Mars

[jmcnamara96]

Any one ever heard of this chain i knew there was one in Pelham NH closed like 15-20 years ago

[jmcnamara96]

Mars goes out of business despite restructuring bid - Mars Stores Inc., discount store chain
Discount Store News ,  June 19, 1989

Mars Goes Out of Business Despite Restructuring Bid

NORTH DIGHTON, Mass.

Mars Stores has gone out of business after the discounter failed to profitably restructure after three months of Chapter 11 protection.

National Traders, a liquidator, has purchased all of the chain's inventory in the eight remaining stores. A liquidation sale was expected to commence at presstime and conclude by July 31, according to James Lynch, vice president of finance.

Lynch likened Mars' failure to that of the Zayre discount store chain.

"I was reading a recent analyst's report on the problems at Zayre prior to the Ames acquisition, and realized all you had to do was substitute the name 'Mars' for 'Zayre' and that would explain what went wrong," he said.
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Lynch said rising competition, especially from those supermarkets that are making a larger space commitment to general merchandise, contributed to the demise of both Mars and Zayre.

Stuarts Department Stores, Hopkinton, Mass., has finalized the purchase of two former Mars units which were closed earlier this year for just over $1 million, said Earle Spokane, cfo at Stuarts.

The two Mars stores, located in Athol and Salisbury, Mass., are expected to be remodeled and reopened by August, in time for the back-to-school selling season.

Spokane said the 50,000-square-foot Athol unit and the 60,000-square-foot Salisbury unit are expected to perform at least as well as an average Stuarts store, despite the failure of the Mars chain.

"Any chain has its good, medium and bad stores. These were two of Mars' good locations," Spokane noted.

Mars had sales of $79.8 million during 1988. For the first nine months of fiscal 1989, the chain recorded an operating loss of $7.2 million.

[kendra]

My memories of it are very, very limited, but I do remember it.

[Marc82]

Plainville, CT.  Plaza was demolished, sat vacant for years. Plainville Commomns built in its place 1999.

[C. Fontaine]

The Ames in Dudley, MA was formerly a Mars.

[Crawford]

I remember there being one in North Attleboro on route 152 next door to the Fernandes Supermarket (now Seabra).

[JimSawhill]

Any one ever heard of this chain i knew there was one in Pelham NH closed like 15-20 years ago

There was a Mars that was in the old Mammoth Mart in East Hartford. And another in Plainville, CT, too...

[Loki]

There was a Mars in Milford, CT on Cherry Street, it's a Bob's now.