Surplus Unlimited - Norwich, CT [AMES CART SIGHTING]

Surplus Unlimited - Norwich, CT [AMES CART SIGHTING]

  May 06, 2018    Robby S.

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SURPLUS UNLIMITED
381 W MAIN STREET
NORWICH, CT

So here we have an article where I'm not going too far in-depth on a store itself, but rather what it possesses inside.

Since I started this blog, one of the big things that I wanted to find was a vintage Ames shopping cart. Now, the awesome people over at the Ames Fan Club have done an excellent job documenting much of the chain's past, but I thought it would be cool to go out and find some carts on my own.



Starting my day, I went to the site of the former Dayville, CT location which was located on the Hartford Turnpike, just off of I-395. What really attracted me to the site was that it still had the old Ames window clings on the entrance doors, which were pretty neat.

The most recent Google Imagery of the property in October 2015

To check out some much better images of the property, be sure to check out the photo gallery on the Ames Fan Club HERE!

Much to my dismay, however, I got there and realized that since Google last updated the Street View imagery, the property had been redeveloped into a Salvation Army Thrift Store and Harbor Freight Tools. So after finding out that the property had been redeveloped, I looked on the Ames Fan Club site (again) and found this old forum where people shared their shopping cart sightings.

It was actually an old post from JJBers (thanks, man) that tipped me off to go check out Surplus Unlimited, and this place was awesome. I've heard of places having one or two Ames carts mixed in with the rest of the carts, but this store had a whole fleet of them! In fact, right when I pulled in the parking lot, you could see an Ames cart pushed up against the front windows

I speculate that Surplus Unlimited picked up these carts just after the chain liquidated in 2002 from the Norwich location, which was about a mile down the road. It's also possible that they came from the Griswold location, which was a few miles north on I-395

The Norwich, CT Ames, now redeveloped into a Backus Hospital Outpatient Center

But coming into the store, you could see that the carts were in pristine condition. It's pretty clear they found a well-loving home

The handlebars on all the carts also still say Ames, which was pretty awesome!

So yeah, needless to say, I was pretty excited about this find!

So I was tempted to go and inquire about purchasing a whole cart, but I drove up in a Nissan Altima, and for those of you that don't know, there is a 0% chance of lugging home a cart in one of those things. Instead, I asked one of the cashiers if it would be possible for me to buy the handlebar casing off of one of the carts. I guess they had an old beat up cart in back, and she actually gave me the covering to that one for free, so thanks so much!!!

While I was chatting with the other cashiers on duty, I soon learned that two of them once worked for the Norwich Ames, and one also worked at another unspecified Zayre location. They also told me that the store's checkout counters were bought from a closing Zayre many years ago

The store's front row of shelving units also originated at Caldor, likely the one in the now redeveloped Norwichtown Mall.

Once again, I would like to extend my gratitude to the awesome employees at Surplus Unlimited! They really made my day and this find was truly something special! If you're in the Norwich area, be sure to check out the store... It's a really awesome place!

Until next time

~RS