• Chicago Tribune, Friday, July 24, 2009 10:46 AM

Kmart is reviving it blue-light specials but blue balloons will replace oscillating light bulbs to alert shoppers to the aisle where they can find their timely bargains, Sandra M. Jones reports. (Although a few stores are reportedly dusting off the vintage bulbs of yore.)

"We asked ourselves: How do we bring some fun and excitement back to the store?" says spokesman Tom Aiello. "We have incredibly priced items that we couldn't offer all day long, but we could offer for an hour." As it turns out, Kmart needed to go no further than its own institutional memory for the answer.

Kmart created the blue light in 1965 but it went out in 1990 before being resurrected for a short time in 2001, Jones writes, with much fanfare, including bathing the Statue of Liberty in blue light. In 2007, "Mr. Blue Light" danced around stores in TV ads.

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