Was There a Store in Your Area Before Kmart and Walmart?
By celticeagle
@celticeagle (189915)
Boise, Idaho
September 25, 2025 8:58pm CST
We all love a good inexpensive department type store, don't we? Especially if you have kids. In Boise, Idaho there was a store like Kmart or Walmart called Wells and it was up in the Hillcrest Shopping Center off Overland. It was there in the 60s and closed in 2001.I could hardly find anything on it when I Googled. Did you have one in your area that dated back before Kmart?
4 people like this
4 responses
@LindaOHio (222534)
• United States
26 Sep
Ours was Uncle Bills and also Giant Tiger.
1 person likes this
@noni1959 (13048)
• United States
26 Sep
I was born in 1959, so Kmart was already a thing, although it was called something else before merging and becoming Kmart. There was JC Penny, Woolworth, TG&Y, Zody's, Mervyns, White Front, The Broadway, and Brocks. Local stores were popular. I no longer live in California, so not sure what used to be where I am now in Washington.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189915)
• Boise, Idaho
27 Sep
I remember Mervyn's in the same shopping center as Wells. From state-to-state the stores are probably very different across the country.
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@noni1959 (13048)
• United States
2 Oct
@celticeagle I really like Mervyn's. I was sorry to see it go.
@FourWalls (86764)
• United States
26 Sep
Oh, heck yeah, I grew up in the days of Woolco. That was a department store owned by the same company that owned the Woolworth five-and-dime.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189915)
• Boise, Idaho
26 Sep
Oh, yeah there were those. I meant the bigger ones more like Kmart or Walmart. We had a Bonanza 99 cent store downtown.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (135819)
• Marion, Ohio
26 Sep
We had Woolworths when I was a kid. Then Kmart and hills
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@celticeagle (189915)
• Boise, Idaho
27 Sep
With being in a capitol city, we had them all here.
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