Walking Through a 1985 Kmart — Aisle by Aisle

Walking Through a 1985 Kmart — Aisle by Aisle Saturday, the 5th of October, 1985. Ten in the morning, in a parking lot off a four-lane road, between a bank with a drive-through and a pizza place that was something else last year. The sign on the pole by the highway is red, and the letter on it is big enough to read from half a mile. Just inside, parked at the end of aisle seven with its cord wrapped round the base, there is a chrome pole on a wheeled stand with a blue light on top of it. It is not switched on yet. At some point this afternoon, without warning, it will be. This was the store most of us were dragged through every weekend of our childhood. One floor, acres of it, a cafeteria by the door, a layaway counter at the back, and a loudspeaker that could reach every corner of the building. We are going to walk through it in the order you would actually have walked through it, starting at the doors and finishing in the parking lot. We are not skipping an aisle.