I Occasionally Forget That The Watertown Kmart is Gone Forever

Isn't it funny when you do something out of habit, and it turns out to be impossible? I still have the urge to shop at the old Kmart on Straits Turnpike in Watertown once in awhile, even though it permanently closed in December 2019.

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I guess I'm stuck in time, just like the Watertown Kmart used to be. That store looked basically the same over the course of my shopping lifetime there, 30-40 years? The flooring was beat to hell from millions of feet, the Garden Center was filled with the funk of 40+ years of fertilizer, manure, and mulch bags, the cash register area was tight, but I loved it. It was so convenient. I remember going there with my grandma, my parents, dropping $75 on Christmas tree ornaments and the latest wrapping paper.

I knew where everything was, and it was never crowded, maybe on Sunday? Unlike the Waterbury Kmart on Wolcott Street, which had received all of the corporate makeover money over the years. The two-story Kmart that was in Southbury Plaza - fully renovated and updated, but not the Watertown store. Watertown Kmart looked like they let it be from 1978. If I needed oil for my car, a hand towel, shaving cream, a Hallmark card, or a really cheap pair of shorts, it was my go-to.

I like all the work that they've done at the Ten Acre Mall, and all of the businesses that have moved into the former Kmart building. I'm definitely not raging against the Amazon machine, I use it, but it was nice to have the immediacy of that variety right down the street. That's why I still think about that place and have the urge to shop there 28 months too late.