Ames/Zayre Lakeland FL.

[Kmart4life]

According to the internet this was the store number and location of our Ames/Zayre store.
Ames - Zayre Store #2680 3445 S Florida Ave
Lakeland, Florida 33803

[Kmart4life]

Further proof of our Zayre/Ames
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CDMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.google.com%2Fnewspapers%3Fnid%3D1346%26dat%3D19780723%26id%3DkJJNAAAAIBAJ%26sjid%3D3foDAAAAIBAJ%26pg%3D7014%2C6676153&ei=hxDGUN3EAYq09QTJqIGICw&usg=AFQjCNGfiGKthf3gg-aW-kouCExd4xQFMw

[Kmart4life]

Ames Announces Plans To Close Florida Stores


June 9, 1990|By EARL DANIELS, Business Writer


Ames Department Stores announced on Friday that it will close its Florida stores by September, part of an effort to get out of bankruptcy court.

The Connecticut-based company will close 221 stores and lay off as many as 17,500 employees, including an estimated 1,000 in South Florida at 27 stores.








The closings, which require bankruptcy court approval, are the disastrous consequences of Ames` quest to join the ranks of K mart, Wal-Mart and Dayton Hudson`s Target as the nation`s largest discounters.

Ames` $788 million acquisition of the troubled 392-store Zayre chain in October 1988 doubled Ames` size and made it the nation`s fourth-largest discounter. It went from no stores in Florida to 82.

But the former Zayres had a poor Christmas season in 1989, suppliers soon became leery of shipping merchandise and the company eventually reported an annual loss of $228 million. On April 25, Ames made a move that has become overly common among retailers active in South Florida -- seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection from creditors.

``This is a critical first step toward our primary goal of leading Ames out of Chapter 11,`` said Stephen L. Pistner, chief executive officer.

Ames` move into South Florida suffered two major problems.

There was some controversy when Zayre stores in suburban areas changed to the Ames name while stores serving inner-city communities kept the Zayre name. A more basic problem was consumers` lack of recognition of the Ames name when all the Zayres were finally converted in January.

At the time, Ames spokesman Bill Roberts explained the decisions by saying, ``The value of the Zayre name is not as valuable to our customers as we thought it would be.``

But on Friday, Christina Divigard, also speaking for Ames, said, ``Florida consumers did not accept the name change as well as the company expected.``

Divigard also said the Rocky Hill, Conn., company had a problem merchandising for Florida consumers.

``We had 82 stores in Florida who do not need winter clothing. Florida is a complicated state to merchandise for. ... We tried it, but it was not successful,`` Divigard said.

But for Diedra Mitchell, 27, of Hollywood, the Ames line of merchandise suited her just fine. When Mitchell heard about the plan for closings on Friday, she headed back into the store at Hollywood Fashion Mall.

``I better get as much as I can while it is still here,`` she said. ``I just bought a whole line of pots and pans and linen from Ames. ... I really depend on them; I guess I will have to start shopping at K mart,`` Mitchell said.






Phillip Horne, 32, of Lauderhill, who occasionally shops at the Ames store in the Lauderhill Mall, said, ``This store is convenient to me. ... The prices are good.``

The prices may even get better this summer as Ames expects to raise $180 million in liquidation sales.

Analyst Edward Johnson of the Cleveland brokerage Prescott, Ball and Turben said he was not sure the liquidation would produce $180 million and he was uncertain whether the closings would improve Ames` profitability.

Investors had little reaction as Ames stock closed unchanged at 2 3/8.

Pistner said closing the stores would cut operating expenses, reduce operating losses and allow the company to concentrate on serving its traditional Northeastern customers.

``By making this move now, not only do we stem losses immediately, but we cut out the losses from those unprofitable stores,`` he said.

The stores being closed lost about $48 million last year, he said.

Although the troubled retailer plans to complete construction of a distribution center in Pennsylvania, subject to bankruptcy court approval, it will close a distribution center in Plant City near Tampa.

Business Writer David Altaner contributed to this report.

CHRONOLOGY

-- 1958: Founded by Gilman family in the old Ames knitting mill in Southbridge, Mass.

-- 1978: Ames purchases Neisner`s.

-- 1984: Ames doubles in size with purchases of King`s and troubled G.C. Murphy.

-- 1986: Peter B. Hollis leaves Fisher`s Big Wheel in April to become Ames` CEO.

-- 1988

-- SEPT. 15: Ames buys 392 Zayre stores for about $800 million.

-- OCT. 28: Ames completes deal for $775 million, joining the ranks of top discount stores Kmart, Wal-Mart and Dayton Hudson`s Target.

-- 1990

-- JANUARY: Ames changes the names of 61 Zayre stores to Ames, including 15 in South Florida. Ames says it will eliminate 325 positions from its planned total of 2,100 jobs at corporate offices in Connecticut. Retailer announces losses of $22.6 million in the first nine months of 1989.





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[Kmart4life]

Page 2

Ames Announces Plans To Close Florida Stores


June 9, 1990|By EARL DANIELS, Business Writer


-- APRIL: Ames announces plans to close 74 stores, 20 in Florida. Chain expects a net loss of $228 million for fiscal year ending Jan. 27. Some vendors stop shipping goods. Company hires Michael Cook, a bankruptcy specialist to begin paper work for Chapter 11 filing. Lays off 90 of its 500 employees at its only distribution center in Florida. Ames files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection on April 25. Hollis resigns on April 31. Stephen Pistner, former president and chief operating officer of Dayton Hudson Corp. from 1977 to 1981, becomes CEO.

-- MAY: Ames plans to close 33 stores nationwide, with seven in Florida.








-- FRIDAY: Ames announces plans to close 221 stores, including all stores in Florida.

CLOSING DOWN

Ames outlined the following steps on Friday:

-- CLOSING STORES: 221 stores would close in August and September, including 27 in South Florida. Ames would continue to operate 458 stores in the Northeast.

-- TRIMMING LOSSES: Ames said the 221 stores had an operating loss of $47.5 million for the fiscal year ended Jan. 27, 1990.

-- CUTTING EMPLOYMENT: Approximately 18,000 employees will be affected by the closings. Ames has already received court approval from Judge Howard C. Buschman III to make payments for severance and unused vacation of up to $2,000 per employee.

-- LIQUIDATING INVENTORY: Ames expects to reap $180 million from the sale of inventory, including liquidation sales at stores this summer.

PALM, BROWARD STORES

Delray Beach, Lantana, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Margate, Deerfield Beach, Lauderhill (2), Davie, Hollywood (2), Hallandale, Fort Lauderdale (2).

SOURCE: Ames Department Stores

[Kmart4life]

From what I have read this was the location on the Northside of town.

ZAYRE #647, 4005 US HWY 98 ...

[IGA/Kmart Is Forever!]

Very nice topic Kmart4life. I remember back when I was seven years old and they shut down the location that they had that was in the city east of the city that I grew up in as a part of their 1990 bankruptcy. It was an original northeast store. Believe it or not, when this Ames location shut down in 1990, the building sat empty for at least twenty-one (21) years until Kohl's purchased the building just last year in 2011 and opened up a new location there in this former Ames space.

[Kmart4life]

Yeah one became a walmart and the other has been a Montgomery Ward and now a Target.

[Kmart4life]

I contacted the library today and found out that they have newspaper articles about the Ames opening here and when it closed. We had two Zayre stores.