Ames Returning in 2023?

[Crazybangles]

Has anyone ever considered that companies go out of business often for a good reason? They are clearly trying to appeal to a small minority of people with a sense of nostalgia, and the more they keep pushing this, the more hype it will create. This plan is absolutely ridiculous, and if the company went out of business over 20 years ago, what reason is there for them to exist today? Odds are  a lot of their customers are either passed on or have significantly increased in age.

[Retail Regents]

Has anyone ever considered that companies go out of business often for a good reason? They are clearly trying to appeal to a small minority of people with a sense of nostalgia, and the more they keep pushing this, the more hype it will create. This plan is absolutely ridiculous, and if the company went out of business over 20 years ago, what reason is there for them to exist today? Odds are  a lot of their customers are either passed on or have significantly increased in age.

It is also the reason C&S Wholesale opted to revive the Grand Union name as a result of the Tops/Price Chopper merger. Not only were they in their core market and once acquired them after three bankruptcies, but also for the nostalgia factor (especially with that awful modern interpretation of the red dot logo). The people who created this psyop must have known about this, and decided to fool those same people into believing Ames would return in the same fashion, with Big Kmart ripoff store designs.

[TheFugitive]

Has anyone ever considered that companies go out of business often for a good reason? They are clearly trying to appeal to a small minority of people with a sense of nostalgia, and the more they keep pushing this, the more hype it will create. This plan is absolutely ridiculous, and if the company went out of business over 20 years ago, what reason is there for them to exist today? Odds are  a lot of their customers are either passed on or have significantly increased in age.

Crazybangles raises many excellent points here.  Sadly I'd have to say that my former employers (Ames, Hills, Service Merchandise) absolutely DID deserve to go out of business, largely due to incompetent, short-sighted and arrogant senior management.  I lived through bankruptcies with all of them.  In all cases experienced managers in the field were telling them NOT to do certain things because they would harm the company.  We were summarily dismissed (and some were punished for their candor).

Also if you are going to capitalize on the nostalgia value of a brand you need to do it quickly.  A good example is Macy's acquiring the Toys R Us brand and rolling that out as a department in their stores a couple of years after the chain closed down. There were still plenty of people thinking fondly of Toys R Us and hoping for an opportunity to shop them again.

I was 24 when I went to work for Ames.  I was 37 when they went out of business.  I'm 60 now.  We have a full generation out there which never set foot in an Ames store and does not care about them.  My own kids are in their 30's and were very young the last time they set foot in an Ames.  I doubt they have the nostalgia for them that most of us do.