In this 2001 file photo, Nicole Dingle, 5, of North East, spins in delight at the flashing blue light in the Kmart store at Summit Towne Centre.,
ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE
USA TODAY Network, Reuters
Remember shopping for everything from sneakers to tires at Kmart?
There were four Kmart stores in Erie County in the chain’s heyday, and they were “a way of life” for both shoppers promised low prices and staff offered pensions, free life insurance and paid holidays and vacations, according to early employment ads.
The first local Kmart opened on West 26th Street at Peninsula Drive in Millcreek during the 1965 Christmas shopping season, the second on Buffalo Road at Nagle Road in Harborcreek four years later. Stores on East Grandview Boulevard in Erie and in Summit Towne Centre in Summit Township followed.
Shoppers and staff have shared memories of the bargains that they found and the work that they did there, and even connections made at the stores that thrive to this day:
There was a “blue light” bargain that one shopper couldn’t possibly use but couldn’t resist.Associates decked out in festive “uniforms” for a Black Friday sale.And a couple that met working at Kmart and posed for their wedding photos beneath the Big K sign.
The last local Kmart closed seven years ago. But the memories live on in a story coming Sept. 24 to GoErie.com and in the Sunday edition of the Erie Times-News.
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Kmart memories live on for Erie shoppers and staff
Reporting by Valerie Myers, Erie Times-News / Erie Times-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Copyright Reuters or USA Today via Reuters Connect
This story was originally published September 23, 2026 at 10:21 AM.