New Name

[nims57]

I see a lot of opportunity in appealing to a larger fan base. To accomplish this, we should change the name of the board. Sadly, "Ames Fan Club" is too hard to relate to for some people. The names on this poll reflect the heyday of classic retail.

[jmcnamara96]

Why is there no other?

[nims57]

Why is there no other?

No other what? Name? Sorry, but the poll only has room for 5 choices. I am open to other names with the same basic theme.

[jmcnamara96]

no a other poll to see if its something else you kno like on an survey it says other

[darkmoon9]

I see a lot of opportunity in appealing to a larger fan base. To accomplish this, we should change the name of the board. Sadly, "Ames Fan Club" is too hard to relate to for some people. The names on this poll reflect the heyday of classic retail.
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I see your point nims57 , but maybe something dealing with Old mall,and stores.  Maybe rename it Remembering the Past, or Stores of our youth.  I guess if yours are the only one  The New England Club is the best , because Ames start there.  Like I said  at the start of this reply I do see you point and it's a good one.

[GothicPrincess]

How about just the "Retail History Club"? We do have people from the west side of the States here, not just New England. We must respect them as well...

[nims57]

The idea is to have a less literal name that does not have "retail" in it.

[jmcnamara96]

Well a name with out retail of some sort my draw a crowd to think were not what we are

[dmx10101]

We since I live in Georgia I dont think calling it New England or Philadelphia is a good idea, and the rest of the choices make no sense. Ames fan club is a good name as any to me.

[nims57]

We have to consider nostalgic value here. And most of the regional discounters were in the Northeast, or at least the East Coast.

[Ames#1171]

I think the Ames Fan Club is perfectly fine.

[nims57]

New choices explained: We need a name that reflects class. "Fan club" does not speak class to me. The 50's, 60's, and 70's were all significant decades in retail. There were no dollar stores, big-box stores, etc. back then. I picked "Acme" because Acme was a very inventive supermarket chain. Respects to A&P, Food Fair, Penn Fruit, Grand Union, and others. But Acme was the biggest innovator, and they are the biggest today. Their headquarters were Philadelphia, hence the "Philadelphia society". Philadelphia is rich in retail history in general. The name "Acme" is shortest and simplest too. Safeway or Kroger would be nice too.

"Windfern" comes from AMF Windfern Lanes in Houston. This is my favorite bowling alley. It is like an oasis of old retail (well, retail) in a sea of ugly sprawl. "1980" comes from the year 1980, not "1980s". That year was a very important one for retail, and music too. Acme and Kmart built their last "classic" stores (with a 70's design) that year. Kroger introduced the "greenhouse", the last classic grocery store prototype. Target, an icon of 80's era retail, built their first major stores. The "pursuit" and "society" come from liquor ads. I thought they would make an interesting (or funny) name.

"HoJo" of course comes from Howard Johnson's. There are other HoJo websites out there, but I like the restaurant name idea. Pizza Hut (the old school ones) is nostalgic too. So are Denny's, Shoney's, Big Boy, etc. Restaurants or bars would be a great place for a "live" Ames Fan Club...

Again because of nostalgia, we could even use a 70's band name. Maybe even the name of a beer or something.

This is one of the reasons we need a new name, people like THIS: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/awful-links/alod-ames-fanclub.php

[EddieJ1984]

I dont think a specific retail store name should be used.
Hey I love the acme and all, but naming the board that would have the same problems as having it be the Ames Fan Club.
I never was in an ames, myself so sadly I never could relate to the name.
So maybe something based off of a slogan or something?

[nims57]

I dont think a specific retail store name should be used.
Hey I love the acme and all, but naming the board that would have the same problems as having it be the Ames Fan Club.
I never was in an ames, myself so sadly I never could relate to the name.
So maybe something based off of a slogan or something?

Your closest Ames would have been Bristol, which was a Caldor, then Ames for a short time. Now it's a Wal-Mart, and it got the same treatment as the former Bradlees they bought. There was an older Ames in Vineland, NJ not too far away. Not sure what it used to be.

I admit I never really have been in a classic discount store at all. The only time I ever went to Ames was their closing sale. Being born in Texas, I fell in love with old retail in the Northeast, but by then it was too late. I can dream though!

As for Acme, I think anyone from Philadelphia can relate to them. At least the older generation. When I think old retail, Acme and Philadelphia come to mind. The only problem with naming the board that is possible legal issues since they still exist.

[nims57]

And a lot of people have this attitude about dead retail (and they STOLE a pic from this site!): http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56294564824

and this: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=5065458555

[C. Fontaine]

That doesn't really bother me, there is always going to be people online bashing everything.  We could be named anything and still get crap for pursuing dead retail.  Even in that article, we, or I, aren't really being bashed for the name, but rather for what we do.

I agree with EddieJ, naming it after another store is kind of defeating the purpose of renaming it to a broader name.

One thing to keep in mind is the site encompassing this message board is not going to change.  I created the Ames Fan Club to commemorate Ames and the entire site is here to keep the memory online, so it would defeat the purpose to rename it.  I might consider shortening it to "The Ames Club" or something along those lines, but it would be up for major discussion.

As for the board, I think it has always been named "Ames Forums" or "The Ames Forums", which doesn't sound childish or oddball to me.  It is not much different than if we were to name it "Acme Forums" or "The Hojo Club".  50's, 60's and 70's Clubs sound way too broad, for all anyone knows we could be a rock & roll or car forum.

It seems that this is a really hot-topic for many of us and I'm not taking sides, I'm open to the idea, but maybe we should post another poll (not replace this one) with who actually wants a name change?

[nims57]

Only problem with that is, as is clear on Something Awful, they bash us for pursuing DEAD Ames stores, only Ames, and the name. In real life, I indeed get BS for pursuing my hobby, not just dead retail. But music and cars have changed, and no one gets "crap" for those hobbies. I think all three go together. Why are we any different?

I think this site is more like zayre88's, for retailers from Woolworth to Wal-Mart. We discuss much more than just Ames, and that's a fact. I miss Ames. They have a place in my heart. But I also miss Bradlees, Jamesway, Woolco, Grant City, J.M. Fields, and Two Guys. Not to mention other types of retail, or all the Kmarts that closed, or current retail. I think a restaurant in the name makes it sound like a more "comfortable" place than Ames. Again, several of us could meet at that restaurant someday for a "real" club!

Here's a suggestion... rename the forums and make them the main attraction. The AFC could be a section of that. We already have a new site design. This is like retail strategy...

[C. Fontaine]

I'm sure this site could have dedicated to any dead retail chain and that person would have written the same article.  Besides, Something Awful doesn't exactly strike me as the authority or go-to for reviews and write-ups.

I have actually been looking for a way to revamp the site, as evident from the forum change.  My idea in the past has been to somehow recombine the site and forum since they indeed have drifted apart.  This has included integrating the gallery into the forum.  To reverse their roles would require much modification, not to mention new domain names.

As I said, keeping Ames a focal point of amesfanclub.com is very important to me, so I believe if we go forward with a name change, the forum and Ames Fan Club would become two different sites.

[EddieJ1984]

I dont think a specific retail store name should be used.
Hey I love the acme and all, but naming the board that would have the same problems as having it be the Ames Fan Club.
I never was in an ames, myself so sadly I never could relate to the name.
So maybe something based off of a slogan or something?

Your closest Ames would have been Bristol, which was a Caldor, then Ames for a short time. Now it's a Wal-Mart, and it got the same treatment as the former Bradlees they bought. There was an older Ames in Vineland, NJ not too far away. Not sure what it used to be.

Actually according to the site, 11000 roosevelt boulavard in ne philly would be the closest ames to me (Now a target sits there). Does anyone know what that closed?

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

How about this one:

The Society for North American Retailers

[darkmoon9]

I'm sure this site could have dedicated to any dead retail chain and that person would have written the same article.  Besides, Something Awful doesn't exactly strike me as the authority or go-to for reviews and write-ups.

I have actually been looking for a way to revamp the site, as evident from the forum change.  My idea in the past has been to somehow recombine the site and forum since they indeed have drifted apart.  This has included integrating the gallery into the forum.  To reverse their roles would require much modification, not to mention new domain names.

As I said, keeping Ames a focal point of amesfanclub.com is very important to me, so I believe if we go forward with a name change, the forum and Ames Fan Club would become two different sites.

.
C. Fontaine,
       You made a good point amesfanclub.com is very important to you ,and us all.  I don't think the Ames Fan Club  needs a name change. A name change might bring more members, but it would change the reason for the site. You started the site and I think any name change should be your idea. I hope I'm not speaking out of line on this.  I think you, have a great site, Stay the course LOL.

[C. Fontaine]

Thank you, Darkmoon. Of course, this site would not be much without everyone here!

I definitely entertain the idea, and I don't want to sound too "iron fisted" with my point of view.

[Zayre88]

I never launched a Forum linked to my website because I felt that the Ames Fan Club forums was there and doing that just fine.  A place to discuss Ames, other retailers past & present, restaurants, hotels, cars, Hojo, malls & more.   

I don't think there is a name that can cover all that.  Ames Forums is okay with me, so would be a new name, but I don't know what would be the ultimate name.

For example: my website is named after Zayre and much of my focus is on Zayre, Ames, Bradlees and New England retailers.  I say "from Woolworth to Walmart", but it's stores that I know that were there from then to Walmart, not all stores.   I often get request to talk about Gold Circle, Shopko, Mervyn's, Jamesway.  So it's hard to find a name that describes what we cover.

[nims57]

I thought zayre88's site existed a while before AFC.

And I do love that AFC bought the old Ames website. Did they used to own ames.com?

[C. Fontaine]

Well I didn't buy Ames's old website, I built ours based on their last model.  I customized many of the graphics including the menu links based on all the original fonts, sizes and shapes to get it closest to a clone as I could.  I replaced many of the store facade graphics with pictures of the same store but closed, to kind of symbolize the chain is defunct.

I was able to grab amesstores.net, Ames' old email domain easily, but I can't afford to purchase amesstores.com, ameshome.com etc since they are premium domain names.  I would definitely jump at the chance to do so though.

Ames.com has always been for the garden tool company, as far as I can remember.

[nims57]

Cool! But what is a "premium" domain name?

[C. Fontaine]

It includes the name of a brand, etc... And is owned by an individual rather than registrar. Right now a company in CT owns Ames's and I would have to make an offer.  Interestingly enough the company is in Rocky Hill!

[GothicPrincess]

Ah heck with it. Leave it the way it is for now. We're all happy that this board exists in the first place, so we'll still be here no matter if it changes or stays the same. Rock on, my brothers and sisters of the retail fanatic world.

[nims57]

One more reason this board needs a new name: slow activity. We have gotten lots of new members in the past year, yet posting has been very slow. It seems like a dying board at times. Many posters seem to have a main interest.

zayre88: Zayre

caldor1999: Caldor

d_fife: Toys R Us

meganium: Toys R Us

HoJoFan206: Howard Johnson's

ShopKoFan: ShopKo

MikeRa: movie theaters

videogamer75: Acme

Acme Style: Acme

gu4ever: Grand Union

and so on...

[Bdubs]

I respect the current name, especially growing up, and having parents that shopped at Ames ALL the time.  Spending so many childhood weekends and summer afternoons picking up random stuff. 
Although, my main interest are empty stores, stores which have became defunct, retail wastelands, etc. which had originally brought me to here in the first place.

But, I do agree that a name change may help the board become more popular.  The board touches so many subjects, something rather simple like Big Box Demise.com or something, lol.