CORP/BIZ Ames is making a comeback after going out of business over 2 decades ago

Macgyver

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Who remembers this chain.
I do.

www.nj.com

Ames is making a comeback after going out of business over 2 decades ago

The department store chain once operated hundreds of locations
www.nj.com www.nj.com

Ames is making a comeback after going out of business over 2 decades ago​


Updated: Mar. 20, 2024, 9:13 p.m.|Published: Mar. 20, 2024, 9:30 a.m.


Ames

Ames, a department store chain that used to operate hundreds of stores, is planning to make a comeback over 20 years since it went out of business.

A department store chain is making a return after going out of business over 20 years ago.

Ames, which used to operate hundreds of stores, plans to reestablish its brand with store openings across the country in the coming years.
The company recently announced it will begin to open stores nationwide by June 2026.

Ames plans to open at least 35 locations by late 2027, and more stores in 2028.
Select locations will provide the option to order online and pick up in-store along with a pharmacy and a café. Its website will provide online ordering and home delivery.
The once-popular department store sold clothing, shoes, furniture, jewelry, electronics and toys.
Ames closed its last 327 stores in 2002.
 
Macgyver

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Blacknarwhal said:
I remember Ames. Out here, it set up shop in a Big Wheel after it closed, and then when the Ames shut down, it turned into a Tractor Supply.
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There was one near where I grew up.
It was empty for a while then something else and I think that building ended up as a tractor supply as well.
 
B

BuffaloJo

Contributing Member
They took over the TG&Y chain of stores here in Oklahoma. (TG &Y was a dime store type store that grew into a Wal Mart type store without the groceries) TG & Y was a great store to shop, Ames not so much.
 
BornFree

BornFree

Came This Far
we had an Ames for many years. And like so many other stores like it they went out of business after Walmart came around. Now Walmart is not so great about stocking a lot of things. But they are the only department store that remains.
 
Griz3752

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
BuffaloJo said:
They took over the TG&Y chain of stores here in Oklahoma. (TG &Y was a dime store type store that grew into a Wal Mart type store without the groceries) TG & Y was a great store to shop, Ames not so much.
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Did either of them sell ammo or fishing tackle?
Only curious
 
StarryEyedLad

StarryEyedLad

désespéré pour le ciel
Ames was the main store that my parents took us to to buy school clothes when I was a kid. It was the most affordable place. We also went to Jamesway, a similar store, just about as often. Sometimes we went to K-mart, but my parents considered it a little too pricey for their wallets. Stores like Sears and JC Penney were always out of our family's price-range. It's weird to say that now, when people consider Sears & JC Penney the lower-tier stores! They're mostly gone now, too.

I wish Ames well. Maybe Jamesway can come back, too! I wouldn't mind seeing K-mart again, either.
 
Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior
hard to believe but there are new store chains opening - new chain "Runnings" is going to have a string across the western Upper Midwest - some stores will be old Big R locations - Covid took out the chain a few years ago .....

Home Page - Runnings

www.runnings.com www.runnings.com
 
Macgyver

Macgyver

Has No Life - Lives on TB
BornFree said:
we had an Ames for many years. And like so many other stores like it they went out of business after Walmart came around. Now Walmart is not so great about stocking a lot of things. But they are the only department store that remains.
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There wasn't a Walmart in the area for another 10 years of ames closing.
RB Martin said:
The Ames that I remember made shovels and other gardening tools. They are still in business.
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Different Ames
StarryEyedLad said:
Ames was the main store that my parents took us to to buy school clothes when I was a kid. It was the most affordable place. We also went to Jamesway, a similar store, just about as often. Sometimes we went to K-mart, but my parents considered it a little too pricey for their wallets. Stores like Sears and JC Penney were always out of our family's price-range. It's weird to say that now, when people consider Sears & JC Penney the lower-tier stores! They're mostly gone now, too.

I wish Ames well. Maybe Jamesway can come back, too! I wouldn't mind seeing K-mart again, either.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same here.
Jamesway there's another name drop from the past.
Illini Warrior said:
hard to believe but there are new store chains opening - new chain "Runnings" is going to have a string across the western Upper Midwest - some stores will be old Big R locations - Covid took out the chain a few years ago .....

Home Page - Runnings

www.runnings.com www.runnings.com
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They have a few outside the mid west. Upstate NY and NH I think.
I went to one in NY, I dam near got wood walking in there.
The store was enormous (think supper Wally world or Costco size building) it's like tractor supply, home Depot, Cabela's, all put together.
 
Greenspode

Greenspode

Veteran Member
Macgyver said:
There wasn't a Walmart in the area for another 10 years of ames closing.

Different Ames


Pretty much the same here.
Jamesway there's another name drop from the past.

They have a few outside the mid west. Upstate NY and NH I think.
I went to one in NY, I dam near got wood walking in there.
The store was enormous (think supper Wally world or Costco size building) it's like tractor supply, home Depot, Cabela's, all put together.
Click to expand...
There is a Runnings in Canandaigua NY. Love it!! And yes, it is all of those things combined!

I learned to drive a stick shift, at 16 years old, in an Ames parking lot at 10:00 at night, so that I could leave at 6:00 a.m. the next morning to drive my mom's car from Upstate NY to Kentucky. I remember the Ames employees, as they were heading to the parking lot after closing the store, laughing at me as I ground and stalled my way around the lot. Now a fond Ames memory....really my only Ames memory, though I know we used to shop there. Location has been many things since then, and is currently a GoodWill and a CountryMax.
 
Redleg

Redleg

Veteran Member
Sacajawea said:
Interesting!
I guess a lot of people won't shop Target or Walmart these days.
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Couldn't compete with them on price but maybe their policies will drive away shoppers.
I worked for Ames back in the early 90's for a few months while waiting for UPS to hire me.
It was an ok place to work. Did pick up some good deals with employee discount.
 
Meemur

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
I don't miss their bad business practices, but I do miss shopping at Sears, so maybe we'll get an Ames in Ames, Iowa! Ha!
 
pauldingbabe

pauldingbabe

The Great Cat
DH looked up the info. Looks like the stores are going to the mid/north east (North Carolina, up to Maine), by 2027.

Corporate already has an office so they are receiving funding. From where I have no idea.

So mark your calendars.
 
BornFree

BornFree

Came This Far
Macgyver said:
There wasn't a Walmart in the area for another 10 years of ames closing.

Different Ames


Pretty much the same here.
Jamesway there's another name drop from the past.

They have a few outside the mid west. Upstate NY and NH I think.
I went to one in NY, I dam near got wood walking in there.
The store was enormous (think supper Wally world or Costco size building) it's like tractor supply, home Depot, Cabela's, all put together.
Click to expand...
By 1990, Walmart is the nation's No. 1 retailer. As the Walmart Supercenter redefines convenience and one-stop shopping, Everyday Low Prices goes international.

On August 14, 2002, Ames' executives announced they would close the remaining 327 stores in the chain and wind-down business, converting the Chapter 11 ...
 
B

bracketquant

Veteran Member
Griz3752 said:
Did either of them sell ammo or fishing tackle?
Only curious
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The Ames in my city did. The best fishing tackle at a reasonable price than any other store in the area. My priority, in shopping there in the early spring, would be the fishing tackle. And then I'd walk the aisles looking at everything else.

It was the first store where I noticed, over time, that the newer employees were less knowledgeable than previous employees, about what was on the shelves. If a customer needed help, there wasn't much of it. Sales really declined in the sections where there was little, to no, help. With declining sales, those sections shrunk, to the point of people not bothering to go to the store, because it likely wouldn't have what they were looking for. The shopping experience was different back then, with people expecting assistance. That's where their business model failed, in my opinion.

Today, although there is much greater competition, no one expects much of any assistance, other than a worker retrieving an item from a top shelf. The electronics section may be the exception, but I rarely see much of anything being bought, outside of flat screen TVs.

Maybe the new Ames will work, maybe it won't. In today's world, I can't imagine the quality of the pool of potential new hires. I also wonder if they will market to the influx of the newly undocumented.

Will the stores be smaller in size than the super stores? In talking to shoppers, usually grumpy old men being dragged along by their wives, I do know that most of these men hate shopping in a Super WalMart. It's too big, too much walking, can't find what they're looking for, getting lost, etc...
 
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