Ames - Old Saybrook, CT

Ames - Old Saybrook, CT

  March 25, 2018    Robby S.

---

Ocean State Job Lot in Old Saybrook, CT

AMES DEPARTMENT STORES
901 BOSTON POST ROAD
OLD SAYBROOK, CT
CLOSED 2002

Hey guys,

Ames was a pretty popular department store in the Northeast United States and had a number of locations in the New England area.



I was lucky enough to run into an Ocean State Job Lot which occupies a former Ames location, and for those of you that don't know, OSJL isn't exactly known for their extensive remodeling of stores when they take over. It's actually quite interesting what they do: instead of spending the money to completely remodel or rebuild stores when they purchase the property, they often times just throw up their signage. Now for people like me who love documenting old retail, that's awesome, as it leaves a good glimpse of what was there before OSJL.

The outside of the store remained mostly intact from the Ames days. Despite Ocean State's colors being red and white, the store never got repainted, and still retains its original teal colors. Interestingly enough, when OSJL moved in, they gave it a fresh coat of teal paint to cover up the old Ames labelscar on the buildings front. You can see the subtle changes in color on the building.

Ocean State Job Lot is located in the aptly named Ocean State Shopping Center which was once named the Ames Shopping Center during Ames' occupancy. I looked around the plaza for any old Ames shopping carts or baskets; albeit to no avail. It looks like Ames must've sold off their shopping carts when they moved out; likely to another Ocean State Job Lot store, as most of the OSJL carts are re purposed from other stores.

Now moving into the inside of the store:

AND THIS PLACE WAS AMAZING!!

Like I said earlier, OSJL doesn't really go through the liberty to remodel the stores when the start to occupy the space, so it was like a time capsule to 2000 stepping into the store. Besides removing the logos from the green banner on the wall, not much more effort was made into touching up the store (not that I'm complaining).

While most of the logos were removed from the top banner, one singular AT&T logo remained on the wall. This must've been where the electronics department was.

The store was so vintage that even the old clothes hangers still say AMES on them.

The back left corner of the store was walled off and turned into a second storeroom for OSJL. No work was done in this back corner, and a number of logos for O'Sullivan, Westclox, and some third brand (if you know what it is please let me know) remain. All the way on the right is an old A+ service sign, which was Ames' customer service slogan.

I went around the store and took a peek in the original Ames storeroom, but it didn't appear as if there were any notable Ames goodies remaining. What I did find, though, was an old KB Toys bag, which was hanging on the end of one of the trolleys on the left.

Moving up to the front of the store there was a lot of Ames remnants. All of OSJL's registers are the original Ames counters, except the big A+ Service decal has been removed from the counter top of each register. Ocean State also had just seven registers, while security mirrors on the ceiling implied that there may have been a number more.

=

Speaking of security mirrors, let's talk about the store's security. One aspect of Ames security was a series of windows along the wall that security guards could peer out of; a primitive form of security cameras. Most of these, alongside the main security booth above the cash registers, remain although it's likely they are no longer used.

If you want to learn more about the Ames security windows, check out this Asset Protection video below from the awesome tribute site The Ames Fan Club



Also courtesy of the Ames Fan Club are these pictures of the Old Saybrook Ames from after its 2002 closure (circa 2004)

Until next time