Calvin: Dad, how do people make babies?
Calvin’s Dad: Most people just go to Sears, buy the kit, and follow the assembly instructions.
Calvin: I came from Sears??
Calvin’s Dad: No, you were a blue light special at Kmart, almost as good, and a lot cheaper.
— “Calvin and Hobbes,” April 18, 1987
I am barely old enough to remember when K-Mart (note hyphenation) was a main place to shop in the Crossroads area, even with a blue light special or two. That location closed in 2003. Now, after 25 years of Wal-Mart and about 10 of the Internet eating its lunch, the last Kmart in Waterloo is closing by the end of March. Dubuque and Sioux City are also losing their Kmarts, within 18 months of the stores in Clive, Ames, and Ottumwa closing.
Of the dozen stores that will be left in Iowa, five — Algona, Charles City, Oelwein, Red Oak, and Webster City — are in towns with fewer than 10,000 people but, more importantly, don’t have a Wal-Mart. In fact, the one in Algona is the only big-box store in a 40-mile radius.