Sears, Roebuck and Co.’s first retail outlet in Chattanooga opened in 1927 at the corner of Sixth and Broad streets. Initially, the store carried only sporting goods and automobile items such as its Allstate brand of car tires that had been introduced in 1926. However, after a 1928 expansion into adjoining buildings, Sears added a complete line of merchandise.
On Feb. 27, 1969, the first K-Mart in the Chattanooga area opened at 4121 Hixson Pike. The site was selected because of the rapid change of the Hixson/Red Bank area from rural to suburban. Highland Plaza had opened nearby just a few years earlier.
Read more at Remembering Sears And Kmart
Note: I sent him a response to his article. Here are some excerpts:
[Sears] was fondly remembered by Roanokers as “Sears-Town:” a combination Sears and Kroger grocery store with a P.H. Rose variety store and Peoples Drug store adjacent. It was the talk of the city when it opened in 1957, and it lasted basically intact for 28 years until the store at Valley View Mall opened. Many people, including myself, bought our first toys and clothes there while our parents shopped for furniture tools and appliances. The snack bar and candy counter with its hot nuts and popcorn were a hit with everyone.
Our first local Kmart predated the ones in your area by a few years, but the experience was similar. The old store on Melrose Avenue was built in 1964 and sported both a freestanding Kmart Auto Center and a Kmart Foods (which I don’t remember well as I was very young when that part of the store closed). Kmart eventually opened two more Roanoke stores and all featured those famous Blue Light Specials and a delicatessen with subs and popcorn my dad would buy for us every time we went. We also bought appliances for our home at that original store, which closed in 1983 and relocated to a former Woolco at Crossroads Mall.
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