Ames

[d_fife]

Demolished Ames/Grand Union in Claremont, NH.
There are a few pictures/info in the store locator before the plaza was demolished

now what will happen and the Ames was a King's and before a Giant

[vtguy1989]

I can't believe one of the three Plattsburgh, NY Ames Stores is still sitting vacant. It's a HUGE building. I would think by now something would want to go there. At the other end of the "strip mall" is a P&C Food's store.... That is also vacant. In the middle of the two stores use to be a Nail salon, a pet store and a music store. The only place that's still open is Pearl Vision. It's so odd to drive down the road and still see big signs for Ames. If grass wasnt growing in the parking lot, you would think Ames was still open.

[Marc82]

Night before last I had a dream that AMES reopened just one store. They had only 36 customers on opening day because there was no advertisements for them. The only way people knew the stores was open was a NOW OPEN banner on the building.

[patk]

the Woodbridge, VA ames as of 10/17!

i think we all know wats under that tarp :)

Was this Hills and was the Tan accents around the White once Green or Red? when did it open

i think it was a Zayre

[patk]

Finally some pics of the Virginia Beach, VA location! Inside was emptier than a new grave, sadly...



Nice label scar here

Was this a Woolco?

No idea as I've only lived in Virginia about 8 months. Next time I'm there I'll go around back and see if there's any Ames signage and whatnot.

the Virginia Beach area code is 757!

[vtguy1989]

My friend who lives in Barre, Vermont told me that it looked like Contruction was starting at the old Ames building in Berlin,Vermont. I guess TjMaxx is going in?

[gu4ever]

Here are a few pictures of the Barre, VT store.
http://amesfanclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=2493.0

[man114]

There were some really really big Ames stores here near Buffalo NY. The Hamburg NY South Park location (which is still partly vacant, with part of it occupied by an Ollies), was over 100,000 sq feet easily. I don't know what was originally in the location, I was too young, but the store was large, had two stockrooms, and used part of an old restaurant that used to be up front for fixture storage. I remember buying a 27" Changhong TV there with a 30% off coupon and the guy in electronics had to check both stockrooms to find one. TV still works. I'm pretty sure it was one of the biggest ones I was in anywhere.

The former Hills stores on Lake Ave and French Rd were also huge. The Grand Opening of the Hills on Lake after it turned Ames was the only time that parking lot was ever filled, and it is one heck of a parking lot. The store still stands and is now partly occupied with a Grossman's Bargain Outlet. Was a nice store while it lasted, clean and well stocked. It closed a while before they liquidated. The French Rd location was also very nice and lasted up until the end. It later became a flea market, but stands empty now.

The Lockport Mall Ames, also a former Hills, was a fairly nice one but smaller. I used to go to that location to look for clearnace when I had a long break in classes (I went to a nearby school).

Hills turned Ames on Genessee St. lasted up until the end, it now is a Hobby Lobby, and looks virtually unchangd inside.

Ames in Gowanda NY, a very small store I used to go to when checking on my grandparent's cat when they were on vacations, stands vacant. Still had the signs up last I knew.

Ames in Springville NY was demolished to make way for a new Tops.

Ames at the Southgate Plaza, a former Sears, now is a Dollar General and AJ Wright, but the color scheme of much of it is still the Ames

Seneca St, haven't been there since the closing sale, was a former Gold Circle. I dunno what is in that location now.

Sheridan Drive in Amherst former Hills was just demolished to make way for a Wal-Mart supercenter, another big store that closed before some of the other Ames closed if I recall, but I could be thinking of when it was Hills that closed there. I didn't really frequent the location.

Ames in Clarence, another big store, was part of a strip plaza that was demolished. The Ames was actually the only thing in there since the Burlington coat factory that was in that plaza moved to the nearby mall (and eventually closed). The Ames was large enough to sustain the viability of the plaza next ot the mall but without it there was a very large empty building.

[amesguy95]

There were some really really big Ames stores here near Buffalo NY. The Hamburg NY South Park location (which is still partly vacant, with part of it occupied by an Ollies), was over 100,000 sq feet easily. I don't know what was originally in the location, I was too young, but the store was large, had two stockrooms, and used part of an old restaurant that used to be up front for fixture storage. I remember buying a 27" Changhong TV there with a 30% off coupon and the guy in electronics had to check both stockrooms to find one. TV still works. I'm pretty sure it was one of the biggest ones I was in anywhere.

The former Hills stores on Lake Ave and French Rd were also huge. The Grand Opening of the Hills on Lake after it turned Ames was the only time that parking lot was ever filled, and it is one heck of a parking lot. The store still stands and is now partly occupied with a Grossman's Bargain Outlet. Was a nice store while it lasted, clean and well stocked. It closed a while before they liquidated. The French Rd location was also very nice and lasted up until the end. It later became a flea market, but stands empty now.

The Lockport Mall Ames, also a former Hills, was a fairly nice one but smaller. I used to go to that location to look for clearnace when I had a long break in classes (I went to a nearby school).

Hills turned Ames on Genessee St. lasted up until the end, it now is a Hobby Lobby, and looks virtually unchangd inside.

Ames in Gowanda NY, a very small store I used to go to when checking on my grandparent's cat when they were on vacations, stands vacant. Still had the signs up last I knew.

Ames in Springville NY was demolished to make way for a new Tops.

Ames at the Southgate Plaza, a former Sears, now is a Dollar General and AJ Wright, but the color scheme of much of it is still the Ames

Seneca St, haven't been there since the closing sale, was a former Gold Circle. I dunno what is in that location now.

Sheridan Drive in Amherst former Hills was just demolished to make way for a Wal-Mart supercenter, another big store that closed before some of the other Ames closed if I recall, but I could be thinking of when it was Hills that closed there. I didn't really frequent the location.

Ames in Clarence, another big store, was part of a strip plaza that was demolished. The Ames was actually the only thing in there since the Burlington coat factory that was in that plaza moved to the nearby mall (and eventually closed). The Ames was large enough to sustain the viability of the plaza next ot the mall but without it there was a very large empty building.

Looks like Clarence, NY and Gowanda, NY are two that we don't have in the store locator. Cool.

By any chance, do you know the current status of the Ames in Collins, NY? You seem to know a lot about the Ames in Erie County.

[former_Ames_Mgr]

Wow, what a cool blast from the past to find this page! I was actually googling Ames for another reason (I got something in the mail from the bankruptcy courts about a month ago) and stumbled upon this site. I started out as a teenager working for Ames in the Skyway Plaza in Plattsburgh. It was at one time a Kings store (and I remember it being Kings vaguely). In my early 20's I worked at the Saranac Lake Ames and was quickly promoted into management. I trained in Plattsburgh (Cornelia Street location) and in Gloversville, and Palentine Bridge. (in the old days they used to train you for like 3 months or so to be a member of management, paying for hotels and food and gas, etc... I made out like a bandit!) I landed in Bennington, VT as a Softlines Assistant in 1993 or 94, can't remember exactly. I was only 22 or 23 at the time. I transferred from there to Tupper Lake, NY in 1995 as Softlines. I then worked in Saranac Lake as Hardlines (not my cup of tea) then back to Tupper as Softlines until we closed in October of 2002. I LOVED my job and we had a great team. I had planned to be there til I retired to be honest. We had so much fun and worked well together. I used to volunteer to go to other stores to help with inventories which was a blast and going away for trainings was fun too. When we got word we were closing (the news reported it before WE were even told, nice huh?) we were all so bummed! In complete shock. It sucked. The poor guy that came to do our liquidation got the brunt of our frustration LOL (he was cool though, we all actually liked him in the end)... I have some great memories of that job. And hardly a week goes by that someone does not tell me they miss Ames. See, in the smaller towns, Ames was all there was. So now, people have to drive over an hour just to buy socks and underwear! Once the store closed I went back to college and am now teaching and finishing up my degree. I'd go back to Ames in a heartbeat though if they ever reopened. I knew my job like the back of my hand, I could do it in my sleep. The Ames in Saranac Lake was converted to 2 stores: Ace Hardware and an Automotive store; the Ames in Tupper Lake tried to be another dept store but it failed miserably and now stands empty. The Ames in Plattsburgh on Cornelia Street stands empty with the Ames sign still up. The manager of that store kept that store SPOTLESS. He was a tough manager but a good one. Mr. Nelson!!! He had been with Ames forever. The Ames, former Hills, in the mall is now a Target. From reading the old posts here it appears a lot of Ames are still vacant, and some haved turned into other things. I wish I had kept some momentos, I was just so mad at the time that I kept nothing. :-( 

The sad thing is, it never needed to close. If we had not taken over Hills and tried to compete in the larger markets we would have been fine. If we had closed the stores not making it but kept the ones that were we would have been fine. The Saranac Lake store did over 10 million dollars a year! The resort stores kicked butt. However, our greedy CEO got himself into some hot water that he could only get himself out of by closing the whole chain. It mattered not that it cost everyone their jobs. When we were doing so poorly he still walked away with a huge bonus each year. It was only during the final year that he so kindly decided not to take one. Too little too late. We all still miss it and many many customers miss it as well. An unecessary loss.

Michelle

[TRJ22487]

I likely have the nicest, near-complete collection of boxed Incredible Crash Dummies toys in the entire US.
Many of them still have price tags on them, including this one with an Ames tag for $7.99. It is from 1993.

[beachgal26]

Patk, is the whole shopping center with the old Ames closed?  It looks in great condition! 

[Tabuu]

Oh, wow. I'm glad to notice I'm not the only person in the world who misses Ames to death.

Being 21 and from Canada, I don't recognize over half of those old chains, but Ames, however, will always hold a place in my heart. Ames was my very favourite discounter back then. When I used to take trips to the US, mainly in New England states, my family and I would stop at Ames for our shopping. I must say, Ames is the store in which my fondest childhood shopping memories took place. I am a Target supporter now, but Idk... Ames had this... Idk, charm, that Wal-Mart and Kmart didn't have, that made me enjoy it. My parents often had to drag me out of the store. ;D

And I enjoyed it far more than my Canadian discount chains (Wal-Mart and Zellers). I often hope Ames will not only be reborn, but in the far future expand into my lonely Frozen North, but I know it's a lost cause. Sad, isn't it?

[ynkeesfn82]

Welcome to the forum.

AMES was definitely a favorite of mine as was Caldor. I wasn't too fond of Bradlees and Zayre became AMES when I was really young (I'm 28 now), so I have no memory of Zayre.

[retailisking]

DSM (Demoulas Super Markets) Realty has been trying to demolish the long-vacant former Ames in Seabrook, NH and expand its Market Basket supermarket for the past two and a half years.  They've run into a number of issues including State of New Hampshire red tape and higher-than-anticipated costs and have put the project on hold.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20110120-NEWS-110129982

[TRJ_22487]

I went to the former Peterborough, NH location yesterday (ocean state)
on the last page of this thread you can see some shots i took of the store 3 years ago, it still looks just the same, though a few other things in the plaza have come and gone since my last visit.
Of all the former Ames I ever visit this one still looks the most like it is still an Ames
No remodeling whatsoever to the outside or inside, the front vestibule is what I consider "vintage" ames
The counters and walls of this store are still the same mint Ames green. Same register number signs, polls, i think even the shelves are still from Ames
Yesterday I went in and they have tons of giant K.B. Toys bags at all registers, I bought a larger item just so i could get one.

[patk]

Patk, is the whole shopping center with the old Ames closed?  It looks in great condition! 

well 1/2 of it is!

[Ameskid]

October 2006: The former Ames is still vacant, and a quarter of the store is cordoned off as a Halloween Express.


December 2011: The store has been a Big Lots for nearly six months, having been completely overhauled in the process.


Sad to see an old friend go, but as Colin Baker's incarnation of the Doctor said, "Planets come and go. Stars perish. Matter disperses, coalesces, forms into other patterns, other worlds. Nothing can be eternal."

[TRJ_22487]

Found these photos of Ames during their closures. These photos are not in the store locator

Middletown, Rhode Island during Ames second to last wave of closings. Former Zayre. Did it have red paint ever? Photo taken December 5th, 2001.


A few other shots of this Ames are on labelscar, but the above photo is nicer...two identical Grand AM's???
http://www.labelscar.com/retail-stores/ames


Saugus, Massachusetts. This store does not have any good on-ground photographs in the locator as an Ames. Photo taken August 14th, 2002



Bloomfield, Connecticut shoppers on August 18th, 2002. There are no photos in the store locator of this location as an Ames.




Is it my imagination, or are the shopping carts in these photos slightly different?

[TRJ_22487]

Also, not sure but this might still be a vacant Ames in Coal Township, Pennsylvania.
http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/outoftown/pennsylvania/central/pa61/index.htm
Photo came from this page. The logo is no longer on the building, not sure about the road sign.

[TRJ_22487]

http://www.theseamericans.com/exteriors/baltimore-collection-ames-department-store-1992/



Another Ames, closed in 1992, that is not seen in the store locator. This location is now a supermarket, building does not look the same.

[TRJ_22487]

Springfield, Vermont plaza. Very little information on this plaza exists




From the Shaw's website, this is the former Ames in Springfield, VT. Those Ames holes are still there.....The inside of the store is fully unrecognizable, but the outside is unchanged.
I was born in the hospital behind this Ames, and went to it a couple days a week my entire childhood until my parents divorced in 1995. It closed with the chain in 2002 I believe, but my last visit actually going inside must have been 1998 or so, after that it would just be something to occasionally drive past. I would love to know the history of this store, I only remember it as an Ames. The history of this plaza goes well before Ames entry to Vermont in 1979 so it was originally something else.

This plaza sign from the 70's is all I've ever found of this plaza. I never remember this plaza having this sign, or any sign, even back as Ames. Maybe just fuzzy memory. I haven't been to this town in years now, I can't remember if it's even got a sign or not!

I never remember a Sears being in this plaza. It must have been on the opposite side of the plaza
Britt's Department Store is what Ames became. I only found that out from this obituary I found online

Geneva V. Clough Burke, 89, of Springfield, died January 28, 2012. Mrs. Burke worked for many years in Springfield at Britts Department Store, later known as Ames Department Store, retiring in 1987. She is survived by six children, including Brian Clough of Springfield.

So Britts is what became Ames, I can't say I've ever heard of Britts Department Store. Wikipedia lists them as defunct in 1982 so that is likely when it switched to Ames. You can see the entire front of the store in the background of this picture (thought blocked by the checkered Idlenot restaurant sign in the middle of the plaza)
I never remember the facade of Ames sticking up in the air like that. It always looked the same as it does as a Shaws


My parents used to talk about the restaurant in the middle of the plaza, it was demolished before I was ever born.
You can see it in this picture though. Young's Furniture and Appliance is about 100 years old and still exists. I can remember this plaza
I think the Friendly's that was next to Ames is from the late 70's/early 80's and last I knew was still open.
The bowling alley (Plaza Bowl) is recorded as opening in 1963, possibly the plaza's inception.






In 2005 the plaza went under turmoil when the front of endcap Grand Union was demolished at the front and the store was fully remodeled including floor and lights.
My family's construction company came in to look at the building in 2003 or 2004 before deciding not to take the job, and I went along to inspect the building. I really wish I had taken a bunch of photographs while the Grand Union facade still existed. It looked the same as every GU in the area always did, the familiar arch windows...
These three photos come from the company that did end up doing the work. Gives me memories, can't believe it was about a decade ago I was there to survey the area...


In the end, it looked like this





Though I've never been inside this jewelry, I feel as though I've always seen it my whole life next to Ames. It is still there. Certainly looks 1980's



But for Ames...
So many memories in this store though. I can still perfectly picture the entire layout. I sometimes think it would be incredibly comforting to once again walk into that electronics department to hear that little motion sensor beep! There has never been a picture of this store online as an Ames.
Back in the 90's this plaza had a Grand Union and Price Chopper, now neither of them are grocery stores, but the former Ames is! Quite strange.
This was pretty much the only plaza in the entire town, and is quite a few miles from the highway, it always felt a bit of a "middle of nowhere" plaza. Since Ames closed this area has about a 20/25 minute drive to the nearest Walmart, the town really died in the late 70's with the mill industry.
You can see the punctures still in the facade from Ames logo, as well as Osco underneath the Shaw's logo

[retailisking]

The Ames in Oxford, ME has been subdivided into Ocean State Job Lot and Dollar Tree. Photo forthcoming...

Edit: Here it is...forgot that I posted in this thread too!

[Zayre88]

The Ames in Oxford, ME has been subdivided into Ocean State Job Lot and Dollar Tree. Photo forthcoming...

Thanks for the update

[JimSawhill]

I was heading towards the shoreline in CT this week with my family on Route 2 and noticed that the Ames sign on the East Hartford, CT store was completely removed (even the green background). Every year I look towards the Shaw's plaza to see the sign. It stayed for quite some time though. This particular Ames sign was supposedly used on the Ames website. It's sad.

Did anything go into the East Hartford's Ames, yet?

[retailisking]

Part of the former Ames in Millinocket, ME is going to become a Tractor Supply
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/04/27/news/penobscot/tractor-supply-co-signs-lease-to-open-outlet-in-millinocket/

[retailisking]

Hannaford owns the building, and they have no interest in renting the space to a would-be competitor
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120521/GJNEWS_01/705219952

[Zayre88]

Hannaford owns the building, and they have no interest in renting the space to a would-be competitor
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120521/GJNEWS_01/705219952

Unbelivable!  I would welcome a retailer in that area.

There is also the vacant Stop&Shop parcel at left of Staples that is also available in Dover.

[standa]

Hannaford owns the building, and they have no interest in renting the space to a would-be competitor
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120521/GJNEWS_01/705219952

Unbelivable!  I would welcome a retailer in that area.

There is also the vacant Stop&Shop parcel at left of Staples that is also available in Dover.

I saw that parcel on a lease map.  Did Stop & Shop build a store and leave it vacant or just plan a store that was never built?

[Zayre88]

Hannaford owns the building, and they have no interest in renting the space to a would-be competitor
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120521/GJNEWS_01/705219952

Unbelivable!  I would welcome a retailer in that area.

There is also the vacant Stop&Shop parcel at left of Staples that is also available in Dover.

I saw that parcel on a lease map.  Did Stop & Shop build a store and leave it vacant or just plan a store that was never built?

I don't know the whole story but it's most likely a store that was never built.  Back to Ames, it's incredible that the Dover store has sat vacant for 10 years!  Same thing for another NH store in Seabrook.  The Seabrook store could be razed as part of a plan to rebuild the entire shopping center where it was located.