CLOSING: Edgewater, New Jersey

ACME LOSES LEASE
TO SHOPRITE?

Location: 481 River Road, Edgewater, NJ

The ACME in Edgewater, New Jersey, notified its 115 employees on Friday May 15th that they would be laid off and the store would be closing by August 15th. Many of the articles online did not site a specific reason while others did mention the store had lost its lease. Shortly thereafter, comments online were stating that ShopRite was able to obtain the lease, giving ACME the shaft. Currently there is no official confirmation of ShopRite's involvement although it does seem plausible. I have wondered for years if ShopRite would build a store in Edgewater as land is continually stripped of former industrial plants. Alas, ShopRite may have found its spot at ACME's expense. Unfortunately for us locals, if this store becomes a ShopRite it will be operated by Inserra, which I personally find to be the worst ShopRite operator in all the land. Many of their stores operate with reduced and totally eliminated services. Pharmacies all closed, hot foods gone, bakeries operating at reduced capacity, deli cases abandoned with walls of Dorito displays in front of them. It's all very strange to me as ShopRite as a whole is wildly successful. 

I wonder if Inserra would even do much to upgrade the stores prior to taking over. As great as this ACME is, the store is showing its age in many areas. For some reason ACME has not done the level of remodeling here as they've done in so many other locations including Fort Lee, Hoboken, and the two Jersey City stores. So as we wait word on the fate of this store, let's revisit some its quirks.  

The spot left by Pathmark's Bella Cafe (seen below) has been a struggle for ACME to utilize. The last significant remodel saw this case added as an extension of the produce department. For years this case had fresh and fruit and vegetables but recenlty all was switched out for bottled drinks. The space behind this case has been a dead zone. It does get transformed into a booming floral shop for Mother's Day weekend.  

Pathmark's flooring remains throughout most noticeably in the produce department. While nearly every ACME out there had received hardwood flooring. Edgewater continues to go without.

The last remodel also saw the removal of Pathmark's long abandoned "Live Bistro". (Photo down below) ACME added in an Asian food service counter which I was guessing would not go the distance and it has not. Around the right corner, ACME added cases for grab and go foods. Nice idea but the cases were placed too far into the concourse and has often made the self-checkout area a congested, confusing mess. 

ACME also shortened the first few asiles to allow for the addition of a mini seasonal asile that ran along the newly opened space. That shelving was all recently removed, hence the abundance of Hot Wheel displays. This tile patchwork was shown on the blog previously and still remains a mystery. Was it so difficult to get white tile? 

Seasonal shelving gone. 

The updated red signage has finally made it into all stores, at least that I've seen. The swap from the previous black signs with a handwritten type font seemed to drag on for years. 

If there's one thing ACME loves, its water! This aisle has been reconfigured so many times I couldn't begin to count. Just recently reset yet again, switching categories all around. 

I was told during the last significant remodel, that Pathmark's old milk cases would finally get replaced with refrigerators with doors. As you can see in the further off case, racks are filled with product and then rolled into place. Apparently the cost of the upgrade was out of the budget so the old cases remain to this day. 

Adding doors to the dairy cases is yet another popular ACME upgrade which never happened here. From the looks of it these cases cannot be retrofitted with doors. A look at the old Pathmark decor is shown below. 

So a few years back, ACME went on a rampage installing additional "card only" self checkouts in their stores. They were super helpful in reducing wait times but in the past year or two they have been taken out of commision in all ACME's I shop in. Here at the Edgewater store I've been told they didn't have enough staff to monitor the checkouts, yet they have recently been reopened and I never see more than one attendant overseeing all nine self-checkouts. 

VHS drop box remains on the outside of the store! Will it hold on as a new tenant takes over?

Back in 2015!

Will ShopRtie take over? It has also been reported, in all of one article online, that Sprout's Famers Market is coming to this very shopping center in 2027. At the time of the article, there were no vacancies here for the store to move into and it's highly doubtful Sprout's has the capital to swipe ACME's lease out from under them. I would gladly take a Sprouts over ShopRite but I doubt that will be the case. 

Acme Style has reopened!

WELCOME TO A NEW ERA OF

ACME STYLE! 

After being shuttered 7 1/2 years ago, Acme Style has surprisingly reopened for business! (And let me tell you, no one is more surprised than me!) 

Lots of fun posts are headed your way as I have continued to photograph stores for years now. I also have carts full of photos which never made it up on the blog the first time around. Also on the way are updates to previously covered stores as ACME is currently in the midst of some of its most aggressive remodeling in decades. While the chain appears to be thriving, at least more so than it has during much of its history, store closings still occasionally happen. You can now rely, once again, on Acme Style to preserve those stores forevermore.

I will share with you that going forward in this new era of the blog, I will be posting less frequently than many of you became accustomed to in Acme Style's heyday. Back then I ran this blog like it was my job and I loved it. These days it will be relegated to more of a side project. I plan to do at least 2 big store posts a month and other shorter posts focusing on updates and former locations. The big posts will go up on Fridays with the other posts going up on Tuesdays. If you don't see a post by 7am on those days, there won't be one coming. I just like to mention this so you don't waste time checking back for new content when it is not coming. Posts this time around will be focused more on presenting photos and less on my chit chatty commentary. This will help keep things moving along. 

Also note, Acme Style will continue on with its out-of-date vintage blog look. I don't dare reformat at this point and while many of you out there might be pained by the dated look (and I completely understand), no remodeling plans are in the works at this time. 

Check back tomorrow for the very first post of the new era. A bit of a news break of a shocking twist for an extremely successful store. A blast from the past post will go up on Wednesday and then this Friday, coverage of one of the most spectacular remodels ever seen in the history of Acme Markets! 

BE SURE TO TELL A FRIEND

THE BLOG IS BACK! 

ACME STYLE HAS CLOSED

As most of you know, I announced at the beginning of 2018 that this would be the final year for the blog. My intention at the time was to go out with a bang by having a year chock full of big posts. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be. By May, I was already beginning to move on to some new projects and interests and just couldn't seem to get back to the blog despite several attempts. I have also been busy plotting a major a career change which will be taking all of my free time and energy in 2019.

I am not sure of the future of Acme Style at this point. My plan to move operations over to flickr is currently on hold. After 10 years of running the blog, I've realized I need a complete break in order to pursue some others things in life.

I truly appreciate all of the support and assistance I have had from so many of you over the years. The blog never would have lasted this long without all of you joining in on the fun!

All good things must come to an end...

Location: 80 Pemberton Browns Mills Road, Browns Mills NJ

After years of sitting abandoned, the former Brown Mills Acme has met it demise. While this store was absolutely despised by the people of Brown Mills (and rightfully so as it became a horrendous  eye sore), it has always been the biggest attraction in the history of Acme Style! 

Photos were sent in from several people visiting the site during demolition. Steve G even got some photos from the rear of the building confirming the survival of the psychedelic Acme sign facing the inside of the store! 

The Brown Mills Shopping Center has had an interesting history which has been fully detailed BurlingtonCountyTimes.com. 

Here is is!  I don't even want to think about those tiles getting thrown into the dump.









For past coverage of the Brown Mills Acme, please click here.

This will be the last post for Acme Style. Official closing announcement will go up on the blog next Friday.

Lawereceville Acme's Final Days...

Photos courtesy of Mike S. 

Location: 2497 Brunswick Avenue/Route 1, Lawrenceville, NJ

The PF&H version 3 refresh wasn't enough to save the Lawerencville Acme. The store closed this past August. (Exact closing date unknown at this time). Acme had taken over this location from Pantry Pride in 1981. You can check out a photo of the Pantry Pride by clicking here. Word came just a while back that Acme had signed a long-term lease here. Apparently they didn't and have now left the building just as major upgrades are underway at the shopping center.






















You can check out additional coverage of the store by clicking here.

Big Changes at Acme!

NEW POS!

NEW SCANNERS!!

AND NEW SHORTER RECEIPTS!!! 

Safeway's POS system has been getting rolled out to Acme over the past few months. It arrived at the stores I shop at just in the past few weeks. A huge investment considering the previous systems were only 3 years old in all of the stores acquired from A&P. The new POS systems definitely offer some nice enhancements. First off, receipts are a good 25% shorter than they used to be. The additional receipt you would receive if your used a credit card has been completely done away with! The credit card terminals also have an improved interface and will now accept Apple Pay prior to the cashier finishing the order!


The monitors haven't been replaced but the graphics are all new. Not as nice as what Acme previously displayed on the screens. Already sick of seeing "Got Gift Cards?" on every screen I glance at. Acme used to fill closed register screens with eye catching promotional graphics giving the entire front-end a really cool look. Safeway's screens are more functional looking.

New and drastically improved shelf tags! So much easier to read. The tags are larger with less information packed onto them. Big improvement with the font as well.

BEFORE >>>

The Xtra Savings logo is still used on larger sale signs.


Since the system switch it seems like just about everything is on sale! It really feels like Acme is putting more focus on pricing since adopting Safeway's tags. At least from a visual perspective. I have been noticing some very low sale prices on some items I buy regularly.