Store Number Spreadsheet

[108CAM]

As the title suggests, I'm currently working on a spreadsheet which contains every Ames store number and a colour coding system that indicates what each store was prior to becoming an Ames or if it was an Ames from the start, such is the case with Ames #0079 in Collins, NY.

Below is the current Store Key, taken from the Wayback Machine archives of the Store Locator.

Most of the former Zayre Ames's are in the 2000's.
Former Rich's stores are in the 700's.
Former Hill's are in the 1000's (1 + Original Hills Store #).
If it was between 500 & 600 it was a Murphy Mart. Former Jamesways were between 702 & 718.

This key is somewhat accurate but I've found some patterns and anomalies in the number key that were previously unknown

- Many former King's stores are numbered between 208 & 247, suggesting that most Kings locations could be in the 200's. There's also a few Barker's locations in the 200's.

- Store #556 is a former Hills. The store was likely purchased by Ames after Hills closed it following a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing in 1991. I'm guessing that Ames grouped it with a bunch of former G. C. Murphy's locations that reopened as Ames, hence being numbered in the 500's.

- Former G. C. Murphy's locations are between 500 & 603, just like in the Store Key.

- Most stores numbered between 727 & 759 are former Caldor locations that became Ames in the late 1990's.
Stores #718 & #773 are also former Caldor locations.

- Stores in the low 300's(most likely 300-332) appear to be the 32 Neisner's/Big N locations that Ames acquired in 1978.

- Just like in the Store Key, former Hills locations are numbered in the 1000's. (1 + Original Hills Number)

- Zayre stores are mostly in the 2000's. I'm assuming it's 2 + Original Zayre Number. There are some Zayre stores not in the 2000's. Stores #60, #240, #413 & #416 are a few examples of this.

- Former Goldblatt's are between 763 & 768 with the exception of store #767 which is a former Kmart.

- The 12 Jamesway locations which were purchased by and converted to Ames were assigned the following numbers: 704, 706, 707, 708, 709, 710, 711, 712, 716, 717, 726 & 741. Some of these numbers correspond to the numbers in the Store Key.

- Store #723 is a former Clover and Store #261 is a former Sears.

- Stores #719, 720, 721 & 728 are former Rich's locations.

- Most stores between 0 & 99 appear to be a mix of Former W. T. Grant's locations and older Ames locations.

- All numbers in the 100's were never assigned. Not sure why this happened.

- Distribution Centers are in the 900's.

That's all the patterns I've found so far.
More information would be greatly appreciated and I'll have the spreadsheet uploaded once I've finished it.

[TheFugitive]

I can confirm that former GC Murphy Marts had store numbers in the 500's.  I had worked in one (Hillsdale, MI #580).  And the acquired Zayre stores did indeed have four-digit store numbers in the 2000's.  I was not around during the Hills acquisition so I have no idea what store numbers those locations were assigned.  Some of the Hills stores here in the Pittsburgh area that got converted to Ames were Century III (Hills store #49) and Robinson Towne Center (Hills store #60).  I don't know if when they got acquired Ames assigned totally new numbers, or just tacked a 10 in front of the existing one.

I wasn't aware of any stores with 700 numbers, probably because I was out in Ohio and Michigan on the western side of the chain.  Wauseon, Ohio was #291 and that location was built by Ames and not a converted location of any other chain, so that numbering seems inconsistent.

I worked with a lady who had transfered to our store from a former Neisner's/Big N location in Maine but I don't recall us ever discussing the topic of store numbers.

[BillyGr]

Wauseon, Ohio was #291 and that location was built by Ames and not a converted location of any other chain, so that numbering seems inconsistent.

Any guess as to when that store was opened?  The thinking being that they might have just taken whatever number was next available for a newly built store when it was built?

Or maybe just picked numbers that had not gotten used (say they assigned a group for an acquisition and then didn't use them all - something like Kings comes to mind, where there was at least one here that they did NOT keep, also happened with at least one local Neisner/Big N that became Kmart)?

Then again, any of that could be totally wrong.

Going back to the original posts, it makes sense that Barkers numbers would be in the same range as Kings, as they most likely went to Kings first, then to Ames, rather than Ames getting any Barker's stores directly?

[108CAM]

Wauseon, Ohio was #291 and that location was built by Ames and not a converted location of any other chain, so that numbering seems inconsistent.

Any guess as to when that store was opened?  The thinking being that they might have just taken whatever number was next available for a newly built store when it was built?

Or maybe just picked numbers that had not gotten used (say they assigned a group for an acquisition and then didn't use them all - something like Kings comes to mind, where there was at least one here that they did NOT keep, also happened with at least one local Neisner/Big N that became Kmart)?

Then again, any of that could be totally wrong.

Going back to the original posts, it makes sense that Barkers numbers would be in the same range as Kings, as they most likely went to Kings first, then to Ames, rather than Ames getting any Barker's stores directly?

It seems like stores in the 200's are a mixture of Ames that were always Ames, Former Kings & Former Barkers.
There were some Barkers stores that went directly to Ames upon acquisition.
Considering that Ames was building their own stores at the same time as they were converting the Kings and Barkers locations, I'm guessing that they assigned the numbers in the order that the stores opened as Ames stores, hence the scattered numbering in the 200's.