Ames Stores To Close Doors

[jazz lady]

Company Filed Bankruptcy Last August

POSTED: 9:51 a.m. EDT August 14, 2002
UPDATED: 10:08 a.m. EDT August 14, 2002

ROCKY HILL, Conn. -- Ames Department Stores announced Wednesday that the discount retail chain will liquidate and close all of its 327 store locations.

According to Ames' corporate Web site, there are 21 stores in Maryland.

"This was a wrenching decision, but the right course to take. Continued softness in sales, combined with tightening terms and slower shipments from our suppliers, have reduced our funds availability below critical levels," said Ames Chairman and CEO Joseph R. Ettore.

Subject to the approval of the Bankruptcy Court, the company expects to promptly designate a liquidator to conduct "Going Out of Business" sales at all Ames store locations. Stores are expected to remain open for approximately 10 weeks during this process.

Ames filed for bankruptcy last August. It had hoped to emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of the second quarter. The discount chain already has gone through four rounds of store closings in the last several months.

Founded in 1958, Ames is a regional, full-line discount retailer with 21,500 workers and annual sales of approximately $2.7 billion. Ames operates 327 stores in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.

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Another one bites the dust... I only know of the one in LP - any others down here?

 

[SxyPrincess]

YEA!!!!

 

[SmallTown]

Oh great, another empty store front in an already pitiful strip mall... Maybe they should put in another "Bait and Tackle" shop to keep up with the growing number of autoparts and car care places. Can't get a decent book store down here, but you can choose between 30 different places to buy oil..

 

[jeneisen]

I know for a fact the one in Lexington Park is NOT closing. My mother is the manager of the store. They do the most business than any other store in the state of MD.

 

[jazz lady]

Originally posted by jeneisen
I know for a fact the one in Lexington Park is NOT closing. My mother is the manager of the store. They do the most business than any other store in the state of MD.

I'm sorry to tell you this, but it is happening. They are, according to Ames themselves, closing ALL of their stores. Maybe your mother hasn't been informed yet from the corporate headquarters. They have links from that page informing their workers what is going to be happening.

 

[SmallTown]

Why does it not surprise me to hear the store here has the highest revenue gathering in MD?

Anyways, someone better tell Ames that the one here isn't closing because they announced a COMPLETE shutdown off all the stores

 

[giggles04]

I swear... another thing in St Marys Square to go. I just love Ames.... you can get such great deals in there. I'll miss it for sure.

 

[Penn]

New Store opening

So, I see AMES is closing. That's a shame. Like one of the ladies said: you could get some great deals there.
Now I see a new store opening in the San Souci Plaza on RTE 235 in California; I think it's called Top Shopper or something. Anybody got an idea what they're all about?


penncam

 

[jazz lady]

Re: New Store opening

Originally posted by penncam
Now I see a new store opening in the San Souci Plaza on RTE 235 in California; I think it's called Top Shopper or something. Anybody got an idea what they're all about?


penncam

It's a Shoppers Food Warehouse - a grocery store.

 

[bknarw]

Elvis Costello

"Allison....my Ames is through."

 

[RoseRed]

Re: Elvis Costello

Originally posted by bknarw
"Allison....my Ames is through."

 

[Sierra39]

Hey! As an Elvis Costello fan, I REALLY APPRECIATED that one, BK! Ain't you just the WITTY one these days???

 

[bknarw]

Originally posted by Sierra39
Hey! As an Elvis Costello fan, I REALLY APPRECIATED that one, BK! Ain't you just the WITTY one these days???

Why, thank you!
Allison is one of my all time favorites!
What'd you think of the new elvis cd?

 

[Lilly]

Haven't seen the store in San Souci that you mentioned but I have seen that the old Roy Rogers is turning into an Italian restaurant!! Three Brothers, I think!
Kudos to them for reusing an old building that was definitely getting on my nerves!

 

[jazz lady]

Originally posted by bknarw



What'd you think of the new elvis cd?

I just caught a concert on Trio with Elvis and Burt Bacharach. Fabulous performance by both!

 

[chuckster]

Gee ,,,,I wonder if WaWa and Sheetz knows about this?

 

[darkclown]

AMES

Hopefully the commissioners will work quickly toward trying to establish another business in that space, but if the long period it took for them to convince a store, which finally is going to be Shoppers Warehouse, to replace Super Fresh, I doubt it!

 

[darkclown]

Bookstores

On the subject of Bay and Bowes Books, I have never once found anything I was looking for in those stores. They are both so small they are almost irrelevant. If I was going to order a book I'd just do it from Amazon, but that can be a crapshoot. It would be nice to have a bookstore like Barnes & Noble where you could leisurely look through some of the material before you buy. Our current selection of bookstores does not give us that option due to their very limited selections.

 

[SmallTown]

Yea, if I can't thumb through the book, better off going to somewhere like Amazon and read people's reviews of it.. That way you are bound to get several different view points of just about any book you want.. I doubt the people at bay books can tell you about all the books they have (actually, as small as the store is, they probably can).. But if you have to order something, go online.. Much cheaper and generally pretty quick.. But it would still be nice to have a LARGE selection to browse through physically. Reading isn't a high prioroty here like autopart places, so I guess we'll have to do without.

 

[Lilly]

Re: Bookstores

Originally posted by darkclown
On the subject of Bay and Bowes Books, I have never once found anything I was looking for in those stores. They are both so small they are almost irrelevant. If I was going to order a book I'd just do it from Amazon, but that can be a crapshoot. It would be nice to have a bookstore like Barnes & Noble where you could leisurely look through some of the material before you buy. Our current selection of bookstores does not give us that option due to their very limited selections.

Same experience here!! If I am not looking for the new "hit" from Dean Koontz or Belva Plain I am out of luck!!
The one good thing that I CAN say about Bay is that they have a great children's section!