South Cheektowaga #1077 finally laid to rest (RIP)

[MikeinBuffalo]

Here's a new topic for you Jon :p

Ames 1077, South Cheektowaga, NY, is finally being put to rest, along with the rest of the wretched abandoned Garden Village Plaza it is attached to. Demolition started this week that will remove the plaza (including the super cool old school Tops/Vix at the other end) and leave the Ames building to become a warehouse/light manufacturing factory.

This plaza has been abandoned for years, finally losing the last tenant, Dollar General, a couple years ago.  The Vix and Ames, which had been a Hills, had been empty since the early 2000s, except for a junk flea market that used the building occasionally.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/07/26/demolition-starts-long-vacant-garden-village-plaza/

I got some pictures back in May, but I could not see in the windows due to asbestos removal going on. I had posted some of these pictures in the other thread, but here they are again.



Here's the abandoned Vix. Was originally a very small Tops.



The poor, lonely remains of Ames. This was a Hills, then a Grant's before that.



Compactor is gone, as is the receiving sign, but there seems to be some incinerator like thing around the back.



Can't get in :( don't want to breathe in asbestos anyways.



Final up close shot of the front. Maybe it is just me, but I swear you can make out a Hills label scar in the middle. Nah.

I will try to get a final shot of the demo in progress to add to the thread later.


Rest in piece, Ames #1077. Retail nerds like me won't forget you!



The history of the plaza is quite interesting too, if anyone is interested. Here's a nice blog post about the history.

https://jenniferorr.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/reviving-garden-village-plaza-pt-i/

[Pikapower]

RIP Garden Village Plaza!

[NJxxJon]

lol......danks!

[Chuck E. Cheese]

:-(

[Pikapower]

Another Buffalo area Ames store gets the wrecking ball, as I've said before, RIP Garden Village Plaza Ames store.

I could think of two other Buffalo area Ames stores that we've lost, Sheridan Drive in Amherst (was part of a little strip plaza, demolished for a Walmart) and Clarence Mall on the corner of Transit Road and Main Street by Eastern Hills Malls (plaza remolded, the Ames store was demolished for Barnes & Noble and Best Buy).

[MikeinBuffalo]

Another Buffalo area Ames store gets the wrecking ball, as I've said before, RIP Garden Village Plaza Ames store.

I could think of two other Buffalo area Ames stores that we've lost, Sheridan Drive in Amherst (was part of a little strip plaza, demolished for a Walmart) and Clarence Mall on the corner of Transit Road and Main Street by Eastern Hills Malls (plaza remolded, the Ames store was demolished for Barnes & Noble and Best Buy).

I work at the Bed Bath and Beyond that occupies the space that Ames stood on. Kinda cool to know that an Ames was where we have a coffee display :)


Another one lost would be Lockport, which was destroyed along with the Lockport Mall for...you guessed it...a Walmart. Only Bon Ton remains from the mall.

[TheFugitive]

I was in a Lowe's the other day that is on the site of a Hills store where I did
my training when I joined the company. Two Lowe's in Pittsburgh now sit on the sites of former Hills stores,
Heidelberg and Bethel Park.

And the former Ames store in Bethel Park that once housed a regional office
(I interviewed for my job there) is now a Walmart where I shop all the time.

The fates of other stores where I worked:

Ames, Wauseon, OH - appears to be divided between a Dollar General, a thrift store
and a Chief Supermarket.

Ames, Hillsdale, MI - looks like the Krogers that was next-door has expanded and taken over
most of the strip center.

Ames, Imlay City, MI - location has been a Tractor Supply store for more than twenty years.

Service Merchandise, West Mifflin, PA - location became a telemarketing call center, but has
recently closed.

Hills, Washington, PA -  became a Gander Mountain location, not sure what happens to it next.

Hills, West Mifflin (Kennywood), PA - is now a Ross' store.

[MikeinBuffalo]

Will try to get some pics, but the plaza is now completely demoed except for the Ames building. Looks very strange without it being there.

[MikeinBuffalo]

Not related to this one per-say, but there was a shooting across the street from the plaza. There is a reason that this location declined as much as it did.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/11/14/person-shot-in-cheektowaga/?utm_campaign=puma&utm_medium=social&utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1510690110

[MikeinBuffalo]

Finally snapped a pic of what is left.

[AcesAdventures]

i got inside in late summer, and shot a video, was pretty empty, but upstairs was interesting


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_1e2_C9Ns&t=1s

[MikeinBuffalo]

i got inside in late summer, and shot a video, was pretty empty, but upstairs was interesting


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_1e2_C9Ns&t=1s

Glad you started an account here. Love your videos. If you're ever around shooting, shoot me a PM. Would love to go with.


When I was here, the building was closed off for asbestos removal, and I did not want to risk it without a respirator. Your video was just as good.