As mentioned in the previous post, before the Zayre acquisition Ames was fully committed to the IBM 3680 Programmable Store System. Each receipt was marked with a two line header identical to the third and fourth line of the check endorsement shown above. Per my research the DOC # was unique to Ames; other stores using the same system would feature only the transaction number, store number, and cash register number in the header. The DOC # was all of this information, plus more, stored in one unique number for transaction.
After the Zayre acquisition, Ames brought their legacy IBM 3680 up to date and added scanning through a system called AWare/4680. AW Computer Systems of Mount Laurel, New Jersey wrote custom interfaces for legacy front end point of sale equipment to work with, at the time, the latest system offerings from IBM, the IBM 4680 Store System. Through AWare/4680, the IBM 3683 and 3684 cash registers used at legacy Ames stores was able to run the same software powering the newer systems running at the Zayre stores. In addition, AWare/4680 added scanning capabilities to the older IBM 3680 equipment.
I believe the IBM 3680 system ran on some back office minicomputer of some sort. The IBM 3684s up front had the capability of running one or two IBM 3683s connected to it; the 3683 did not have a floppy drive but the 3684 did have an 8-inch floppy drive. Once in a while you’d hear that make typical floppy drive sounds of the day.
The AWare/4680 replaced the back office computer with two IBM PS/2s running IBM 4680 OS as the host operating system. AWare/4680 acted as an interface between the newer host OS and the older point of sale equipment up front. Another installation of AWare/4680 allowed the grocery chain Safeway to run IBM 4680 OS Supermarket Application to power their stores, while using older Datachecker point of sale terminals up front.
When Ames moved the legacy stores from IBM 3680 Programmable Store System to the AWare/4680 solution, the registers were reconfigured with several keyboard modifications (for example, “CASH TEND” was moved from the ENTER key to a key in the next row over, in the same position as on the IBM 4683 registers in former Zayre stores), changes to the guidance panel (transaction selection changed, no need to hit “MODIFY TICKET” to start a cash transaction), and the receipt layout was changed to longer item description, the replacement of the “Ames” logo to AMES in all capital letters, and the standard transaction identifiers of transaction number, store number, and register number. The long DOC # and two line receipt header were gone.
Using AWare/4680 allowed Ames to use the same front end equipment for around 15 years.
In the late 1970s, the Framingham, Mass. based Zayre Discount Department Stores renovated all of their stores to a new “orange and brown” decor, complete with an orange asterisk and a mixed case logo, the last logo that would be used with the department store chain. At the time, like other department stores of the era, Zayre was using Sweda Model 46 cash registers with inventory control capabilities. The registers would punch inventory information on optical tape and the tape would be sent to the main office to be fed into a mainframe. Zayre used two digit department numbers for tracking purposes.
Screencap from a 1981 Zayre Commercial.
In the early 1980s Zayre moved into the electronic era but in a seemingly unified way. While several other discount chains were using a mix of point of sale systems (for example, Kmart used a mix of NCR, IBM, and Data Terminal Systems at the time), Zayre moved to NCR 2552 cash registers up front with a pair of NCR 726 minicomputers in the back. Zayre opted to use the NCR 2552s in a “distribution fashion”: the cash drawer was mounted under the checkout counter that faced the customer, the printer (with three print stations: receipt, journal, and form) sat where the entire cash register would normally sit in a traditional checkstand setup, and the keyboard and display were mounted on a pedestal at the corner of the checkstand. Unlike the IBM 3680 Programmable Store System at the time, the NCR 2552 (and its older counterpart, the larger NCR 255) used a standard keyboard layout. Many of the keystrokes required for a Zayre transaction would mirror the same keystrokes for the same transaction at a Hills store using the same equipment. Unlike the older NCR 255s, the NCR 2552s allowed the cashier to see numbers on the display as they were entered into the cash register.
Like on the Sweda mechanical cash registers, Zayre used two-digit department numbers. Further inventory control was maintained by a four digit “Style” number. “Generic” entries, like a candy bar in department 91 but without a “style” (or SKU) number, would be entered with the department number repeated twice as the style, so candy bar would be entered 91 [DEPT/STYLE] 9191 [DEPT/STYLE], the function key being to the left of the number pad.
Transaction #4135 by cashier #310 on register #10.The only time I’ve seen an item description on a Zayre receipt. I need to research this further. Apparently electronics was register 25.
In 1988 Ames Discount Department Stores purchased the approximately 400 stores in the Zayre chain. After closing about a fifth of those stores, Ames began the task of converting the Zayre locations to new systems. At the time Ames was still using the IBM 3680 Programmable Store System, a system no longer manufactured by IBM, as IBM had introduced IBM 4680 OS, the IBM 4683 and 4684 cash registers, and General Sales Application. Without 3680 hardware available, Ames decided to go ahead and install the IBM 4680 system in 315 former Zayre stores… in 120 days in 1989. The reasoning for the move was the Zayre NCR system didn’t do what Ames wanted it to do and the IBM 4680 system would be fine since at the time, the stores didn’t communicate with one another.
Computerworld, October 1989.
Ames sent training coordinators to the Zayre location, advising them they were now going to be training on IBM 4680 GSA and the learn the system. General Sales Application was modified to work a lot like the IBM 3680 Programmable Store System that was in use at the legacy Ames stores, and while GSA was designed for scanning, Ames opted to not use scanning.
IBM 4683 in a former Zayre location (note the orange checkstands). This screencap from a training video is from after Ames added scanning to the registers in the early 1990s. The original implementation did not include scanning.
When Ames implemented the new registers for the change over from Zayre to Ames there was a mix of inventory marked with Zayre pricing information while others were marked with Ames stickers. The new IBM 4683 registers had a similar keyboard layout to the IBM 3683s at the legacy stores. The “SKU” button was actually labels “AMES SKU”. Zayre department and style information was entered as DD00SSSS where the two digit department number was followed by two zeroes and then the four digit style number. The cashier then pressed ENTER instead of SKU, before entering the quantity and/or the amount of the item.
At the time, Ames was using the slogan “It pays to shop at Ames Everyday!”. Before Zayre stores were converted to the Ames nameplate but after the registers had been changed over the new system, receipts printed “It pays to shop at Zayre Everyday!”.
The layout of the Zayre receipt is similar to what Ames used on the IBM 3683 systems, with the exception of the header and footer information, which matched the typical General Sales Application layout. At the top of Bradlees, Walmart, and other chains using the same system at the time you’ll see the “CASH-1” designation.
The way you can tell the difference between the 3683s and the 4683s is also the tender information being left justified and the print quality being (surprisingly) not quite as good as found on the older machines.
Customer feedback during the changeover conveyed frustration with the new cash register system at the former Zayre locations, as they were slower than the older NCR systems they replaced.
Ames officially changed the Zayre stores over to their new nameplate in November 1989 (though some of my research disputes this as well). The receipt footer was modified to It Pays to Shop At Ames Everyday with an extra space between “At” and “Ames”, where Zayre had been five characters long.
Scanning would be introduced a short while later, at first with the newer IBM 4683 General Sales Application registers at the former Zayre locations, followed by a significant upgrade to the older IBM 3680 registers. The older registers would get a new keyboard layout and workflow, and the “Ames” logo at the top would disappear in favor of the standard “AMES” in all caps. Curiously, the store in my hometown (store #80) printed the store address at the top of the receipt as well, but I didn’t see this at other locations.
A receipt from an IBM 3683 running the newer software in its last days before the entire chain was standardized. Courtesy of a Facebook group.
