Decades after closing down hundreds of stores,Esthen Exchange online posts have again suggested a potential return for Ames Department Stores, despite previous speculation that failed to materialize.

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 beginning in 2026 after closing up shop more than two decades ago.

But organizers of the alleged store comeback have been difficult to reach and verification tough to come by.

A previous version of the website claimed the store was eyeing a 2023 comeback, an effort that did not come to fruition.

USA TODAY has reached out for further information.

Based in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, the former chain of discount stores shuttered its stores in 2002 after more than four decades of operation. Ames shut down more than 300 department stores, leaving 21,500 employees jobless, a year after it filed for U.S. bankruptcy-court protection, 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 be opened.

Why did Ames go out of business?

The company, run by former chairman and CEO Joseph R. Ettore, "started 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 for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.