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GhostCorp Apparel - resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Ames Department Stores began in a converted textile mill and grew by bringing discount shopping to smaller towns across the Northeast. Over the decades, acquisitions reshaped its footprint, while the company remained closely tied to its Rocky Hill, Connecticut, headquarters. This metal business card holder offers a useful everyday setting for a name remembered by shoppers and retail-history collectors alike. It recalls the rise and eventual closure of a major chain that left a lasting mark on regional commerce.

Ames Department Stores began in 1958, when Connecticut brothers Milton, Irving, and Herbert Gilman and partner Philip Feltman opened a discount store in a former textile mill in Southbridge, Massachusetts. The business adopted the mill’s sign as its name and focused on smaller towns and rural communities in the Northeast. It grew through store construction and acquisitions, including Big N in 1978, King’s in 1984, G.C. Murphy in 1985, and Zayre in 1988. The Zayre purchase added hundreds of stores but also brought conversion costs and heavier debt. Ames filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990, closed many stores, and emerged on December 30, 1992. It later took over former locations of several retailers and acquired Hills Department Stores in 1998, becoming the country’s fourth-largest discount chain. A second bankruptcy followed in 2001. In August 2002, Ames announced it would close its remaining stores and liquidate. The chain had been based in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and at its peak operated 700 stores across 20 states and the District of Columbia.