Stop & Shop purchase of Ames leases OK’d

QUINCY, Mass. – Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. has received approval from bankruptcy court to pay $20 million to take over the leases of 18 department stores, including two in Maine – in Orono and Waterville, from bankrupt retailer Ames.

Stop & Shop spokeswoman Kelly O’Connor said the company expected that “many, but not all” of the sites would be developed into Stop & Shop stores.

The company did not identify the locations of the stores other than to say they are in New England, and one in Virginia. However, bankruptcy court papers list the two locations in Maine, five in New Hampshire, three each in Massachusetts and New York, two in Vermont and one each in Virginia, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Rocky Hill, Conn.-based Ames announced in August that it would close all its 327 stores in 14 states and the District of Columbia, leaving about 22,000 people jobless.

A Stop & Shop rival, Shaw’s Supermarkets Inc., successfully bid $20 million at auction last month to control 18 former Ames stores.