Ames

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

I think it would've been more fitting, if the Ames site was based out of Ames, Iowa, get it? :D

A city named for a type of automobile, in Kansas?

[TRJ_22487]

I found some *new* Ames pictures from GettyImages that I have never seen before and I'm not sure if all of these stores are in the locator yet

1989 Ames logo replacing Zayre


October 2001 Ames in Chicago, Illinois (3445 S Martin Luther King Dr. - NO PICTURES in store locator as an Ames)
http://www.amesfanclub.com/forum/gallery/main.php/v/ames/stores/IL/chicago/3445+s+martin+luther+king+dr/ve/chicago_martin6.jpg.html



2002 South Portland, Maine store closing (this picture is in the store locator in very low resolution)


August 2002 Ames in Alexandria, Virginia (Richmond Highway location) final days open




2004 Falmouth, Maine during plaza remodeling (this picture is in the store locator in very low resolution)

[Zayre88]

Nice pics!

[TheFugitive]

That one of the Ames sign replacing Zayre takes me back to the six weeks I spent in
Jacksonville, Florida changing a Zayre over to an Ames in 1989.

The ex-Zayre Ames stores in Chicago were a disaster.  They all ran incredibly high shrink.
Quickly closed and forgotten.

[Chuck E. Cheese]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDbbRDhqeVJ/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BDbf0BhKef0/

Endwell, NY location as of now.

(If any of y'all have Instagram I'm @patrickbootscec ..It's a great platform for photo sharing and messaging. "Direct Messages" are done in real time and can include a lot of people, if any of you guys would be interested in hosting a chat or something if you have it.)

[JSIDA17]

PART of the Ames in Dayville, CT is still intact, with all the stickers on the doors and a desk still inside. The whole plaza was revamped back in 2010 though, with Aldi moving into part of the Ames, Dollar Tree moving into part of the old Beit Brothers supermarket , Planet Fitness moving into another part of Ames, and a vacant tenant usually used by Spirit Halloween around early September to early November, also part of the old supermarket. I believe if you went there before the whole plaza was remodeled and you rung the receiving bell, it would actually work. The Ames street sign used to light up until the Beit Bros. supermarket was closed around mid-2008. When I also went in late 2008 (around November), there was actually a red rusted Ames shopping cart (!!) in the back of the store along with TONS of graffiti. Behind the plaza is a former movie theater (don't feel too bad, the place was a total DUMP) and a vacant small strip adjacent to the plaza with a old Carvel, antique shop, and a former place called "Arc's Thriftque", which opened around 2007 and closed shortly after. There used to be a Dunkin Donuts' and a gas station called "Dayville Fuels" across from the Ames, but the Dunkin turned into a Chock Full 'O Nuts then a Sam's Discount Food Store and Smoker's World afterward. The Dayville Fuels has turned into a Gulf gas station. Also across the street there used to be a Cumberland Farms (now Fresh Farm), a Japanese grille, an H&R Block, a antique diner called "Zip's Diner", and some other local businesses.

[Ameskid]

Former Ames in New Hartford, NY.

Former Ames, New Hartford, NY by Harvestman Man, on Flickr
Former Ames, New Hartford, NY (2) by Harvestman Man, on Flickr

Looks like they may have left the lighting intact, but apart from that, not a whole lot to go by.

Except for this - looks like the registers are still Ames green!

Former Ames, New Hartford, NY (4) by Harvestman Man, on Flickr

[TRJ_22487]

My Grandmother passed away earlier this year and when cleaning out her storage locker I came across all of this yarn and ribbon most of it still with Ames and Caldor price tags unused

[MikeinBuffalo]

First post! One of my earliest memories is shopping with my mother at Ames #1097 (former Hills) for, I believe, plastic storage bins of some kind. The Bed Bath and Beyond I work at now stands on the site of the old Ames.



I hope to get out to this one, Collins #97. Hasn't been touched in 15 years. It stands on a rural strip, lonely and neglected. I expect to make a pilgrimage out there sometime this summer, it being an hour's drive away.

[buzz86us]

lol I just noticed the Ames pictured in your website banner is the one in my current city... the Schenectady, NY Ames in the dutchtown plaza that was formerly a Caldor.. now a gym and a pricerite

[MikeinBuffalo]

Ames #1077 in South Cheektowaga, NY. Just visited yesterday and the day before that. They are tearing down this abandoned plaza to put in an industrial park, and I believe the Ames (formerly a Hills, then a Grants before that) will be part of a warehouse.



Couldn't get inside due to Asbestos removal going on before demo.



All that's left of anything Ames at this building is the "Sensormatic" sticker on the front door (old school folding style, nice)



Cardboard compactor looks to have been here. Interestingly, there appears to be an incinerator still left.



There's a cool abandoned Vix (former Tops) at the other end of the plaza.

[steveb]

I just took these today (6/9/2017). This was in a ditch behind the old Ames store (now an Ocean State Job Lot) on Memorial Drive in Chicopee, MA. I nearly killed myself going down there but it was worth it.

[steveb]

This is inside the Ocean State Job Lot store on Memorial Dr. in Chicopee, MA. I decided to go inside because back like 5 years ago I remember the walls and register areas were untouched from when the store was Ames. I wanted to check if they were still there and they are! The whole back is used for storage but it's totally untouched. Talk about a time capsule. You walk in there and you feel like you are in the 90's!!

[JJBers]

This is the information I found under the Contact Us Icon!
AMES Department Store
117 West Main
Sedan, Kansas 67361
United States
Customer Service
1.316.243.1340

Customer Orders
1.316.243.1798
If you have a customer service issue please email customerservice@amesdepartmentstores.com

It's apparently located inside a bank in the middle of nowhere. Also congrats for them being 1,500 miles away from the real Ames HQ

[TRJ_22487]

I found this photo online from inside an Ames in 1981, two girls looking through a Pizzazz Jeans rack

[standa]

I was wondering which CT Ames stores were built as Ames. I know East Haven, and probably Rocky Hill were Ames since the beginning.
Were there any other ones?
The other Ames stores I can think of were previously Kings, Zayre or Caldor.

[JJBers]

I was wondering which CT Ames stores were built as Ames. I know East Haven, and probably Rocky Hill were Ames since the beginning.
Were there any other ones?
The other Ames stores I can think of were previously Kings, Zayre or Caldor.

Dayville, Jewett City, maybe Groton, maybe Enfield, Putnam, Norwich. I can't remember any other stores original build.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

This is the information I found under the Contact Us Icon!
AMES Department Store
117 West Main
Sedan, Kansas 67361
United States
Customer Service
1.316.243.1340

Customer Orders
1.316.243.1798
If you have a customer service issue please email customerservice@amesdepartmentstores.com

It's apparently located inside a bank in the middle of nowhere. Also congrats for them being 1,500 miles away from the real Ames HQ

I searched on Google.com, and a furniture store points to that address. It is not located inside a bank, nor is it in the middle of nowhere. It's in the downtown of a rural community.

[BillyGr]

I was wondering which CT Ames stores were built as Ames. I know East Haven, and probably Rocky Hill were Ames since the beginning.
Were there any other ones?
The other Ames stores I can think of were previously Kings, Zayre or Caldor.

At least one (and probably a couple, maybe more) in NY were.

The East Greenbush (AKA Rensselaer) one on Columbia Turnpike (Rts. 9 & 20) - that whole plaza was fairly new, the other end being built as a ShopRite when they were first in the Albany area (with the smaller stores up to the Rite Aid pharmacy) and the Ames end added later on when they opened.

Not for certain, but the Greenville NY store looks to be one they built (being in a smaller town they may not have had anything like that previously - it's now a hardware/building store).  If you look at the two in pictures on the locator page they look to be similarly built.

[JJBers]

This is the information I found under the Contact Us Icon!
AMES Department Store
117 West Main
Sedan, Kansas 67361
United States
Customer Service
1.316.243.1340

Customer Orders
1.316.243.1798
If you have a customer service issue please email customerservice@amesdepartmentstores.com

It's apparently located inside a bank in the middle of nowhere. Also congrats for them being 1,500 miles away from the real Ames HQ

I searched on Google.com, and a furniture store points to that address. It is not located inside a bank, nor is it in the middle of nowhere. It's in the downtown of a rural community.

That was 4 months ago, plus the city is kinda in the middle of Farmtown USA.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

I'm waiting for the day their site goes under. I would love to buy the domain off their hands, and start a website that sells discount store-quality goods.

[Retail_247]

I went to an Ocean State Job Lot store that used to be an Ames location and noticed that there were spotlights on the ceiling:

https://retail247.blogspot.com/2022/09/store-tour-ocean-state-job-lot-warren-ri.html

Job Lot wasn't using them so I'm assuming that they're original from Ames, but it doesn't seem likely.

Did Ames ever use spotlights in their stores?

[TheFugitive]

We had some spotlighting in my Ames store in Imlay City, Michigan in the early 90's.  It was a newly constructed store. We did not have them in Hillsdale, my previous store (which was an old G.C. Murphy Mart).  The spotlights were mainly configured around the front of the ladieswear department where our store was one of those experimenting with a Gitano fashion-forward shop.