kmart hearsay

Discussion in 'General Shaving Talk' started by haroldwashington, Nov 9, 2019.

  1. i chatted with what remains of kmart.com and they told me that they were selling most not all of the proraso products from 1995 onward, then why would someone say that proraso was virtually unknown in america up until 2007 then???? why wasnt proraso as popular like gillette or schick then???
     
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  2. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    Perhaps because by the mid 1990s Kmart was already losing massive amounts of traffic to Walmart, Target, etc.
     
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  3. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    Not to mention that Gillette and Schick spend billons of dollars on advertising.

    I'm sure it was probably just as popular though... In Italy.
     
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  4. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    There is a Kmart near me, which was built no later than the 1970s. I never saw any Proraso products there from 1980 until about 10 years ago. Not sure about the last 10 years, but that is well after 1995.

    Proraso was not as popular as Gillette or Edge canned gel because Gillette and Edge took up most of the shelf space, along with some canned foam and a very few other products. Proraso was allocated something around 0 percent. If you don't believe me, contact some of the supermarkets and drug stores and ask them if they ever sold Proraso.
     
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  5. stingraysrock

    stingraysrock PIF'd away his custom title

    The only things I remember of Kmart was being taken there by my Grandmother in the early 1970's to eat wilted lettuce and bologna sandwiches at the lunch counter, and of course, the blue light specials.
     
  6. brit

    brit in a box

    i remember the cheaper pre china stuff at k-mart in the early 80s,knew staff members,went to the christmas parties etc..don't remember seeing anything like proraso in the soap isle..
     
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  7. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    ... Dad taking mom, myself, and two younger brothers on Friday or Saturday evenings. It was a social outing where we'd walk most of the store. Us guys would eat Spanish peanuts with the red skins on, hot and greasy from under the lights. Mom got a special smaller bag of blanched peanuts. We didn't often purchase anything else, just peanuts. And walk around the store. Somewhere in the suburbs of Chicago.

    Later other department stores began to appear. Better merchandise, better snack counters. I don't recall the shave products section being a child under 15. When Walmart appeared we seldom shopped K Mart.
     
  8. wristwatchb

    wristwatchb wristwatch "danger" b

    Our K-Mart made submarine sandwiches for 49 cents when I was a kid. Not bad, but they smelled of Proraso though. ;)
     
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  9. PanChango

    PanChango Not Cute

    I remember getting to see Mario Andretti's indy car. He had Kmart as a sponsor and lived just a few miles down the road.
     
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  10. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I remember the "Blue Light Specials", and watching that revolving blue light going off. I also remember Kmart being the butt of a lot of jokes, as well as carrying a lot of cheap, and poorly made products.
     
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  11. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    They did have the original Matchbox cars of which I had several hundred at .50 each.....okay, I am showing my age, but not my attitude. :)
     
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  12. brit

    brit in a box

    do you still have the matchbox cars.?i still collect hot wheels..:)
     
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  13. MntnMan62

    MntnMan62 Well-Known Member

    I don't remember ever shopping in a Kmart. I'm sure I may have stepped foot in one at least once during my 57 years but can't tell you when that was. I just read in the local news that the Kmart near us is finally closing. My experience with that retail holding company is with Sears. And from what I can tell they were both run the exact same way. Into the ground. When I have shopped at Sears they seemed to do everything possible to tick me off. I bought four new tires and had them installed with a four wheel alignment. I had to make an appointment a week or so in advance. I dropped the car off and figured I'd have to wait a couple hours so I proceed to explore the mall it is located in and get a bite to eat. It took them 5 1/2 hours to install those stupid tires. Not long after that one of them was punctured and I needed a new one. Went back to Sears. One single tire. Took them 3 1/2 hours to install. Once went there to buy a 12,000 BTU window air conditioner unit. Processed the transaction with a sales associate and then was told to go down to the delivery area to retrieve my unit. I went to the waiting area and was greated by a crowded room full of angry people who had clearly been waiting there way too long. It took them an hour and 15 minutes to bring mine out so I could load it in my car. The tires were the last purchase I made from Sears. That was about 3 or 4 years ago. Just waiting for the announcement that the Sears is closing. Man, did I go off topic. Bringing it back around, I have never purchased any shaving supplies from either store. Shave on.
     
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  14. Chuck Naill

    Chuck Naill Well-Known Member

    My brother sold them off. He had some financial issues in the '80's.
     
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  15. DesertTime

    DesertTime Well-Known Member

    I bought Proraso in some department store in the 90's, when I could not longer score Old Spice. I don't remember which one, but I doubt it was k-mart. Back pre-internet. most folks got their shaving supplies at the local drugstore, hence the popularity and longevity of soaps like Old Spice, Williams and, to a lesser degree, Yardley.
     
  16. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    I found a marshmallow Pinwheel cookie in the toe of a woman's shoe, a pair of which my mother was buying. She yelled at me. My earliest Kmart memory and a true story.
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2019
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  17. wristwatchb

    wristwatchb wristwatch "danger" b

    I would have blown the dust (or whatever) off that cookie (being careful, of course, so that Mom didn't see it) and paired it with one of those Kmart Submarine sandwiches and a Coke for a humdinger of a lunch. I'd eat in the parking lot, as the lingering Proraso scent would be less noticeable outdoors in windy conditions. ;)

    BTW, it's cool how these old memories come to mind. :)
     
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  18. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    Which stores sold the Chaparral and Lola in 1970?????? Are they any good????? Why did people buy Hot Wheels instead of Matchbox? Were there any Cold Wheels? ;)

    Seriously, I just looked on eBay and found a Chapparal selling for $120 and a Lola selling for $40. Are people really crazy enough to pay that much for little toy cars? Or maybe they don't realize that they can go buy new ones on Amazon for a few bucks each.

    Only one was punctured? Dang, you got lucky!

    I went into a Sears about 3 or 4 years ago, and it was both shocking and depressing. There were piles of clothes scattered about, and el cheapo, poor quality clothes at that. The displays were dirty, in fact the whole store was rather filthy. Walking back to the tools section, it looked like the place had been abandoned. There were maybe five customers in the entire store, and maybe three or four cashiers.

    I got a pack of socket wrench extensions, but noticed one was missing. The next pack had two extensions missing. Only one had all the extensions in it. When I mentioned this to the cashier, he said that people shoplifted there a lot, and that security did zero to stop them. He said that everyone there knows Sears is going out of business and that they will lose their jobs, so they just don't care. That is why it takes 5-1/2 hours to install punctured tires.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2019

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