Abandoned Store - Ames

[Amesguy2000]

Has the Essex Ames Been torn down yet? Same with the one in the Northern Lights Shopping Center in PA

[NJxxJon]

maps.google.com  -check there?  Street view can show things now fast.

[Amesguy2000]

I don't know the address Lol

[TheFugitive]

Has the Essex Ames Been torn down yet? Same with the one in the Northern Lights Shopping Center in PA

Northern Lights is about 30 miles from where I live.  I rarely have a reason to go up there.
If I do I will check it out.

[Amesguy2000]

Ok Thanks Just wondering Lol

[NJxxJon]

http://amesfanclub.com/store.loc.htm


EH....I have to see if I can update that stuff too soon. The cool "beta" search is dead...google probaly flagged it all.

[Amesguy2000]

Im still wondering to this day if there was an Ames in Decatur IN, I wish there was pictures of it in its Hey day

[108CAM]

Has the Essex Ames Been torn down yet? Same with the one in the Northern Lights Shopping Center in PA

Despite living in Australia, I know quite a bit about both the Northern Lights and Essex stores so this will be a long reply.

First I'll go over what's happened at Northern Lights.
The first demolition at Northern Lights happened back in 2006 when the roof of the former JCPenney building collapsed and was deemed a safety hazard. This left a big gap in the rearmost shopping strip. This gap was later used for extending Economy Drive up to a Walmart Supercentre which opened in 2014.

The 2018/2019 demolition was part of a redevelopment project for the entire Northern Lights shopping precinct.
The project involved demolishing the abandoned/vacant sections of the centre, starting in 2018 with the movie theatre, then moving to the rear shopping strip which was demolished starting from the right hand end and progressively moving towards the left hand end.

As they moved along, the Ames/Hills building was demolished, followed by another section of the rear strip mall. After demolition of the right hand/Ames side was completed, the crews then moved to the other side of Economy Drive where the last remaining section of the rear strip was demolished with final works being completed sometime in 2019.

At the time of demolition, a now closed Giant Eagle supermarket was located on the left hand end of the precinct. Since the Giant Eagle was still open when the demolition commenced, It's building and the shopping strip along the left hand side were retained while the strip on the right/Ames side received a much needed refurbishment and currently houses multiple tenants.

In 2021, the Giant Eagle supermarket closed down and it's building is still vacant today, as is most of the adjoining shopping strip which still has not yet been refurbished. The former Ames parking lot was torn up and replaced with a graveled area while the sites of the demolished buildings are slowly being reclaimed by nature.

Now I'll move over to the Essex store.
I'm unsure about the current state of the Essex store. In early 2022, I read something about the posibile demolition of Diamond Point Plaza in mid 2022 but from what I know, the buildings are still standing. In 2018, Diamond Point Plaza's final tennant, a Chuck E Cheese, closed down, making the entire plaza vacant.

As of 2023, the only signs of life at Diamond Point include a flea market and the occasional urban explorer.

The flea market continues to thrive despite being right outside a giant, mold infested building that was once a department store.