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#1
Hotels/Motels / Re: Last Hotel or Motel you st...
Last post by TheFugitive - Yesterday at 08:31:05 AMI'm sure that even post-bankruptcy when corporate execs or even my District Manager came to town Ames did not put them up in places like the one where they put me in Houghton Lake, Michigan where the heater in my room caught fire.
#2
Hotels/Motels / Re: Last Hotel or Motel you st...
Last post by BillyGr - April 25, 2024, 05:43:57 PMQuote from: TheFugitive on April 25, 2024, 08:03:10 AMYou may be right about that. I don't recall ever staying in one before.
At any rate it was way better than any of the places where Ames used to put me up
after they filed for bankruptcy.
Makes perfect sense - not sure that I could expect any of those lower priced type chains to have paid for much better places even when they weren't dealing with bankruptcy.
Or maybe that's just from reading about Food Lion, where they expected their employees to stay double occupancy if that was feasible (that is, two in the same spot and both males, for instance).
Then again, cutting those small amounts anywhere they could was probably what made them successful for a long time (when the original Kettner folks were running the place).
#3
Hotels/Motels / Re: Last Hotel or Motel you st...
Last post by TheFugitive - April 25, 2024, 08:03:10 AMQuote from: BillyGr on April 24, 2024, 03:59:03 PMQuote from: TheFugitive on April 23, 2024, 11:18:40 AMCourtyard by Marriott Bonvoy in Southfield, Michigan.
Stayed here overnight while on business in the area. Every member of the hotel staff I came into contact with was exceptionally friendly and helpful. There was no complimentary breakfast or even coffee, just a restaurant in the lobby.
Not 100% certain, but I seem to remember that that particular brand (the Courtyard part) was always set up like that, with a restaurant and thus no included food (other than if they opted to offer a special deal when you booked that would include breakfast from said restaurant, for instance).
You may be right about that. I don't recall ever staying in one before.
At any rate it was way better than any of the places where Ames used to put me up
after they filed for bankruptcy.
#4
Miscellaneous Retail Stuff / Aldi in Colonie forced to disc...
Last post by Retail Regents - April 24, 2024, 06:57:26 PMAfter perishable foods were left in the backroom overnight, the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets did an inspection, and nearly 300 pounds of food had to be discarded.
https://wnyt.com/top-stories/13-investigates/aldi-in-colonie-forced-to-discard-295-pounds-of-products-critical-deficiency-found-during-inspection/
https://wnyt.com/top-stories/13-investigates/aldi-in-colonie-forced-to-discard-295-pounds-of-products-critical-deficiency-found-during-inspection/
#5
Hotels/Motels / Re: Last Hotel or Motel you st...
Last post by BillyGr - April 24, 2024, 03:59:03 PMQuote from: TheFugitive on April 23, 2024, 11:18:40 AMCourtyard by Marriott Bonvoy in Southfield, Michigan.
Stayed here overnight while on business in the area. Every member of the hotel staff I came into contact with was exceptionally friendly and helpful. There was no complimentary breakfast or even coffee, just a restaurant in the lobby.
Not 100% certain, but I seem to remember that that particular brand (the Courtyard part) was always set up like that, with a restaurant and thus no included food (other than if they opted to offer a special deal when you booked that would include breakfast from said restaurant, for instance).
#6
Department Stores / Re: Burlington (Formerly Burli...
Last post by TheFugitive - April 24, 2024, 03:22:15 PMThe Burlington location in the de-malled Village Square Mall near Pittsburgh has closed.
It was in an odd upstairs location of the former mall that could only be reached via an escalator from the lower parking lot. It shared space on that floor with Kohl's. Strangely that Kohl's has a front entrance that can be accessed from the front parking lot (this is Pittsburgh with very hilly terrain after all) but there was no corresponding second entrance for Burlington.
With Burlington gone the mall's owner has just closed that lower entrance and shut down the escalator. The rear doors at Kohl's have been blocked with a note saying the mall's owners will no longer let you exit to that lower parking lot.
It was in an odd upstairs location of the former mall that could only be reached via an escalator from the lower parking lot. It shared space on that floor with Kohl's. Strangely that Kohl's has a front entrance that can be accessed from the front parking lot (this is Pittsburgh with very hilly terrain after all) but there was no corresponding second entrance for Burlington.
With Burlington gone the mall's owner has just closed that lower entrance and shut down the escalator. The rear doors at Kohl's have been blocked with a note saying the mall's owners will no longer let you exit to that lower parking lot.
#7
Hotels/Motels / Re: Last Hotel or Motel you st...
Last post by TheFugitive - April 23, 2024, 11:18:40 AMCourtyard by Marriott Bonvoy in Southfield, Michigan.
Stayed here overnight while on business in the area. Every member of the hotel staff I came into contact with was exceptionally friendly and helpful. There was no complimentary breakfast or even coffee, just a restaurant in the lobby. I had a very generously portioned breakfast bowl at the restaurant that was delicious. Bed was comfy and I slept well.
That being said there were a number of maintenance issues with this hotel. The drawer on my nightstand refused to stay closed and kept popping out into half-open mode. (The half-open nightstand drawer contained a Book of Mormon instead of the more typical Gideon Bible which I thought was odd, perhaps the owners are Mormons?). The alarm clock did not work as the switch that would allow you to set your wake time was broken (yeah, I know almost everybody uses their phone these days, which I did). The towel bar in the bathroom was loose and it kept falling off the wall and clanging on the tile. The toilet did not flush at anything near peak efficiency, requiring three flushes to clear the bowl. And one of my co-workers in an adjacent room said that his window blinds would not shut which caused him to not get much sleep. The parking lot is brightly lit and he was not able to darken the room with those blinds being broken.
It's a shame the place had so many of these issues considering how nice all of their employees were. It's kind of surprising Marriott has let these pile-up.
Stayed here overnight while on business in the area. Every member of the hotel staff I came into contact with was exceptionally friendly and helpful. There was no complimentary breakfast or even coffee, just a restaurant in the lobby. I had a very generously portioned breakfast bowl at the restaurant that was delicious. Bed was comfy and I slept well.
That being said there were a number of maintenance issues with this hotel. The drawer on my nightstand refused to stay closed and kept popping out into half-open mode. (The half-open nightstand drawer contained a Book of Mormon instead of the more typical Gideon Bible which I thought was odd, perhaps the owners are Mormons?). The alarm clock did not work as the switch that would allow you to set your wake time was broken (yeah, I know almost everybody uses their phone these days, which I did). The towel bar in the bathroom was loose and it kept falling off the wall and clanging on the tile. The toilet did not flush at anything near peak efficiency, requiring three flushes to clear the bowl. And one of my co-workers in an adjacent room said that his window blinds would not shut which caused him to not get much sleep. The parking lot is brightly lit and he was not able to darken the room with those blinds being broken.
It's a shame the place had so many of these issues considering how nice all of their employees were. It's kind of surprising Marriott has let these pile-up.
#8
Radio / Re: Pittsburgh, PA Radio News
Last post by TheFugitive - April 17, 2024, 01:58:51 PMClassic Hits WQZS-FM in Meyersdale, PA has left the air after the FCC revoked their license.
The station's owner, Roger Wahl, had pled guilty in 2020 to having hidden cameras in the home of his former girlfriend and then using photos of her undressed to recruit men on internet dating platforms to come to her home and rape her. FCC rules state that you must be of good moral character to hold a broadcast license and since Wahl had pled guilty to a felony they began the process of revoking his license. He fought a four-year legal battle filling appeals, and at one point attempted to sell the station to his daughter for $10. The FCC issued a final revocation order on April 4 and the station went off the air later that day, posting to their Facebook site that they had signed-off for good.
The station's owner, Roger Wahl, had pled guilty in 2020 to having hidden cameras in the home of his former girlfriend and then using photos of her undressed to recruit men on internet dating platforms to come to her home and rape her. FCC rules state that you must be of good moral character to hold a broadcast license and since Wahl had pled guilty to a felony they began the process of revoking his license. He fought a four-year legal battle filling appeals, and at one point attempted to sell the station to his daughter for $10. The FCC issued a final revocation order on April 4 and the station went off the air later that day, posting to their Facebook site that they had signed-off for good.
#9
Ames / Re: Ames Returning in 2023?
Last post by TheFugitive - April 17, 2024, 09:17:11 AMQuote from: Crazybangles on April 16, 2024, 10:25:24 PMHas anyone ever considered that companies go out of business often for a good reason? They are clearly trying to appeal to a small minority of people with a sense of nostalgia, and the more they keep pushing this, the more hype it will create. This plan is absolutely ridiculous, and if the company went out of business over 20 years ago, what reason is there for them to exist today? Odds are a lot of their customers are either passed on or have significantly increased in age.
Crazybangles raises many excellent points here. Sadly I'd have to say that my former employers (Ames, Hills, Service Merchandise) absolutely DID deserve to go out of business, largely due to incompetent, short-sighted and arrogant senior management. I lived through bankruptcies with all of them. In all cases experienced managers in the field were telling them NOT to do certain things because they would harm the company. We were summarily dismissed (and some were punished for their candor).
Also if you are going to capitalize on the nostalgia value of a brand you need to do it quickly. A good example is Macy's acquiring the Toys R Us brand and rolling that out as a department in their stores a couple of years after the chain closed down. There were still plenty of people thinking fondly of Toys R Us and hoping for an opportunity to shop them again.
I was 24 when I went to work for Ames. I was 37 when they went out of business. I'm 60 now. We have a full generation out there which never set foot in an Ames store and does not care about them. My own kids are in their 30's and were very young the last time they set foot in an Ames. I doubt they have the nostalgia for them that most of us do.
#10
Ames / Re: Ames Returning in 2023?
Last post by Retail Regents - April 17, 2024, 12:36:29 AMQuote from: Crazybangles on April 16, 2024, 10:25:24 PMHas anyone ever considered that companies go out of business often for a good reason? They are clearly trying to appeal to a small minority of people with a sense of nostalgia, and the more they keep pushing this, the more hype it will create. This plan is absolutely ridiculous, and if the company went out of business over 20 years ago, what reason is there for them to exist today? Odds are a lot of their customers are either passed on or have significantly increased in age.
It is also the reason C&S Wholesale opted to revive the Grand Union name as a result of the Tops/Price Chopper merger. Not only were they in their core market and once acquired them after three bankruptcies, but also for the nostalgia factor (especially with that awful modern interpretation of the red dot logo). The people who created this psyop must have known about this, and decided to fool those same people into believing Ames would return in the same fashion, with Big Kmart ripoff store designs.