Kmart checkouts over the years

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RandallFlagg
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

Post by RandallFlagg »

thatjpwing wrote: 21 Jul 2020 13:38
Super S wrote: 30 Jun 2020 21:13
storewanderer wrote: 07 Jun 2020 03:29 It seemed like in the early 90's they got different equipment and it was from a variety of providers.

In the late 90's Kmart had managed to move most of the locations to the IBM Supermarket Software even if they were not using IBM Hardware.

For a while Kmart ran its old software in the non-Supercenter Stores and the IBM Supermarket Software in the Supercenter stores from the mid 90's to the late 90's. This was the old software that gave every item a "line number." So if someone wanted to void an item it was press void and then enter the line number to void (vs. the IBM where it was void then scan item you wanted to void).

The Kmart in Reno that closed during the first bankruptcy had some other register hardware (no clue what it was) from the mid 90's to early 00's- it was a piece of hardware I had also seen in some mall stores but not sure what it was. It was running IBM Supermarket Software at the end.

I always wondered if the odd variety of hardwares was due to the various businesses they had owned previously. I remember for instance Office Max used Fujistu, Borders used NCR, Waldenbooks used IBM. Probably just a coincidence.
I sometimes wondered if the variety of hardware had to do with local warranty/support for specific brands, or the lack of it, in some areas. Keep in mind things were different in the pre-internet days. I sometimes also wondered if Kmart was simply evaluating the different systems used by the acquired chains for possible chainwide use.

The system PayLess Drug had by the early 90s (which simply read "JB622" on the front but had no name on it, I have always wondered who made these) was one I do not remember ever seeing in Kmart (which owned PayLess), or any other store for that matter. Interestingly, when they took over Pay 'N Save, they retained the IBM 4683 registers which were used with detached keyboards above the scanners. It looked a little weird when Rite Aid took over and their system was used with regular keyboards and CRT monitors in the existing Pay 'N Save checkstands still in use.

At one point I briefly worked at Target in the early 1990s. I remember a newsletter mentioning at some point that the entire chain had been converted to IBM 4683, but it was quite some time after when Kmart was more uniform.
In the early 1990s Target was indeed running IBM 4683 registers but not with IBM’s General Sales Application but a third party software package. I’m still trying to determine if they contracted that out or if they developed the software in house. The Target receipts had two-digit line numbers but did not include the UPC code of the item, but instead a six-digit SKU. Because I don’t have a lot of familiarity with Target before the early 2000s, I don’t know if Target previously used the two digit department/four digit SKU system before then (like Zayre and Hills did) or if they always just had six digit SKU/item numbers. I’m hoping to find more information on that in the coming months.

At first I thought Target’s current incarnation of Point of Sale software was a derivative of Cornell-Mayo Associates software also found in Barnes and Noble and Belk, but it’s not, as CMA was purchased by Retalix, and the Retalix POS software used in Target Canada was one of the contributors to Target’s quick demise in Canada.

Edit: I should clarify, it was not the Cornell-Mayo Associates software running Target Canada, it was Retalix's software, but if Target US was running CMA, logic would dictate that Retalix's software and Retalix owning CMA software in the states would have had compatibility issues.
I worked for Target from 1986 to 88. You are correct in your 6 digit sku idea. I ran a number of garden centers in So. Cal. and some of those skus are still stuck in my head. For instance 844159 was a 1 gallon color plant. The first two numbers 84 was for the garden center. Dept. 84. The third digit was the class. From what I remember, departments were divided into classes. Class 4 for was for live goods. And the last 3 digits were the item number. In this case 159 was 1 gallon asst. color plants. Some other examples were 847100 and 847200, which were cow manure. Class 7 was bagged goods and 100 was 1 cu.ft. bags and 200 was 2 cu.ft. bags.

When you entered the offices there were a number of red notebooks which were all the 2 digits departments with inventory sheets/current on-hands in them.

I also remember the upside-down numeric keys on the registers. We had to be touch key trained to operate a register. That was at an original store built ground up in LaVerne CA. I then transferred to an old Gemco in north San Bernardino on Sterling Ave (now shuttered) and the store opened with scan guns. One piece of trivia that's probably gone. At the LaVerne store, the garden shop was on the east side of the building. They've since razed the garden shop and extended the east wall to encompass the garden area as well as the 10 or so parking spots in front of it. When I was hired, there was a narrow stockroom between the toy dept. and the garden shop. On the east wall of that stock room, there were steel framed rollup doors that were never finished. I believe during construction, Target still had an auto center and by the time the store was close to completion, they had closed those down. I want to say there were 6-8 framed openings and they were just bricked over. I believe that's why the garden center was set back from the front and had the parking stalls.
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

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I remember the system Payless Drug used- they had scanning before any other drug store had scanning. The receipt came out of a slot right next to the keyboard (keybord and printer and cash drawer were a single unit).

The receipt only listed 8 letters for item descriptions.

They had an odd TX symbol for Taxable items. It was like a T with an X below it.
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

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storewanderer wrote: 11 Jul 2021 03:19 I remember the system Payless Drug used- they had scanning before any other drug store had scanning. The receipt came out of a slot right next to the keyboard (keybord and printer and cash drawer were a single unit).

The receipt only listed 8 letters for item descriptions.

They had an odd TX symbol for Taxable items. It was like a T with an X below it.
Perhaps it was in the line of the Rx symbol you often see (which is kind of done like that as well)?
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

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No, it was not the RX symbol.

Someone had an example posted.

https://imgur.com/gallery/0iXLmZ5

Interesting this receipt says "Payless Drugs NW." Their receipts in CA just said Payless Drug but looked exactly the same.

Also the "2830" after Renton, WA would be the store number (where you would normally expect a zip code). These cash registers were also able to process credit cards.

They used this POS until about 1997 when Rite Aid installed its POS in the stores.
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

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storewanderer wrote: 18 Jul 2021 02:08 No, it was not the RX symbol.

Someone had an example posted.

https://imgur.com/gallery/0iXLmZ5

Interesting this receipt says "Payless Drugs NW." Their receipts in CA just said Payless Drug but looked exactly the same.

Also the "2830" after Renton, WA would be the store number (where you would normally expect a zip code). These cash registers were also able to process credit cards.

They used this POS until about 1997 when Rite Aid installed its POS in the stores.
I didn't say it WAS the Rx symbol, just the letters Tx (for taxable) done in the same STYLE as the Rx is often seen.
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

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BillyGr wrote: 18 Jul 2021 07:42

I didn't say it WAS the Rx symbol, just the letters Tx (for taxable) done in the same STYLE as the Rx is often seen.
That is true. As you can see in the receipt example this logo/style is sort of strange. I guess it is really a lower case x with a very small T on top.
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

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storewanderer wrote: 18 Jul 2021 02:08 No, it was not the RX symbol.

Someone had an example posted.

https://imgur.com/gallery/0iXLmZ5

Interesting this receipt says "Payless Drugs NW." Their receipts in CA just said Payless Drug but looked exactly the same.

Also the "2830" after Renton, WA would be the store number (where you would normally expect a zip code). These cash registers were also able to process credit cards.

They used this POS until about 1997 when Rite Aid installed its POS in the stores.
That receipt looks like it was from those "JB622" registers I mentioned, that had no manufacturer's name on them. I will also add that, in the acquired Pay 'N Save locations, PayLess actually retained the IBM 4683 registers that Pay 'N Save had installed until Rite Aid took over.
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

Post by npheide »

Hello:

This is a Kmart Canada register from the mid 80s until the late 90s. Me and another poster on here have been trying forever to figure out which Manufacturer and Model this is!!! Reply's on Kmart Canada Facebook heritage/memories pages have differing opinions.

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-240m-de ... -1.5443333

This video after the anchor introduces the article provides the sound of the printers, and further on also shows the back of one of them. The photo I attached is the best pic that we have of this system which Kmart continuously kept running until the demise.

Any help would be appreciated!!!
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

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npheide wrote: 05 Oct 2022 14:44 Hello:

This is a Kmart Canada register from the mid 80s until the late 90s. Me and another poster on here have been trying forever to figure out which Manufacturer and Model this is!!! Reply's on Kmart Canada Facebook heritage/memories pages have differing opinions.

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-240m-de ... -1.5443333

This video after the anchor introduces the article provides the sound of the printers, and further on also shows the back of one of them. The photo I attached is the best pic that we have of this system which Kmart continuously kept running until the demise.

Any help would be appreciated!!!
That register is probably whatever old version they used in the 80's, before they went to scanning. It would have various "keys" to represent the department the item should be rung up under.

In the video of the Canada Store with the store employee talking, there is a pinpad in the background that is identical to the pinpads they used in the US stores as late as 2007, then replaced them in 2008-2009, and replaced again around 2016. I don't think the pinpad would connect to the register in the photo.
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

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storewanderer wrote: 20 Oct 2022 02:35
npheide wrote: 05 Oct 2022 14:44 Hello:

This is a Kmart Canada register from the mid 80s until the late 90s. Me and another poster on here have been trying forever to figure out which Manufacturer and Model this is!!! Reply's on Kmart Canada Facebook heritage/memories pages have differing opinions.

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-240m-de ... -1.5443333

This video after the anchor introduces the article provides the sound of the printers, and further on also shows the back of one of them. The photo I attached is the best pic that we have of this system which Kmart continuously kept running until the demise.

Any help would be appreciated!!!
That register is probably whatever old version they used in the 80's, before they went to scanning. It would have various "keys" to represent the department the item should be rung up under.

In the video of the Canada Store with the store employee talking, there is a pinpad in the background that is identical to the pinpads they used in the US stores as late as 2007, then replaced them in 2008-2009, and replaced again around 2016. I don't think the pinpad would connect to the register in the photo.
In that video, around the 2 minute mark, they show a register with scanner in use. But it's not that earlier register, it looks more like an NCR register, a type which I remember seeing in some U.S. Kmart locations during the same time, but not with that type of scanner.
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

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Super S wrote: 03 Nov 2022 08:28
storewanderer wrote: 20 Oct 2022 02:35
npheide wrote: 05 Oct 2022 14:44 Hello:

This is a Kmart Canada register from the mid 80s until the late 90s. Me and another poster on here have been trying forever to figure out which Manufacturer and Model this is!!! Reply's on Kmart Canada Facebook heritage/memories pages have differing opinions.

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-240m-de ... -1.5443333

This video after the anchor introduces the article provides the sound of the printers, and further on also shows the back of one of them. The photo I attached is the best pic that we have of this system which Kmart continuously kept running until the demise.

Any help would be appreciated!!!
That register is probably whatever old version they used in the 80's, before they went to scanning. It would have various "keys" to represent the department the item should be rung up under.

In the video of the Canada Store with the store employee talking, there is a pinpad in the background that is identical to the pinpads they used in the US stores as late as 2007, then replaced them in 2008-2009, and replaced again around 2016. I don't think the pinpad would connect to the register in the photo.
In that video, around the 2 minute mark, they show a register with scanner in use. But it's not that earlier register, it looks more like an NCR register, a type which I remember seeing in some U.S. Kmart locations during the same time, but not with that type of scanner.
That one at the 2 minute mark with the blue uniform employee is a Zayre Store.

But Kmart did have some stores running those NCRs too, they were running the IBM Supermarket Software at the end but it was that older NCR hardware. Kmart did not have a standardized set up for register hardware until right before they went bankrupt (they standardized the software to the IBM Supermarket Software in the late 90's). And those same registers they "standardized" with, are still in use today at the few stores still open.
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Re: Kmart checkouts over the years

Post by Super S »

The Vintage Point Of Sale Site has an article about these registers. It appears that the Kmart Canada registers were made by ICL:

https://vintagepointofsale.com/2022/10/ ... -canada-2/

Something worth noting. While I am not 100% sure these are the exact registers, they do look very similar to the registers that ERNST Home Centers used in the Pacific Northwest when they first went to scanning in the very early 1990s, and when they built a new location in Longview, WA around 1992, they primarily were using a different, newer ICL system, which had small modular printers and keyboards, but still used a handful of these in addition to the newer system for the grand opening crowds.
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