Residents of the Killingly area might know it well as a common dilapidated site on the Hartford Turnpike, shortly off Exit 93 along I-395 of one post-mortem Ames.
The Dayville location, a small town beside Killingly, opened its doors in July 1983 as one of the first Ames stores in the state along with one in Naugatuck. Unlike Naugatuck, whose lived on as a relocated site for well-known New Englander closeout Ocean State Job Lot (like many former Ames sites), the long-vacant Dayville location is still rotting away while the otherside of I-395 flourishes with the new Killingly Commons shopping center which include such major tenants as Stop & Shop, Target and Lowe's.
Upon the site, in a real dead zone, we sighted an independent fish market (who was looking on as we shot our pictures) selling out the back of a truck, a truck stop and a breeding ground for bird life. A lone, rare, rusted red Ames shopping cart filed with trash was stranded on the outskirts of the store's lot among a field of potholes and melting ice. Nearby , towards the road is a small vacant strip plaza with a Carvel, across the road an old but repainted "shingled" Dunkin' Donuts, and further across the way a vacated, boarded-up McDonald's, a vintage diner and a closed up supermarket beside the Ames.
The Caldor Rainbow took a ride over to the "country" or northeast Connecticut in the town of Dayville, Connecticut this weekend, arriving near sundown for somewhat cold, windy session. Our first trip to Dayville might be our last but was one of the more intruging shoots we've done in our Ames chapter.
THE SEYMOUR STORE, STILL VACANT IN FEBRUARY 2009.
As of February 2009, Ames still has two fully intact vacant locations left in the state; Dayville and Seymour, with one partially vacant in East Hartford.
View the full gallery of our Dayville shoot and check out more of our Ames pictures on Flickr and on The Ames Fan Club.
The Dayville location, a small town beside Killingly, opened its doors in July 1983 as one of the first Ames stores in the state along with one in Naugatuck. Unlike Naugatuck, whose lived on as a relocated site for well-known New Englander closeout Ocean State Job Lot (like many former Ames sites), the long-vacant Dayville location is still rotting away while the otherside of I-395 flourishes with the new Killingly Commons shopping center which include such major tenants as Stop & Shop, Target and Lowe's.
THE SEYMOUR STORE, STILL VACANT IN FEBRUARY 2009.
View the full gallery of our Dayville shoot and check out more of our Ames pictures on Flickr and on The Ames Fan Club.
10 comments:
Did you ring the recieving bell? Also there is a closed movie theater just down the street and up the hill.
Nice shots of that old Ames. Makes me miss the old Ames in Medford, MA, which is now a Stop and Shop. Oddly, they closed up the former Super Stop and Shop location that was just across the parking lot, tore down the Ames and built a new Stop and Shop (not a Super, but a regular one) in it's place. If anyone knows why this was done, fill me in, please.
Greg, yes I did ring the bell but I did not hear anything. I thought of your suggestion when I did it!
Panda, I visited the Medford, MA Ames in 2006 and noticed the Stop & Shop kind of apart the rest of the plaza. Perhaps the store was just old or oddly placed and they saw an opportunity to build a big, brand-new store. The company has been on a remodeling scheme now for a few years, more so now that the new logo and design have been unveiled.
Yay! The McDonald's you mentioned just moved across the highway to a newly built McDonald's in the middle of Killingly Commons. There's a former A&P, later Stop & Shop, and now vacant across the street from the vacant McDonald's.
Glad to see you made it out here! Until recently (as recent as 2006 and possibly up until Beit Bros closed last fall), the green Ames road sign used to be lit at night.
Nicholas: That's fine, except the new Stop and Shop is smaller than the old one. At least it looks that way to me.
Ames gives me nightmares. I once met a girl who worked at the Carousel Center Ames in Syracuse, NY and we sat in her car and had some drinks, well she spiked mine and I woke up in a ditch the next morning with my wallet missing. That was a bummer. I never saw her again.
The Ames is turning into an Aldi, it's being completely renovated (at least part of the store). I don't know if anything else will move in as well.
Brilliant post and useful information looking forward to future posts in this field thanks a very interesting article, interesting ideas and a lot of good questions posed Thanks for your insight for the great written piece.
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I believe the Ames in Dayville was originally a Barkers Dept Store.
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