Hills

[beachgal26]

Thanks for all the background, Hatrick.  I lived in Bethel Park from 1979 until we moved to FL in 1985 and I can only remember the one Ames that was way up on the hill along Route 88.  Do you have any details on where the other stores (along with Hills) so I can try and get a mental picture of where all the stores were located?

;)

[HatTrick]

The Hills/Ames was on Baptist Road across from Cool Springs golf course that is now a Lowe's.It was on Baptist Road beyond the Caste Village shopping center and before you hit South Park-sort of midway between those two destinations. The Village Square one was across from St. Thomas More Chruch and across the Highway from South Hills Village Mall. They built that around the mid 80's, I think. I remember when I started at Baptist Road, they had just opened the Hills at Century 3 Mall in West Mifflin and that is now a Big Lots. Hope that jogs your memory!:D

[tokensafari]

Does anyone know when Hills entered the Nashville, TN area and when they exited out of that market? I recently discovered a former Hills location not too far from my home. I know at the time of close, the only Hills location was in Bristol, TN.

[GothicPrincess]

There was a Hills here in Greensburg some years ago. I don't know all the details but will get them to you as soon as I can. All I know is that it is now a Burlington Coat Factory. When I get the chance I plan to drive around to the back of the store to look for any kind of labelscars because the front was painted over in beige.

[NJxxJon]

I need a NEWER pick of the hills near altoona /state college of TODAY.....brings back grandma memmories..... :(

[tokensafari]

Here is the Hills in TN. If you want to see more: tokensafari.com/foto

[mikey7290]

Originally posted by tokensafari
beautiful store! :)

The former Hills/Ames store in the St. Lawrence Centre mall in Massena NY is still empty to this day.  The mall moved the tenants in that part of the building out because they had planned to demolish that wing and build a Super Wal-Mart.  That was, until the Hannaford store nextdoor threatened to sue because there was a clause in Hannaford's lease that said the mall could not put another store that sold food in the mall.  However, this was back when the mall's first owners owned it.  The current owners tried to say that this agreement was cancelled when they bought the mall, but the village board agreed with Hannaford.  So apparently, this is causing a problem for the mall to fill up the space.

[GothicPrincess]

I ordered some books off of e-bay and one of them had this gem...

[wiseguy93]

Riverdale Plaza shopping center in Hampton, Virginia. This Hills was short lived it opened in 1995 closed in 1997 when Ames bought out Hills.

[wiseguy93]

Here another Dead Hills that didn't become an Ames. Newport News Virginia. on Denbigh Blvd

[Ameskid]

Very nice, intact Hills!  I notice thta many have the older-style logos.

[The Adamantium Elbow]

Originally posted by HatTrick
They also competed with Toys R Us and Children's Palace to bring about the holiday Toy books. As you make most of your profit in the final quarter and toys are a big part of that, it only made sense to be a leader with toys. Hills was known for many things but the toy book and toys were very integral in their business. Many stores still have a toy book at the holidays till this day. We had three Ames in Bethel Park and that was too many even though each serviced three totally different areas. One is now a Home Depot, one is now a Wal-Mart (both are smaller versions of the bigger box stores)and one was torn down along with entire strip mall for a Lowe's. I still think if Ames had left the name Hills and just took it over as a division of Ames and didn't continue to expand even after buying out Hills that it possibly could have worked for a while longer as a smaller alternative to the big box giants Wal-Mart and Target. I think by this time, though, they would have been gone anyways since even KMart still seems as if it may have trouble competing out there with Wal-Mart and Target. It was just far more enjoyable working for Hills and Ames and it is too bad that the plan to become the biggest regional discounter didn't pan out. In fact, I even hear till this day when I am recognized that folks still miss Hills and they have been gone since March of 1999-that is 8 years ago.

Hills usually did have the best prices on toy. Toys R' Us though had a better selection. As for Children's Palace they were insanely overpriced and that's probably why they wound up going under. I remember there was another toystore called Family Toy Warehouse but as far as I know they went under too. the one closest to me wound up becoming a Steve & Barry's. I occasionally like going there for the good cheap clothes.

[bargansbythebagful]

Originally posted by storehistoryguy
I like this Hills. I've only seen it one time in person when it was open around the mid-90's I believe. Its in Camillus, Ny..

I would go to this Hills with my mom every Friday as a treat it was 20 min from me and the closest to me.  We would go for the popcorn (which was 2nd to none), an Icee, and the HUGE toy dept.  I collected WWF wrestling figures and they always had the best selection.  I was born in 83 and I remember going here in the 80's as a kid.

[tokensafari]

The ICEES and WWE wrestling figures.... oh lord does that bring back the memories. I remember when Hills had their big sale right before the became Ames. We bought a wicker patio set for next to nothing.

[NeverBeenToAnAmes]

Only Hills I remember on Long Island was a supermarket in East Meadow, NY connected to the HUGE Great Eastern department store. From there, Hills went to Foodtown and Edwards and now is a Stop and Shop. The Great Eastern became Woolco, then Service Merchandise (with supporting stores) and now, sadly, is a WalMart. :(

[TheFugitive]

I had worked for Hills, several years after I had worked for Ames, but before they merged with Ames.  (during the intervening time I had worked for Service Merchandise.  I decided that 3 Chapter 11's were enough and got out of the business).  I remember one year Christmas at Hills came on a Wednesday, which was "Senior Dog Day".  (Senior Citizens could get a free hot dog and Coke at the snack bar by showing the receipt from any purchase).  The day after Christmas I was accosted by an old man who claimed that since the store had been closed on Christmas Wednesday we had cheated him out of his hot dog! My boss was greatly amused by watching him rant at me.

[TRJ22487]

Nothing overly exciting but when I was a kid the Incredible Crash Dummies were my absolute favorite toy in the early 90's and I had dozens of them. I was always careful with my stuff as a kid and left a lot of things with the box, in some cases I even had the restraint to never open anything. I peeled off the store stickers to most of them unfortunately, but one sticker in particular held some resistance and I never tried to fully remove it




The evil empire back in 1991, how little we knew...

[rjstheiv]

piece of a hills price tag.

[XDeSuEhTX]

We used to have a Hills. It was my favorite store when I was little. When Ames took it over they did infact remove the snack bar, I think it became the customer service area.

The store is a Magic Mart now, and the building still looks mostly the same as it did when it was Hills, red and white exterior.

[XDeSuEhTX]

Hampton, VA. Circa 1997.



Circa 2006.

[ahbb18]

http://www.80stees.com/products/Hills-T-shirt.asp

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hills-Department-Store/92491012242
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hills-Department-Store/92491012242?v=photos




Northern Lights Shopping Center in Conway, PA.


Beckley, WV.


Blue Prince Plaze, near Princeton, WV.


This is where the wonderful snack bar used to be!


This is the tile mosaic logo from the old Hills in Morgantown, WV. Photographed August, 2009.


Door of the Hills at Blue Prince Plaza. It's hard to see, but there is a sign on the door behind this one that says "To keep prices low, Hills does not accept credit cards".


http://wyomingvalleyphotos.blogspot.com/

[ahbb18]

Originally posted by Anonymous
Hear is a Hills in the distance,  the logo has been taken down. This was a Hills that was not converted into Ames.

This might be the same location after it changed into Ames.

[XDeSuEhTX]

Originally posted by ahbb18


Beckley, WV.

Nice. This was my store, brings back memories. Still looks a lot like this even today.

"The Walmart of the 70's", at least, that's what people around here always refer to it as.

[d_fife]

here is Hills commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4Qjzwd7NAw

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Here's a Hills commercial advertising the NES:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoUhRoD2z-E

[patk]

Originally posted by Anonymous
Hear is a Hills in the distance,  the logo has been taken down. This was a Hills that was not converted into Ames.

This might be the same location after it changed into Ames.

it is now used as All Season's Market Place! its cool in there

[GothicPrincess]

I gotta find the thread with cart pictures, but this is just as appropriate...My friend found this today when she was at the DMV plaza in Greensburg
I hope this works...


http://www.flickr.com/photos/12675558@N02/6975893168/in/photostream

[GothicPrincess]

let me try again lol

[amesman]

Here's the former Hills/Ames in Wilkes-Barre, PA. It was a Steve and Barry's for a short time, before becoming Beiter's Home Center.

[swedaman]

I worked at Hills #66 in Jamestown, N.Y. in 1990.  Worked in layaway and at the front checkouts. They put new registers in when I worked there, but we didn't get scanning until about a year later.  The new registers had buggy software.  You could put in any four numbers for the SKU and it would go through.  As I recall Hills hadn't accepted credit cards for very long when I started working there.

Hills paid in cash. You went up to the cash office at the end of your shift and they gave you an envelope with your paycheck already cashed in it - all your deductions and the like were written on the envelope.

It was a good place to work though.