The Department Store Restaurant Chain That You've Most Likely Forgotten About

Department store restaurants aren't super common, but they're also not unheard of. You have higher-end versions currently in Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, plus defunct eateries in stores like Target. Much like the lunch Cafeterias that historically inhabited drugstores, they're a good place for shoppers to end up after the retail experience, a space to refresh and revive oneself by taking a seat and enjoying a meal or snack and a cold beverage. One such department store restaurant, which wasn't so high-end — but was quite beloved, was the K-Café, located in Kmarts across the country. Did you forget about it? Well, it's time to ramp up the nostalgia.

K-Cafés actually got their start as Kmart Family Restaurants in the 1960s. Rather than snack bars, as they evolved to be, these eateries were actually cafeterias that served complete meals, all for very reasonable prices. As time went on, though, full-service restaurants in discount department stores went out of fashion (and to be honest, they probably cost more to operate than they brought in), so the cuisine shifted more toward concession stand-style food in the 1980s, and the restaurants were renamed K-Cafés.

Unfortunately, K-Cafés became a thing of the past as the Kmart company, which eventually merged with Sears, faced financial difficulty after financial difficulty. All of the mainland U.S. stores have closed, except one mini-location in Miami, meaning K-Cafés are nothing more than culinary history now.

Some could argue that K-Cafés reached their peak just as Millennials were growing up and starting to go out and about with their parents, including to Kmarts. Or perhaps it's just that this age group yearns for simpler times. Whatever the case, people — particularly elder Millennials — have serious nostalgia for the eats at K-Cafés (though it may be attributed to rose-colored glasses or the easy-to-please palates of kids). Still, "Big-a** soft pretzel and a huge [Icee] was like ambrosia to 8-year-old me," one Redditor on the Nostalgia subreddit wrote (you can find a history of the blue raspberry flavor that was popular among Icees here), while another commented on how good the pizza was.

On a different r/Nostalgia thread concerning the same topic, a respondent waxed poetic, describing, "...sandwiches that had been made that morning and been stewing in a plastic bag all day" (decidedly unlike deli-style sandwiches). They continued, relating the fillings as ham and bologna, some pickle, shredded lettuce, and minced onion, and then they even remembered the condiments as mustard with "the tiniest hint of mayo on a soft white roll." A commenter under them applauded them for their accuracy in describing K-Café sandwiches, while another person on that thread fondly remembered a sister who worked at K-Café and brought home the delicious leftover sandwiches for their consumption.