Large Void + Beautiful View as You Drive South in Fort Collins, Colorado

The Midtown Fort Collins Kmart closed in May of 2016. Earlier this year, 2023, the building was finally demolished. All the other buildings and businesses that shared the parking lot to the south are also gone.

For the 23 years I have lived in Fort Collins, there were buildings in this parking lot on the northwest corner of Drake and College. Now, you can see the CSU Vet Teaching Hospital and the mountains. There's a void that grabs your attention when you drive by. Like a window, where a wall once was.

Soon construction is set to start on a brand new "123,000-square-foot King Soopers with a gas station on the site" according to a report from the Coloradoan.

Kmarts are disappearing all over the country. The public knew Kmart was in trouble when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002. On June 6, 2023, Brostocks reported that there were "8 remaining US Kmart store locations still open".

I grew up outside of Durango, Colorado. Long before there was Walmart there, there was a Kmart. Remember the "blue light special"? We got our first dog from a person with a box of "free puppies" outside of Kmart. The first time I bought makeup, it was from Kmart. The silver bracelet a cute boy gave me, was from Kmart.

Regarding the Fort Collins location, I may have shopped there 3 times. They just weren't my store. But seeing a Kmart was always full of nostalgia. Now, I notice the void. At least the view reminds us all of how beautiful is to have mountains to the west.'