Image courtesy of Rob Ascough
The Montclair Acme, located at 49 Claremont Ave, closed in June 2000. Here's a look at the store in 1998. It has since been reincarnated as a CVS and Blockbuster.
It appears as though CVS added on to the left side of the building. More evidence of this can be seen from the aerial shots down below.
Image courtesy of Rob Ascough
The fish-eye sign still looking great in it's final days. The rest of the facade is showing signs of neglect. I'm guessing this store was built in the early to mid 70's.
No evidence left from the front that an Acme once stood here.
Image courtesy of Rob Ascough
"take a new look" there on the delivery truck was rolled out as the 80's remodel swept threw most of the chain. This store was clearly passed over as were many North Jersey stores. The interior here may have been the 70's Colonial decor to the end. Not sure if it had received the late 90's Convenience Store look.
Doesn't seem to be drawing the crowds like the Acme did!
The rear of the store... the second level would have been the Acme break room and employee bathrooms.
Looks as though CVS added a section to the left of the store. Hard to know for sure but the building does appear to be wider than what's seen in Rob's pictures. From this angle you can see a seam between the old in the new. The left side also doesn't have the protruding columns that still exist on the Blockbuster side... these columns are one of the first things I look for if I think I've stumbled across a former Acme of the late 50's to 70's era. Click here for a better look at the columns on the abandoned Newtown store.
I wish I would have known there were so many Acmes in Northern Jersey with the fish eye logo into the late 90s ... I would have visited these instead of the Lehigh Valley ones.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 90s you could go to Montclair, Port Reading, Springfield, Sparta, Plainfield... maybe even Teaneck, Leonia and Lodi if my memory is correct (not positive about those last three, and I could be missing a store or two.)
ReplyDeleteClifton, Secaucus, Jersey City...
ReplyDeleteThose stores didn't have the fish-eye logo, they had red ovals. Most northern NJ stores had the red oval logo in the late 90's. Only Union and Washington had actual red block letters and Middlesex had a painted panel that replaced the fish-eye logo/red oval logo.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the pictures. It brings back good memories. I was very sad when Acme closed.
ReplyDeleteTo all:
ReplyDeleteVerona, next town up Bloomfield Avenue from Montclair, has the large DeCozen auto dealership that was formerly -- surprise! -- one of the few pitched roof stores in North Jersey. I visited the store just before it closed in the mid-80s; later came the offices of Celantano's food products, and, finally, the car dealership. BUT: the pitched roof is still open on the inside and visible from the street! An interesting adaptation of the classic Acme style. Two towns further up Bloomfield is the former Acme/Super Saver at the corner of Booomfield and Passaic Avenue in West Caldwell. That location has been expanded and repurposed into smaller stores, and now shows little of its origins; Verona is definitely worth a look, however.
Thanks for a great blog!
Penn Fruit Fan
I don't remember the Verona Store as an Acme. I do remember it as an A&P. I worked on the addition (east side) for Celentano (built as a freezer, now mechanic shop).
DeleteYou're welcome Penn Fruit Fan! And thanks for the information! I will get the Verona store up as a "Former Acme Pick of the Day!"
ReplyDeleteThe Montclair, NJ Acme had a very similar interior to the 1960's era Acme in East Rutherford, NJ... It was for me like taking a step back in time when it shopped there in the 1980's/90's...
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember the Chicken Delight next to ACME? The best.
ReplyDeleteThis store opened in the late 1950's or early 1960's. I graduated from high school in a neighboring town and my family shopped a lot at the Montclair store. We occasionally shopped at a smaller Acme on Belleville Ave, Bloomfield but preferred the Claremont Ave Acme because of its much greater selection. I remember Chicken Delight on the left side of the entry.
ReplyDeleteAcme had several smaller stores in Montclair in the 50's/60's. The Claremont Ave store was much larger than those on Orange Rd, Upper Montclair and Watchung Center.