Ames supermarket

[mikey7290]

Hi.  Tonight I was surfing the Internet and found this rare find on a local site featuring old local newspapers.  It's part of an ad from the old Ames supermarket in Massena, NY.  The old Ames store was originally located on St. Regis Blvd. (Route 37) where Home Depot is now.  There was a P&C next door in its later years and it looks like the P&C space was used by Ames as a supermarket in the beginning.  According to the grand opening ad, the supermarket first opened in 1966.  Here is the logo part of the ad.  It even has the same "block" style logo Ames used on their department stores in the 1960's and 1970's!

[mikey7290]

And, as you can see, this location was taken over by P&C in 1973.

[C. Fontaine]

Nice find!  That would be this store.
http://www.amesfanclub.com/archive/main.php/v/ames/stores/NY/massena/st+regis+blvd/01.jpg.html

Just out of curiosity what site did you find these on?  Some of the text looks like it might have been put on after the fact.  Also, the picture we have of this location shows 'Ames' on the building, it looks like it was taken more recently than 1973.

[mikey7290]

Originally posted by C. Fontaine
Nice find!  That would be this store.
http://www.amesfanclub.com/archive/main.php/v/ames/stores/NY/massena/st+regis+blvd/01.jpg.html

Just out of curiosity what site did you find these on?  Some of the text looks like it might have been put on after the fact.  Also, the picture we have of this location shows 'Ames' on the building, it looks like it was taken more recently than 1973.

I found it on http://news.nnyln.org.  You would move your mouse over the map of St. Lawrence County, click on "Massena Observer" on the menu and the search page will open.  Then type in "Ames supermarket" in the search box.  The Ames supermarket opened in 1966 and became a P&C in 1973.  The P&C moved across the street in 1986 and the supermarket portion became a location of the old Central Tractor chain.  When Tractor Supply bought them out, the Massena store was closed.  There was also a Fay's Drugs in that plaza from 1972-1988.  The entire plaza was demolished to make room for Home Depot a few years back.

[mikey7290]

Originally posted by mikey7290

Originally posted by C. Fontaine
Nice find!  That would be this store.
http://www.amesfanclub.com/archive/main.php/v/ames/stores/NY/massena/st+regis+blvd/01.jpg.html

Just out of curiosity what site did you find these on?  Some of the text looks like it might have been put on after the fact.  Also, the picture we have of this location shows 'Ames' on the building, it looks like it was taken more recently than 1973.

And yes, that is the plaza Ames supermarket used to be in.  It would have been the portion in the center with the white roof.  The portion on the far right would have been the old Fay's Drugs.

I found it on http://news.nnyln.org.  You would move your mouse over the map of St. Lawrence County, click on "Massena Observer" on the menu and the search page will open.  Then type in "Ames supermarket" in the search box.  The Ames supermarket opened in 1966 and became a P&C in 1973.  The P&C moved across the street in 1986 and the supermarket portion became a location of the old Central Tractor chain.  When Tractor Supply bought them out, the Massena store was closed.  There was also a Fay's Drugs in that plaza from 1972-1988.  The entire plaza was demolished to make room for Home Depot a few years back.

[mikey7290]

Originally posted by mikey7290

Originally posted by mikey7290

Originally posted by C. Fontaine
Nice find!  That would be this store.
http://www.amesfanclub.com/archive/main.php/v/ames/stores/NY/massena/st+regis+blvd/01.jpg.html

Just out of curiosity what site did you find these on?  Some of the text looks like it might have been put on after the fact.  Also, the picture we have of this location shows 'Ames' on the building, it looks like it was taken more recently than 1973.

And yes, that is the plaza Ames supermarket used to be in.  It would have been the portion in the center with the white roof.  The portion on the far right would have been the old Fay's Drugs.

I found it on http://news.nnyln.org.  You would move your mouse over the map of St. Lawrence County, click on "Massena Observer" on the menu and the search page will open.  Then type in "Ames supermarket" in the search box.  The Ames supermarket opened in 1966 and became a P&C in 1973.  The P&C moved across the street in 1986 and the supermarket portion became a location of the old Central Tractor chain.  When Tractor Supply bought them out, the Massena store was closed.  There was also a Fay's Drugs in that plaza from 1972-1988.  The entire plaza was demolished to make room for Home Depot a few years back.

Just wondering...did you think that the supermarket was located on the far left end of the plaza, where the Ames sign is in the picture?  That was the department store part of the business.  That stayed an Ames from 1966 until the chain took over the former Hills store in the St. Lawrence Centre mall in the late 1990's.  After Ames left the plaza, that store was boarded up and never again filled.  The supermarket (originally Ames Foods, later P&C) was in the middle and Fay's Drugs was on the right.

[C. Fontaine]

Ahh I see now.  Yes I thought the entire Ames was the supermarket.  Sorry for doubting it.  That's verry interesting, I wonder if Ames was trying out a grocery section hybrid or if it was an independent deal?

[mikey7290]

Originally posted by C. Fontaine
Ahh I see now.  Yes I thought the entire Ames was the supermarket.  Sorry for doubting it.  That's verry interesting, I wonder if Ames was trying out a grocery section hybrid or if it was an independent deal?

I don't know.  It's the only one to my knowledge.  Weston's tried the same thing in the 1970's with their store in Watertown, NY.  They opened a separate supermarket under their name next to their discount store.  It didn't last too long and was taken over by Great American in the 1980's.  The Weston's became Jamesway, then Zayre, then Ames.  The supermarket (after Great American) became Present Co. and is now TJMaxx.

[Retail_247]

The original post had an image showing the Ames supermarket ad. The image has since been lost from the forum but luckily I found a website that has the entire Ames Discount Supermarket ad:

https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84031311/1973-01-16/ed-1/seq-9/

[BillyGr]

Ahh I see now.  Yes I thought the entire Ames was the supermarket.  Sorry for doubting it.  That's verry interesting, I wonder if Ames was trying out a grocery section hybrid or if it was an independent deal?

Looking at the newly posted ad, it would seem to have at least some connection to the discount stores, as I remember seeing other older ads from the Ames chain that used that same logo (the blocks).