Looking At Walmart

Retail_247

In this blog we will be looking at Walmart locations of past and present.

Walmart, 929 S Pine St, Vivian, LA 71082

Date of image: 2021

Store still open: yes

This is one of the oldest operating Walmart stores that I have ever seen. You can even still see the labelscar of the older logo.

Walmart, 2643 NW 13th St Unit 20, Gainesville, FL 32609

Date of image: 2011

Store still open: no

This store originally started out as Woolco before becoming a Walmart. This store has since closed or moved.

Walmart, 2050 76 Country Blvd, Branson, MO 65616
Date of image: 2018
Store still open: yes

What we have here is a late 70's / early 80's Walmart "Discount City" store which is surprisingly still operating in it's original building.

Walmart, 7070 Aaron Aronov Dr, Fairfield, AL 35064
Date of image: 2017
Store still open: no

This store was originally Woolco before it was Walmart.

Vintage Walmart labelscar.

The reason why this store closed is because it moved to a supercenter in the plaza right next door...

...Which also eventually closed. (in 2016)
So now there's currently two abandoned Walmart stores pretty much right next to each other.

and when I say "pretty much right next to each other"

That's not an understatement
(Image via Google Earth)

Walmart, Walmart, 2900 Memorial Pkwy SW, Huntsville, AL 35801
Date of image: 2013
Store still open: No

This Walmart is in a former Kmart, and they didn't even change the building style. This store moved to a supercenter in 2014.

Walmart, 2705 E Parleys Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84109
Date of image: 2021
Store still open: Yes

Here's another Walmart in a former Kmart with the building still being unchanged.

Walmart, 1220 Old Country Rd, Westbury, NY 11590
Date of image: 2018
Store still open: Yes

Can you guess what this store originally was?

Yup, it's another former Kmart.

Walmart, 875 E H St, Chula Vista, CA 91910
Date of image: 2019
Store still open: yes

Yet again, another former Kmart.

Walmart, 1739 S Victoria Ave, Ventura, CA 93003
Date of image: 2019
Store still open: Yes

That is a unique building design, I must say. This probably wasn't originally a Walmart.

What Walmart looks like from the road. Image from 2021.

Image from 2007.

Ah, of course, another former Kmart. Even for Kmart that building design is still pretty unique. Also, check out that vintage Kmart sign.

Walmart, 844 N Colony Rd, Wallingford, CT 06492
Date of image: 2021
Store still open: Yes

This is the final Walmart store in a former Kmart that I will be showing. This store was originally a Super Kmart Center. There has been a few Super Kmart to Walmart conversions (believe it or not) but they all pretty much look the same so this is the only one I will be showing.

Walmart, 88 E Orangethorpe Ave, Anaheim, CA 92801
Date of image: 2021
Store still open: yes.

This building originally started out as a Zody's discount department store and later became 2 different grocery stores. The building still resembles Zody's.

Walmart, 1550 Leucadia Blvd, Encinitas, CA 92024
Date of image: 2018
Store still open: yes

Former Expo Design Center. Expo was a chain of stores created by The Home Depot as a concept type thing. The Expo chain was closed in 2009.

The store as Expo in 2007.

I'm surprised Walmart hasn't remodeled any of these stores to be honest.

Walmart 3300 Broadway Bayshore Mall, Eureka, CA 95501
Date of image: 2019
Store still open: yes

Former Gottshalk's department store.

If you look closely, you might be able to see a Gottshalk's labelscar. (You can specifically see the letter "S" near the 2nd pillar thing)

The store appears to have since been repainted.

Walmart, 1000 E Imperial Hwy, La Habra, CA 90631
Date of image: 2020
Store still open: yes

We've seen Kmart locations become Walmart, but what about Target?

Image of the same store from 2007.

At least Walmart found a way of making the old Target sign work for them.

Walmart, 15555 Hesperian Blvd, San Leandro, CA 94579

Date of image: 2019

Store still open: yes

Once again, another Walmart in a former Target Store. This building originally started out as Gemco before Target. Target remodeled Gemco's exterior while Walmart didn't remodel Target's exterior at all.

One thing that Target, nor walmart didn't change is Gemco's infamous triangle sign, which was common for their stores.

Walmart, 3705 E South St, Long Beach, CA 90805

Date of image: 2018

Store still open: yes

From what I've read, this store originally started out as a FedMart but later became Target before it was Walmart.

Unique building design.

Is that a Target labelscar?

Close up of the previous image

Photo of the store in 2022

Walmart, 5500 Grossmont Center Dr, La Mesa, CA 91942
Image date: 2021
Store still open: yes

Former Montgomery Ward. This store has 2 floors according to images on Google Maps.

Walmart, 1238 Putty Hill Ave Suite 5, Towson, MD 21286
Image date: 2021
Store still open: yes

Another former Montgomery Ward. This store has 2 floors.

Walmart, 3460 El Camino Ave, Sacramento, CA 95821
Image date: 2018
Store still open: no

Supposedly, this store was also another former Montgomery Ward. This store closed in 2018. Looking at photos on Google Maps it would appear that this store also had 2 floor before it closed.

Walmart, 7455 W Colfax Ave, Lakewood, CO 80214
Image date: 2019
Store still open: yes

This is one of the most unique retail store building I have ever seen.

Walmart, 1804 E Ashlan Ave, Fresno, CA 93726
Image date: 2021
Store still open: yes

Woolco, Kmart, Target, Montgomery Ward and now Mervyn's. I know of 6 Mervyns store which later became Walmart (one of them closing in 2018 and the other one opening as a Neighborhood Market store) While i'm not going to show you all of the Walmart stores which became Mervyn's here's few of them.

Now why Walmart (a discount department store chain) would buy several locations from Mervyn's (a department store chain similar to Kohl's) is unknown to me. If Walmart acquired several former Kmart locations or Bradlees locations (which they have) that would make more since because those are discount chains like Walmart.

The store as Mervyn's (2008)

Walmart, 575 Saturn Blvd, San Diego, CA 92154
Image date: 2019
Store still open: yes

Another former Mervyn's

Walmart, 12620 SE 41st Pl, Bellevue, WA 98006
Image date: 2018
Store still open: yes

Another former Mervyns

Also, another thing to note about this Walmart is that it's inside of a mall that also has a Target store right next to the Walmart.

Walmart, 51 Silver Spring St, Providence, RI 02904

Image date: 2019

Store still open: yes

This building used to be an Ames department store. Walmart tore down the original Ames building to build their store.

The only reason why I bring this store up is because of what this sign used to look like.

The sign used to look like this in 2007. Even though the store is still Walmart, if you look right under their logo you can still see the Ames slogan "Bargains By The Bagful" which for some reason Walmart didn't remove at the time.

Walmart, 1501 SW Wanamaker Rd, Topeka, KS 66604
Image date: 2021
Store still open: yes

Former Hypermart USA, a store concept by Walmart which was their first attempt at a hypermarket (a grocery store and discount store combination)

Basically Hypermart USA was Walmart Supercenter before Walmart Super Center existed.

Walmart, 6721 Chesapeake Center Dr, Glen Burnie, MD 21060
Image date: 2019
Store still open: yes

This Walmart used to be a Leedmark store. Leekmark was a former chain of Hypermarkets.

What the store looked like in 2008. It still had the original building design from Leedmark. (sorry for the poor image quality)

Walmart, 1 Franklin Mills Blvd Philadelphia PA 19154

Image date: 2019

Store still open: No

This store used to Bradlees but before that it was Carrefour, another chain of Hypermarkets. Carrefour had only 2 store in the U.S. before closing both of them in the 90's. This Walmart moved to a supercenter close by.

Walmart, 1032 Fort Street Mall, Honolulu, HI 96813

Image date: 2019

Store still open: Y̶e̶s̶ (store is slated to close in 2023)

Walmart on a city street corner? Seems pretty uncommon. Looking at images on Google Maps it would appear that this store also has two floors.

It would also appear that this Walmart is a former Macy's.

Walmart, 15333 W National Ave, New Berlin, WI 53151

Image date: 2017

Store still open: No

At first I thought it was kind of odd to see a Green Walmart but than I saw the Red Dollar Tree sign, which doesn't make it any less, weird but still.

Now that is a visible labelscar.

The store in 2011.

Walmart, 656 New Haven Ave, Derby, CT 06418

Image date: 2018

Store still open: No

Another former store with a very vivid labelscar. Also not to mention, this store is a former Caldor location.

Walmart, 201 N Nellis Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89110

Image date: 2021

Store still open: Yes

I've never seen light fixtures like this at Walmart (or anywhere really), so they kind of stuck out to me.

The store in 2011 with the old Walmart motto.

Where's the star? This store, apparently, is so old that the sign on the front of the building never even had the logo with star on it (which was introduced in 1992)