I’m sure nobody else has used that “Attention Kmart shoppers” joke lately, huh?

Yes, news broke in the past couple of days that the last full-fledged Kmart store, on Long Island, New York, will close in October. That’s not surprising. The retailer has been on a steady path to oblivion since the mid-2000s, when the then-owner of both Kmart and Sears started stripping off parts and selling them. It was only a matter of time. Shopping trends and tastes have changed and mightier retailers than Kmart – at least mightier in recent decades – have passed away.

Trivia tidbit: 1962 was the year that Kmart – the discount version of longtime retailer S.S. Kresge – Target and Walmart opened their doors.

I come to praise Kmart, not to bury it. Well, I’m not sure I’ll be praising Kmart, but I will cite a couple of nostalgic feelings for it.

I grew up two miles out in the country from a couple of shopping centers, one of which included a Kmart. The stores – which also included W.T. Grant, a dime store when such things still existed – were the center of our shopping existence. Kmart was where we got a lot of our clothes and toys.

I was writing about business for the newspaper in the 2000s, when my town’s two Kmarts closed. For all their faults, they filled a void for local neighborhood retail that still hasn’t been filled.

I will always think of how my mom bought a vacuum cleaner from Kmart for my wife and me. It wasn’t a hint to clean our house! It was a much-needed tool.

A lot of people have waxed rhapsodically about Kmart’s sub sandwiches, its snack bar and most especially its Blue Light Specials, periodic moments during the store’s operating hours when a sales associate would wheel a blue light up to a particular area – next to a display of shirts, or candy, or hardware – and the announcement would be made of a limited time only special price. “Attention Kmart shoppers…”

Kmart was a good place for people to shop, especially poor people.

When I heard this unsurprising Kmart news, the first thing I thought of was the Calvin and Hobbes strip reproduced at the top of this post.

AAUUGHHHH! to the news.