What is the best Kmart product of the 21st century?
Every year Kmart leaves its customers in a frenzy with a product that seems too good to be true. But for some this item is unbelievable.
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One major retailer has been a staple of Australian culture for 56 years, and has had many iconic products as part of its offerings.
But, what items have Australians dubbed their absolute favourites over the last few years? Both the brand — and Kmart superfan Sue Kerr — have weighed in on the items that they think Australians will always remember.
To celebrate the launch of the new news.com.au app, we’re celebrating the people, places and events we’ll never forget from the first quarter of the 21st century by asking for Australia’s view. Our 25@25 series will finally put to bed the debates you’ve been having at the pub and around dinner tables for years – and some that are just too much fun not to include.
Ms Kerr, who posts under the name @sueshomefinds on Instagram, told news.com.au she loved the brand because you could always buy things at an affordable price at the budget retailer — and it was always on trend.
“You can buy something every season, spending $100 on a couple of pieces such as a couple of cushions and a throw, a vase or a new quilt cover and a lamp, and update a room on a budget,” she said.
“It’s just the best.”
She said at the moment, she is loving the Riley Wave Lamp, that retails for $29, saying she was “obsessed” and enjoyed the fact in addition to the table version it now came in a floor version. What’s your favourite?
Boucle everything
Kmart first introduced boucle material items, which is a fabric known for its looped or curled yarn that creates a distinct textured surface, in 2022 with its $99 Sundae Boucle Chair. @kmarthackqueen told her 170,000 Instagram followers at the time to get in quick if they wanted to get the chair, predicting it would sell out quickly.
“If you see this beauty and want it, get it straight away, otherwise you might miss out,” she warned in an Instagram post. “I think they might be very popular.”
Others agreed, labelling the chair’s $99 price tag, which has since risen to $129, a “bargain”.
The material has popped up several times since, capitalising on the trend just eight months later with the release of the $349 Boucle Swivel Chair. It’s also released a bench and an office chair version.
Ms Kerr said: “I love the boucle chair with the timber arms. That is so comfortable and such a great price.”
$49 Wave Mirror
Kmart introduced the Metal Frame Wavy Floor Mirror for $49, as part of its Black Friday range in 2023. It was not the first retailer to have a full length wave mirror as part of its range, but others have a price tag ranging from $199 to a whopping $899 on designer homewares sites.
TikTok user @rachael_hamilton said that social media users should take her video as a sign to get the Metal Frame Wavy Floor Mirror – especially if they were put off by the idea of transporting it home in a small car.
“I’ve got a little Hyundai i30, and it fit. Was it a squeeze? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes, because this is a f*****g awesome mirror,” she said. “It looks so good.”
Ms Kerr said to her “dismay” it was not an item she was able to pick up for her home, saying sometimes when homewares blow up on social they can be hard to find in stores.
“It’s like the Arch Cabinet from February 2024. I wanted that so bad and I was going to all the different stores and I finally found one on the floor,” she said.
“It was the only one I ever saw — you should have seen me try to wrangle that into a trolley and into my car.”
The $99 Spot Cleaner
Kmart first introduced the spot cleaner in 2023, and ever since many social media users and fans of the brand have raved about it - with Ms Kerr being among them.
She picked it up for her brown couch, which she expected to be “putrid” when she took to it with the $99 item. The video of the transformation, which showed dark grey water after using it, had Ms Kerr jokingly declaring herself a “filthy person” and the clip gained a few million views as a result.
“Everyone was gobsmacked. My couch was dark brown, so you can imagine the hidden dirt that was in it. It was insane, the filthy water at the end, it was very satisfying but appalling at the same time.
$289 pilates Reformer
Kmart introduced the pilates reformer last year, as part of the Black Friday sales. It was quickly a Hunger Games-style situation with hundreds of Aussies hoping to snap it up for themselves.
“That went off in the Black Friday sales,” Ms Kerr said.
“I’m hoping that they bring that back because that was going like hot cakes. It was really popular.”
50 cent Mega Bubble Wand
Last year, Kmart dubbed the 50 cent item its most popular of 2024 with it boasting a five-star rating on its website.
“These are the best ones I’ve bought,” said one review. “It goes a long way”. “A whole lot of fun for just 50 cents an item,” added a second. On TikTok, Perth mum blogger @basic_mumma_life called the Bubble Wand the “ultimate mum hack” and says she leaves them in her nappy bag, camping kit and car to help “diffuse any stressful situation”, or “distract when needed”.
“My mum even has them at her house,” she laughed.
“And we always have the 2L refill of bubble liquid. You can never have enough”.
Ms Kerr said she had bought many of the bubble wands over the years, saying there was a family with five children living next door to her and she always included a few in a Christmas basket for them.
“They’re insane for 50 cents, they’re so good,” she said.
“You go into a store and the entire end of an aisle has bubble wands and then you go back two weeks later and they’re almost all gone. They must sell so many of those.”
$15 Microwave Toastie Maker
The $15 item was released as part of the brand’s August Living 2024 range, and Ms Kerr said her followers have not been able to stop talking about it since.
“They’ve got a new one out that prints ‘Yum’ onto the sandwich,” she said.
Freeze Dried Candy
Freeze dried candy was a huge hit in the United States and Australians were counting down until they could get their hands on it — and Kmart delivered.
Kmart released six items in its freeze dried candy collection in February. It included Sour Worms, Rainbow Bites, Cola Bottles, Strawberries, Bananas and Marshmallow Twists.
Each packet retails for $3.
Food content creator, @cyansocial said to “forget” the Strawberries and Bananas, but the Rainbow Bites, Cola Bottles and Sour Worms were worth the hype.
Fugglers
Fugglers are plush toys that are intentionally designed to look ugly, and are particularly known for their standout teeth. Last year, bizarre looking SpongeBob Square Pants and Patrick Star versions of the toys caught the attention of social media. Both had swollen eyes, wide smiles and teeth that took up most of its faces.
Social media users couldn’t help but poke a little fun at the SpongeBob Square Pants toys, with one saying; “SpongeBob and Patrick ate a special Krabby patty.”
One added: “I can’t deal. My son would probably love them ugly things.”
“These are creepy as. Their faces look very human like,” another social media user added.
One revealed: “They fart at you when you walk past them in the store and scare me every damn time.”
It’s wasn’t the first time the toys have been available at Kmart in Australia, and the toys aren’t just loved by children.
Even adults are huge fans of the bizarre creations.
TikTok user @saintbrianjames discovered Fugglers were back in stock in 2023 and immediately rushed into his local store to pick some up.
He said he showed “restraint” by only picking up three of the toys, and he wasn’t the only one.
“I’m embarrassed to admit I currently have 27 fugglers. I’m 29 with no kids, like what hahahahaa,” one person shared.
Another said: “I want one so bad but I can never find them.”
$39 Digital recorder
Everything retro is new again, and Kmart is cashing in on the Y2K technology with the introduction of the Digital Video Recorder. The item retails for $39.
The compact camera featured a two-inch LCD screen, offers up to 16x digital zoom, and records in 720p HD — perfect for creating home movies reminiscent of the 90s and early 2000s.
It also includes an SD card, which you can insert into your laptop to transfer the files.
“Kmart just released little handy cams,” said influencer @cocodevile.
“I’m going see if I can find it before anyone else gets it cause I know they’re going be very popular”.
Once they found the item, they took it home and gave it a whirl, claiming, “the quality is very bad” but “I like that”.
Not just a Kmart superfan? Take part in our other 25@25 polls
Originally published as What is the best Kmart product of the 21st century?
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