Ames Corporate Offices

[C. Fontaine]

So someone emailed me looking for help with their severance pay from Ames.  I gave them Corps last known # and just for the heck of it looked it up on superpages...  The address comes up different from their old headquarters!

http://www.superpages.com/bp/Rocky-Hill-CT/Ames-Corporate-Office-L0107886277.htm?lbp=1

(860) 257-2000
805 Brook St,
Rocky Hill, CT 06067

I figure these must be some temporary offices set up for the wind-down, I'm curious if they are still there?  I'd assume so as the phone # still works.

Nick, you should take a trip there and check this out. ;)

[NJxxJon]

That number works at least!

http://www.ctdol.state.ct.us/gendocs/legislation.html

Thats all i can google for you.....at work. bleh.

[beachgal26]

I just had to check and called the number tonight and it still answers with a recorded message thanking me for calling Ames and to please leave a message.   I was stunned that they are still supporting a phone line.  Guess there's still work to be done!    :o

[Kmart4life]

Just tryed that number myself and got the same recording.

[jdmorley21]

Just tryed that number myself and got the same recording.

Thats awesome! I can't believe they still have an operational number....AMES for life hahaha

[zonemad96]

just called the number and it STILL works got a recording that said "ames department store is out of business" you dont say?

update: it still works and its now 2013

[zonemad96]

Who keeps paying the phone bill for this?

[TheFugitive]

Who keeps paying the phone bill for this?

I believe the Bankruptcy Court requires companies who close down to maintain an open
line for communication until all outstanding issues have been settled.  Likely some debtor
in possession funds were put aside for this purpose.

Although twelve years is an AWFUL long time to still have issues outstanding
(I just called the number and it still answers).   Ames did operate in quite a few states,
and each state has different requirements in this area.

I became something of an expert in bankruptcy law during Ames' first Chapter 11.
I had been in a store that was planned to do $6 mil. but somehow blew the doors off
and did over $9 mil.  I was owed a HUGE bonus.  Which I never got, thanks to the
bankruptcy.

I did go thru the motions of filing for it with the Court.  A very interesting process.
I learned from the paperwork they sent me that there were actually 53 WHOLLY OWNED
SUBSIDIARIES of Ames Department Stores, Inc.!  Had to figure out which of those actually
owed me the money, which I eventually did.

What happened next was disappointing.  Ames' attorneys basically LIED to the Court,
telling them that I had been paid.  Which was patently untrue.  However, my only option
was to request an appeal hearing at the Court, which was seated in Manhattan.

I would have had to pay my own way out from Michigan, in the hopes that one day my
claim might get settled for ten cents on the dollar. Which might just cover the cost of my trip.

Our legal system is a Legalized Theft System in many ways.

[zonemad96]

Who keeps paying the phone bill for this?

I believe the Bankruptcy Court requires companies who close down to maintain an open
line for communication until all outstanding issues have been settled.  Likely some debtor
in possession funds were put aside for this purpose.

Although twelve years is an AWFUL long time to still have issues outstanding
(I just called the number and it still answers).   Ames did operate in quite a few states,
and each state has different requirements in this area.

I became something of an expert in bankruptcy law during Ames' first Chapter 11.
I had been in a store that was planned to do $6 mil. but somehow blew the doors off
and did over $9 mil.  I was owed a HUGE bonus.  Which I never got, thanks to the
bankruptcy.

I did go thru the motions of filing for it with the Court.  A very interesting process.
I learned from the paperwork they sent me that there were actually 53 WHOLLY OWNED
SUBSIDIARIES of Ames Department Stores, Inc.!  Had to figure out which of those actually
owed me the money, which I eventually did.

What happened next was disappointing.  Ames' attorneys basically LIED to the Court,
telling them that I had been paid.  Which was patently untrue.  However, my only option
was to request an appeal hearing at the Court, which was seated in Manhattan.

I would have had to pay my own way out from Michigan, in the hopes that one day my
claim might get settled for ten cents on the dollar. Which might just cover the cost of my trip.

Our legal system is a Legalized Theft System in many ways.

Yeah you would think they wouldn't need it anymore but I'm not complaining. It sucks that they screwed you over like that but it's not surprising with the way things are these day's. As long as the people who run these companies are allowed to destroy them and walk away with millions it's going to keep happening and the only people who ever get hurt are the little guys.

[TheFugitive]

I am sure all of you who have worked in retail can appreciate what it was like to work in a store
that was planned at $6 mil. and did $9 mil.  For one thing you were stuck with the payroll for a
$6 mil. store till the following year's payroll was planned.  We all BUSTED OUR HUMPS to earn
that bonus.

Ames did this to managers all over the chain, and to a much larger extent, to our vendors.
I remember the CEO of PepsiCo gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal in which he ripped
us to shreds.

And it must have been planned on their part, because several months before we went Chapter 11 they
spun off the jewelry departments as a leased department under a company called JBA.  Store management
was to have NO input in the running of that department (which was fun in our store, because JBA put a total
idiot in charge).

Knowing what I know now, I can see this was a slick maneuver to keep the gold and the diamonds out of
the reach of our creditors.

A colleague of mine who has been involved in closing down businesses tells me West Virginia has some arcane laws which force you to take a very long time.  And Ames had a number of stores there, which may explain why the hotline is still up and running.

[Kmart4life]

The number still works!

[retailfan]

Ames itself would have had money due it from credit companies etc  I think after 7 years they would no longer be able to collect from outstanding debts
so any trickle income to them would then be dispersed to there creditors

[TheFugitive]

Some of you who have been through retail bankruptcies are familiar with "factoring".

Factors are basically lenders who will agree to lend you money, using your outstanding receivables
as collateral.  The interest cuts into the profit you would have made when those bills are paid, but
the cash flow allows you to keep the doors open, particularly if you are working your way through
a bankruptcy.

Companies in other industries also use factors to finance their receivables. 
One factor recently won a $17 million judgment against a company that had blatantly defrauded them.

http://www.moneylife.in/article/prithvi-information-solutions-involved-in-17-million-fraud/36934.html

This Prithvi company was an IT services firm that at one time was headquartered here in Pittsburgh.
They picked up and moved to Seattle under mysterious circumstances several years ago.  People I know
locally say they skipped town owing various firms and individuals a whole lot of money.

Apparently they cheated a factoring company based in Canada by producing fake invoices showing a large amount of pending receivables, and then taking a loan against those.  The factor sued in Washington State and won a $17 million judgment.  It was not paid, so the Sheriff went and seized the assets of their CEO.  She has apparently fled back to India.

I had seen a number of dishonorable things done in business over the years, including by my retail employers.
But nothing that ever rose to the level of that!

[Ameskid]

The number still works!

Not for me, as of today...

[retailfan]

just checked today it still answers  you can leave a fax or a voice mail

[shore72]

We had a large business in my hometown, they had branches across the country. They had been on shaky financial ground for years. My mother worked in the office and had the foresight to get transferred into a job that paid a little less but was a one-person department. Basically, she was in charge of investigating and refunding customers who claimed they were overcharged. By law, claims had to be serviced for X number of years. When the company went bankrupt the offices cleaned out fast, but she remained on the payroll for probably a couple years. Out of several thousand employees, I think there were 7 left when they cut her loose, all handling dumb little claims, debt collection, etc. Years earlier she had worked for another company that went belly up, and kept busy for years afterward doing clean-up stuff under contract. She had a monster early 80s computer in the den running archaic DOS programs, and this was in the later 90s.

[TheFugitive]

My boss once served as interim CEO of a company which had a branch office in Iceland.
While in the role he decided to close that office.  Even today, years later, no longer affiliated
with that firm, he will on occasion get long faxes from the Government of Iceland that have
something to do with that branch closing.

[retailfan]

I dont think the business ever completely goes away untill there is no chance of any more funds or law suits.
any credit cards  that the company had Ames had one  as long as someone is paying  there would still be income for that company.
I know Ritz still has a number for the old company also Service merchandise  Hills Venture still had a web sight as recent as a few years ago
and Im sure little subsidiaries of a lot of these company's exist in some way or another.

[TheFugitive]

I dont think the business ever completely goes away untill there is no chance of any more funds or law suits.
any credit cards  that the company had Ames had one  as long as someone is paying  there would still be income for that company.
I know Ritz still has a number for the old company also Service merchandise  Hills Venture still had a web sight as recent as a few years ago
and Im sure little subsidiaries of a lot of these company's exist in some way or another.

Wow.  I worked for 3 of those. 
My resume is a virtual Who's Who of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.   ::)

[BillyGr]

any credit cards  that the company had Ames had one  as long as someone is paying  there would still be income for that company.

Unless they sold those to someone else (that way Ames would have had the $ to pay creditors and whoever bought the accounts would take care of collecting on them)?

[giantsfan2016]

Here I am today at the still vacant AMES World HQ. I went with board member M.R.CALDOR aka Geno. 15 years after Ames went out it's still vacant. The building is in pretty rough shape too. Sadly I think whomever buys the property is going to havr to bulldoze it

[Chuck E. Cheese]

Nice to know it's still there from the time I stopped by. Just like any abandoned business I'd love to get inside..but sadly might not happen. Eh, the outside is good too. :-P

[shore72]

To go along with some of the interesting things in this thread: I once was approached by a woman with a court order stating I owed her something like $800. It seems that she had worked for a small-town newspaper which went bankrupt; she was owed some pay when they closed so the judge assigned her all of the receivables. Unfortunately for her, they kept terrible books. (Probably why they went bust!) I ran a $25/week ad in the paper for my small business, and had for years. Their ledger didn't show me paying anything at all, almost forever! I may not be the most organized guy in the world, but in short order I was able to show her canceled checks for every one of those bills...and suddenly $800 in 'easy' money was out of her reach!

[giantsfan2016]

Nice to know it's still there from the time I stopped by. Just like any abandoned business I'd love to get inside..but sadly might not happen. Eh, the outside is good too. :-P

Yeah it's still there. Geno got some "inside" pix too by putting his I-Pad up to some of the windows that weren't boarded up. He has them posted on his Facebook Page. Some of the boards on the windows are loose, but I would not recommend trying to rip the boards off.

[retailfan]

I would love to see those pictures at the old offices

[JJBers]

Nearly a full year later, and it's still completely unused.
Here's two photos:

Abandoned Ames HQ (Rocky Hill, Connecticut) by JJBers, on Flickr

Abandoned Ames HQ (Rocky Hill, Connecticut) by JJBers, on Flickr
Yep, as you seen at the side, we got a Ames labelscar inside still!

[Amesguy2000]

Does That Number Still Work?

[retailfan]

1. Ames
20 Stanford Dr, Ste 2 Farmington, CT 06032
860-507-7188 new number

[Amesguy2000]

Does that still work? does it come up eith Ames?

[TheFugitive]

If any of you are thinking about "getting into" abandoned buildings, please be aware that there
may be legal consequences to this.

I have a nephew who, with a bunch of his buddies, went to this particular place in the
Pittsburgh area which is like a ghost town.  An entire street where people just walked away
and abandoned their houses after the steel industry essentially collapsed in the 1970's.
The buildings are crumbling and rotting, and are still filled with a lot of stuff that the prior
residents left there.

He and his friends of course got busted by the cops.  He got a lecture from a judge
and some community service.