Friday, May 15, 2009

Ghost of Acme past? Berlin, NJ



As I was driving around Berlin, I passed this deserted piece of land and instantly thought an Acme once stood there. I pulled in and check out the area. It has all the classic clues... tall sign at the street, standard Acme issued parking lot lights, short sign by back entrance. When I got home I checked it out on Live Maps and saw the footprint of the building that was there was identical to what a 50's style Acme would be. Would have been virtually identical to the abandoned Egg Harbor City Acme. Looks like the now abandoned Acme in the Berlin Shopping Center was the replacement for this location.

Looks like another retailer would have taken over after Acme left and replaced Acme's sign with that square one at the top. The blue poles and rungs to climb up are very Acme.

Just grass where the Acme once stood.

Being the Acme fan that I am, it was creepy driving around this parking lot. Even the gas station that shares this spot was deserted. Hopefully someone knows when this store closed and what store took over this location.

Acme street signs were wider than this one. Probably was replaced when another tenet took over the building.

You can compare the building foot print here to my pics of the abandoned Egg Harbor City Acme.

UPDATE 11.25.09: Ok, I lose. This was never an Acme site. It was originally an A&P which closed in '75 and then became an IGA. The IGA then burned to the ground. Thanks for the comments and information about this post!


9 comments:

  1. I don't know if it was ever an ACME, but it was an IGA before it shut altogether. I seem to recall the gas station being a Texaco. The last I heard, that location is slotted to become a Super Wawa.

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  2. p.s.,
    There was an ACME just down the street from this location, in Clementon/Lindenwold. It closed a good 5-10 years ago. I'm trying to remember if the building is still there. I used to go to it when I lived in Lindenwold.

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  3. This location used to be a classic colonial A&P store. (My mother was born in 1921 just down White Horse Pike on a farm.) The A&P closed around 1975 when most South Jersey/Philadelphia A&Ps retrenched. It did become an IGA supermarket for a little while until it finally burned. The older Acme, with a standard pylon sign, was located east of this location just west of Berlin's 'downtown'. I'm not sure what's there now. (There was a strange Acme a few miles east of this A&P where the former Grant City/Woolco store was located. It was in the former Shop-Rite and had severely deteriorated after its closing.)

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  4. Yes it wasnt a ACME --It was IGA!!!!! Acme was down more On the pike.. The building is still there but nothing is in the parking lot. The ACME was right pass TRIO TIRE....Grew up in LINDENWOLD!!!!!!

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  5. Actually, most South Jersey/Philadelphia A&Ps "retrenched" in 1982, when the Super Fresh brand was created. They built some new stores then. Some A&Ps closed in 1974 and 1975. The Texaco station would normally have become a Shell. There is an abandoned Texaco just like this one in Vineland.

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  6. Yes, this was an IGA supermarket owned by Al Sciubba. It was burned down in 1987 or 1988.
    They used B. Green as their supplier.

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  7. no original was at corner of rt.30 and cross keys rd. cvs is across the street

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  8. This site is now a super wawa and the clementon location is a shopping center.

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  9. that IGA had literally JUST done an extensive remodel right before burning down.

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