Decades after hundreds of stores closed, online posts again point to a possible return of Ames Department Stores, despite earlier speculation having proven untrue.

A message on a website and social media accounts purporting to belong to the store says the company plans to open dozens of locations across the United States starting in 2026, after closing its stores more than two decades ago.

However, the organizers of the alleged store return were difficult to reach and there was little confirmation.

An earlier version of the website stated that the store planned to reopen in 2023, a plan that never materialized.

USA TODAY has requested further information.

The former discount store chain based in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, closed its stores in 2002 after more than four decades. A year after Ames filed for bankruptcy in a U.S. court, the company closed more than 300 department stores and left 21,500 employees unemployed, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.

The company could not immediately be reached by USA TODAY on Monday to say whether the new locations would open.

Why did Ames go out of business?

The company, led by former Chairman and CEO Joseph R. Ettore, “began to bleed after Walmart and Target began setting up shop in its backyard in the 1990s,” the Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X at @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Are Ames Department Stores coming back? Previous speculations have been ineffective