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Ames to Close Another 60 Stores: Ames Department Stores Inc. announced the closures in 12 states as part of its new plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Ames, which has already closed 313 stores since filing for Chapter 11, said the additional closings will take place in the first quarter of next year. The closings will put about 3,500 workers out of work. Ames was the nation’s fourth-largest discount retailer, operating more than 600 stores in 20 states, when it filed for protection from creditors in April, 1990. It has suffered under the weight of slack sales and shaky finances resulting from its 1988 purchase of the 392-store Zayre’s discount department store chain for $788 million.