Colfax and Havana. The roof was off, so the stiff breeze as she drove felt somewhat calming. Joe thought it was hilarious to get real close to my face and screaming if I closed my eyes. Which garnered either laughs or me shoving him back, depending on which time he did it.
Remember Joe trying to convince Amy and I to stay and drink more with him at his house. Amy’s boyfriend was now home, and she was calling it quits on the night. My car was at her apartment, and I just wanted to get home to my shitty Englewood apartment. Now approaching 34 consecutive hours awake, and I’ve had way too much to drink over the last 12 hours…
Remember kids… Don’t drink and drive.
Remember waking up the next afternoon feeling absolutely awful, and I never want to be 22 years old again…
But I don’t remember much of anything about the Blue Bonnet Cafe.
I had meant to eat there again before moving, but never did.
Bet I would have liked it if I was sober…
******
When an abandoned building enters my radar as a space I want to follow, I’d make a point of doing somewhat regular “wellness checks” on it, during my drives around town. I knew that Broadway Marketplace’s Kmart was now closed, so I need to pay closer attention to what was happening with it.
Sunday, October 8, 2017.
Yup…Kmart is still closed…
Sunday, April 8, 2018.
Kmart’s still closed…
But now there’s a temporary chain link fence around the perimeter.
Something is about to happen here…
******
Sunday, April 29, 2018.
I discovered the Broadway Marketplace Kmart’s demolition, on the same day as my North Denver drive around. I’d driven up to the area where the I-70 Viaduct was, to take pictures of that part of town. Never spent much time up there, so I wanted to see it before we moved out of state. story
Where I found the incredibly awesome abandoned Deno’s 6 & 85 restaurant!
And then I learned of Deno’s fiery end…
I wrote a lengthy story about what I found on that day’s drive, in October 2025. (post 305, October 2025) That story spawned from this one. All of the demolition pictures I’m about to show, were taken during part of that day’s drive. Last October, I was going to finish the Broadway Marketplace Kmart story I’d started over 5 years ago. Restarted and put on hold many times. When I restarted it last fall, I found my pictures of Deno’s, and the I-70 Viaduct area, and wanted to tell that story far more than Kmart. So it was put on hold again…
But it’s finally Broadway Marketplace Kmart’s turn to see a long procrastinated story completed!
We’ll pick up driving was on Alameda, approaching the railroad bridges that run about 2 blocks west of where Kmart was…
Always liked the dual railroad bridges over Alameda Avenue.
Driving up the hill after those bridges I always liked, I’m seeing more than half of the Kmart has been reduced to piles of rubble. Guess I’ll be pulling into the parking lot and going for a walk, before hitting Twist & Shout. Parked my car on the northeast corner of the temporary fence, and walked around the entire block. Taking over 100 photos of Kmart’s demolition on all sides.
Perpetrators of Kmart’s demolition, parked outside where a wall reading “Pharmacy” stood a few days earlier.
Considered myself pretty lucky to have found Kmart today. While much of the building had been torn down, the front entrance was largely still together. Partially demolished buildings with a significantly recognizable feature intact, are always my favorite photos to take.
Kmart’s crumbled walls, ruining the lawn next to the sidewalk.
Always fun to look at demolition piles for recognizable things left behind. (Or possibly thrown on later, by people looking to ditch stuff.) Looking at the left side of this picture, I see a blue Rubbermade-style plastic tote storage tub. Along with several buckets, semi-crushed in the brick and concrete. One of the light poles, that used to line the sidewalk, in sitting on the pile, as well.
But that yellow thing on the pile caught my eye…
ENHANCE!!!
Most likely not the case, but I like to think this toboggan was the very last piece of merchandise left inside the store, when the Broadway Marketplace Kmart ceased operations, in April 2017. No one was willing to plop down the pocket change during those final hour, 95% off sales. When the last employee left for the last time, he/she looked at the plastic sled and bid it farewell. You are going down with the ship. See you on the other side.
Segment of the intact roof revealing a hint of the interior. A very Kmart red painted wall reaches the ceiling. Which can be seen in earlier posted Yelp photos.
While doing my patented half-assed research for this story, I found an interesting employee training video on the YouTubes. It’s from 1998, which doesn’t really fit the 1994 theme I’d hoped to maintain here. But since it’s so fascinating, I’ll allow it…
Kmart tried to get in on the online shopping shift early on, test running this campaign at limited stores in 1998. I know that I -and just about everybody else in 1998- was stuck using dial-up internet connections, so trying to accomplish online shopping would be difficult at best. I remember it taking forever to browse and place an order with CDNow, back then. Through no fault of the site…
The funniest part of this 6 minute promotional video is how they attempt to make the entire process look extremely smooth. Given technology of that time, it would have been anything but. Not a very good job drawing actual computer screens, on top of turned off monitors, either…
Ironic they test ran, but quickly shelved, one of the things that would kill them as a retail giant. They finally attempted to grow with the times, and gave up too early. Revived only when it was far too late. Other companies stuck with developing an online presence, and left Kmart in the dust…
Dust from the smashed concrete coming from their demolished big-box retail stores.
Moving onto the front entrance, which is what I’m most interested in. Now that the big Kmart logo sign has been taken down, a letter G label scar is now visible. That G helped me figure out why that paint pattern is so strange, and had been for many years…
So this was originally a “Big Kmart”. As opposed to a “Super Kmart”, which had a full grocery store inside. Englewood had a Super, Broadway Market place only had a Big. Likely because there was an Albertson’s/Safeway in the parking lot. Still, knowing what the previous sign looked like, why did they not finish what they stared when the “Big Kmart” sign was removed.
Lack of attention to detail absolutely contributed to Kmart’s downfall.
That Kmart facade looked stupid for years and it was never fixed. Does it matter? Not to them apparently… Does it matter for long-term public perception? Absolutely.
The Kmart entrance doors, with open air and collapsing roof behind them.
So happy to get a picture like this!
More of this!
Plus a sign attached to the door. I’d hoped you’d able to read it in this picture, but you can’t. I was too far away and it’s reduced too small to read. But with my higher resolution originals, I can read it! So it says: “Welcome shoppers. If you need assistance, please stop at our customer service desk. Solicitation or distribution of printed material of any kind on these premises is strictly prohibited.”
Underneath all that, are four pictures. I can make out: “No bare feet” and “No smoking”, but the other two are harder… Think one of them is something about service animals, and the other one says: “Stuff Portland”.
Walking away from the entrance, and down to the southeast corner of the temporary chain link fence. Looking northward, up what would technically be the alley between Bannock Street and Cherokee Street. Cross Fit Wash Park would have been in the storefront to the left of Kmart. With plywood covered entrance doors, so someone must have smashed them open recently. Likely to get at all that cool Cross Fit inside!
Zooming in to attempt a picture of the Kmart vestibule (all my best to you and yours), and that perfectly placed pile of broken bricks. Just to remind you there’s a building being torn down here… Seriously, why are those bricks there? No demolition work is being done anywhere near them. Did some of the workers make of one of the annoying, slower guys on the crew, move some bricks there by hand, just to laugh at him while he did it?
I’ve worked with people that would do stuff like that…
And I’ve not been above doing that stuff in the past either…
Zooming in on the zooming in…
Guess a Kmart shopping cart is going down with the ship as well...
You know what else has already gone down with the ship?
The Broadway Marketplace Kmart Photo Department!
Say… Wouldn’t that would be Dusty’s old gig?
Check it out Dusty! Kmart produced a commercial to specifically promote their photo department, in 1994. This had to have been the perfect opportunity for you to share your photographic expertise with the expanding customer base. So how come I didn’t see you in this 30 second spot?
Wow… Guess that tells you where you stand…
You could always do laundry…
March, 2015, photo of the Goodheart Laundry and Towel Supply Company building.
Which has sat on the northwest corner of Broadway and Dakota Avenue, for over 130 years. Built in 1893, by Auguste Courvoisier, as a store to sell his jewelry. He’d been selling jewelry in Denver for about 20 years before setting up shop at this location. Five years later, he died on the front steps. In 1901, area resident Luke Goodheart, founded the Goodheart Laundry and Towel Supply Company, inside the Courvoisier building.
A brief write up on Lincoln St Community includes these cool nuggets of background: “Some workers insisted the place was haunted possibly by a ghost of a woman who had been killed in a laundry vat in the 1930’s on the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor had also been a boxing ring and some said that at night it sounded as if old fashioned laundry equipment was grinding away.”
For several years, the Goodheart Laundry building housed a Starbucks, which wasn’t a good location for their business. No drive through possible here… When so much of your business is going to come from early morning southbound traffic, access to overpriced coffee type drinks caused a significant delay in a morning commute. Don’t fret for Starbucks… We’ll get to their move in a moment.
Also want to point out that since you couldn’t easily see Broadway Marketplace from Broadway, a series of tombstones were placed along the sidewalk, advertising what businesses were inside the marketplace. Nearly 2 blocks of parking lot away from you. I’m calling them tombstones, not only because they look like tombstones, but because of all the businesses listed on them are dead. Only one (Office DepotMax) is still open today. Sally Beauty Supply and Ace Hardware are gone, Albertson’s was taken over by Safeway, and I have no Idea what happened to Kmart…
Sileo Computers is no where to be found either.
The paint has faded so much that you can barely read “Goodheart Laundry” on the chimney, but the heart is set in the brick. When this building was renovated, the lettering on the chimney absolutely should have been repainted. However, I would not ever sign up for doing that. My fear of heights would cripple me. So full props to whomever did this first.
Really like the brickwork on this building. An architectural design trend that sorely needs to make a comeback. Buildings in general from the last 30 years are so damn boring and ugly. This one has real character. That vertical sign read Antiques for years (to reflect the Goodheart Antique store that ran on the first floor). According to recent Googlesmobile drive-bys, the sign has been changed back to read Goodheart. As it did 100 years ago. Goodheart Animal Health Center operates here, and has adopted the name.
A block or so south of the Goodheart Laundry building, on the other side of Broadway, sat Caboose Hobbies. A long running model train store (that once employed actor Gary Coleman, of The Kid with the Broken Halo fame) that closed in late 2016. It was demolished in the spring of 2017, to allow construction of a brand new Starbucks! The old Starbucks location, inside the Goodheart Laundry building has been taken over by Chase Bank.
Which still doesn’t have a drive through lane.
When I drove through the Broadway Marketplace parking lot in January 2014, I didn’t realize what I was taking a picture of here. Just seemed like some work going on in the parking lot. Later, I discovered this was part of the project that cut a street sized hole in the Broadway Marketplace in-line retail building. Allowing Dakota Ave to pass straight through to Cherokee Street. You can once again drive west from Broadway, to the residential areas behind the retail area. Very important considering what would be coming to Broadway Marketplace…
Googlesmobile photo of the Fashion Bug, from August, 2007. The former Fashion Bug was squashed flat in lat 2013. With a new road created in its place. I knew none of this was going on, because I never cared about Broadway Marketplace, on the occasion I drove by.
Here’s the new segment of Dakota Avenue, in May 2014, from a Googlesmobile drive by. You can’t see the Rocky Mountains from here anymore. 5 and 6 story apartment buildings have long since blocked that view…
Let’s get back to April 29, 2018. I’ve now rounded the corner of what used to be Cross Fit Wash Park, and this is the back of that building. Kmart’s south facing exterior wall is behind it.
More of Kmart’s south facing exterior wall.
Turning around from that last photo, because I wanted one of the oddly specific Tools For Bending company. Don’t even think of going there if you need Tools For Cutting, Tools For Repairing or Tools For Building. They only sell Tools For Bending! So if you need a screwdriver, take your ass on over to Ace Hardware!
Oh wait…
We ain’t got no hammers either, they sell those at Kmart!
Oh yeah…
Southwest corner of Kmart, with two loading docks. Doesn’t seem like enough for a store this size. Perhaps that’s why Kmarts always seemed to be running out of the stuff you would particularly want. They always had plenty of garbage that never sold. Because it would just accumulate without ever going out the door.
Walking around that corner, I quickly realized how much of Kmart had already been demolished. Also really would have preferred a cloudy day for these pictures. The sun was blinding, and also created some wicked shadows. A photo like this had to be completely blown out in order to see any detail on the back wall. And I also wanted to look up Cherokee Street.
So this picture sucks and I really wanted it to look good.
Closer look at the border between intact and destroyed.
Another photo that I really had to blow out. Worth it because It shows the wall separating the retail floor from the back area storage. I’d imagine this same space stretched the length of the building, offices, staff area and storage for all the cheap merchandise that never sold enough to sustain the poor decisions at the top. Would really have been cool to see that space in the dying days of this Kmart.
Walking down a bit further into the area where building debris is being sorted. Along the back wall, sat piles of concrete and brick, rebar and metal. I liked how the piles are neatly split, with a walkway in between. Almost like sections of a retail store being kept in some sort of order to the last possible day. These sorting piles were also along the fallen front walls. But there was more stuff they couldn’t recycle, pushed to the front of the site. Likely to get it out of the way first. It can be hauled out on trucks while further sorting is done on site.
Think it’s time for a word from our sponsor…
I have zero memory of the Bonjour Girls line of teen clothing.
Then again, that shouldn’t surprise me.
But you can’t make a more 1994 commercial than this…
Before we take a look at some more sides of the Broadway Marketplace Kmart, let’s give this fallen structure a little more of a human side.
Say Dusty… Tell me something about Kmart that I didn’t know. Something that makes a cold and uncaring retail machine, seem more relatable…. Like a nice human interest story or something positive?
That’s not cool Dusty.
Anyways…
To my left of the debris hallway, was set out stairs, leading up to what would have been an emergency exit from the Kmart.
Also, where the bike lane begins!
The opposite side of the emergency exit stairs, had an emergency exit ramp.
I’m positive no skateboarder ever used that ramp and stairs…
And no skateboarder ever had to be chased off by Kmanagers…
Northwest corner of what used to be Kmart.
Those rocks by the electrical boxes are intentional, and not pieces of broken big box…
Northwest corner exit from Kmart. The fence from the old Garden Shop is now holding back piles of bent and ripped apart roof panels and trusses. Far cry from flowers and bushes…
Alameda Avenue is on your left, in case you were getting lost.
At least Broadway Marketplace was still putting some effort into keeping up the landscaping. Not counting the very dead tree in the center, of course… Actually fits nicely with the partially demolished Kmart as a backdrop.
Looking into the part of Kmart’s Garden Shop that is now an access point. Clearly sorted piles of recyclable material sit in the now open floorplan. Metal cleaned way from concrete is placed here, center of store is set aside for concrete and sorting. The far end is still being taken down. So nothing is stored or sorted there. I like this because you can see behind the entrance, and the round top of the sign.
So I better zoom in on that!
And the coiled up firehoses, ready to strike if provoked.
That used to be a roof.
Northeast corner of Kmart.
More pieces of rook and a little ripped up pavement.
Far as Kmart was concerned, if only there had been a way to stop the bleeding…
More coiled up firehoses to watch out for…
At least this family is tied up to keep unaware passersby safe.
And they even left them a bottle of water in case they get thirsty!
What a great idea!
I’d now completed my walk around the Broadway Marketplace Kmart.
One last shot of what’s left of the front entrance doors, and I’m on my way to Twist & Shout.
I’ll check back before Laura and I move to Minnesota, at the end of May (2018).
In 2007, Kmart debut their new mascot, Mr. Bluelight, for TV, print, and in-store advertising. (I really wanted him to be named “Bulby”.) Obviously a tie-in with Kmart’s long abandoned “Blue Light Specials” campaign. Where a blue light would pop up in a random part of the store at unadvertised random times, for a limited promotional sale. Kmart quit the idea of Blue Light Specials decades earlier, but they thought this character would bring people back. It certainly didn’t. Perhaps his catchphrase: “There's Smart, and there's Kmart Smart!" was a little tone deaf when you took a look inside the stores…
Nothing there was smart.
Certainly the people running the company weren’t very smart…
Meant to be cute, it did very little to sway the general public back to the Big K.
Dood! You put cameras in the women’s restroom!
******
Sunday, May 13, 2018
I made another Broadway Marketplace Kmart wellness check exactly two weeks later.
The only thing left of the building, was a small pile of debris where Cross Fit Wash Park used to be.
The only thing left of Kmart itself, was the floor. No walls… No blue lights… Just the floor. Which would be ripped up after we left town, to allow apartment building construction to begin. But I wouldn’t be around to see it, Laura and I left Colorado 18 days later, and I haven’t been back since.
Sadly…
I don’t have any idea what happened at the end of business, on the day the Broadway Marketplace Kmart closed.
But I would imagine it went similar to this…
One of the saddest of all retail videos are recordings of any given store’s Final PA Announcement. The store manager of this Kmart in McMurray, Pennsylvania (opened in 1993), made these closing announcements, 5 minutes before the store closed permanently, on October 14, 2018. He had worked for 18 years in this store, since he was 16 years old.
Stuff like this shows you the human side of these faceless corporations. Behind the uncaring ownership, looking out only for corporate shareholders, are the people that actually kept the company functioning. Dedicating large chunks of their lives, making these stores human. Not only for the shoppers, but for all the people that make a living working for them. Easy to look at it as “just go get another retail job”, but as someone who has worked retail, those stores become more. Customers suck, but as employees, it’s a boat you are in together. A community within a community. You develop bonds with the people you work with.
Trauma bonds possibly?
But the ever evolving state of retail today calls for drastically less big-boxes like Kmart, and there are arguments to be made that we’re not better off for it. Doesn’t matter in the long run. Kmart had their time, and due to mismanagement at the highest levels, they’re no longer around. Former employees have moved on to new careers, and shoppers have simply changed their habits.
Life goes on, but sometimes you need to look back to understand where you’re going.
******
The Broadway Marketplace Kmart itself is now the 6 story RYE SoBo and AMLI Broadway Park Apartments.
Obviously housing for however many people that live here, is a far better use for the land than an abandoned Kmart, so that’s cool. But a studio apartment is going for close to $1900/month… For 586 square feet of living space… (A 1,500 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, is only $4,000/month…) Addressing a need, but only for those who can afford it!
Yeah, that doesn’t even deserve a token photo.
Have some dignity, Dusty…
I used to work at this Kmart in 2010-2011. I believe I may still have some pictures of the back room and lounge area. Fun fact, there was a second floor towards the back Northwest end of the store. Part of the second floor was where we would stage layaway items and the rest was back room storage for TV’s, some household items like blankets, comforter sets, and store fixtures.
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