Sea Isle City pictures courtesy of Rob Ascough
Second to last stop on the Jersey Shore Tour... Sea Isle City! One of the few classic 50's Acme still in existence. Also one of the smallest Acmes around. This place is an absolute goldmine in the summer months and has no competition in the area.
I'll never forget the first time I saw this type of sign on a store. It was way back in the early to mid 90's. I couldn't believe this was Acme's new logo. Especially since it's not much of a logo and seemed like such a step backwards after the company's iconic fish-eye logo and red oval logo. The signage would be a million times better if the colors were reversed as is commonly seen on the street signage. You can check out an example here at the Clayton store.
Produce alcove. Most likely added during the 70's remodel. I haven't been to this store myself so I can't make the call for sure but 50's stores usually weren't built with an alcove. It may have even been added later than that according to the Produce sign on the wall. If you look through the palm trees you'll see that the letters are from the Checkerboard Arch decor package but are painted brown. This store also has a unique tile pattern on the floor. Palm trees are used as decor throughout the store.
A very unusual aspect of this Acme is the incredibly low ceiling. Acmes of the 50's generally had extremely high ceilings, even in very small stores. The aisle markers were most likely taken out of a closed store and put here. They look gigantic.
This shot has already been seen in the 70's Colonial Decor collection. Amazingly, the type treatment on the wall remains after all of these years.
Looks as though this store doesn not have a fully functioning Meat Department. The meat case is quite small and appears to only have prepackage products. Like the Deli, the meat signage is left over from the 70's. "Lancaster Brand Meats" which was usually spread across the entire back wall of stores, is very small here. Check out the pickle barrel in the lower left-hand corner! You don't see those around too often these days.
Like other small Jersey Shore stores, the sidewalk is closed in to allow for additional merchandise in the summer months.
The building in the front of the parking lot hasn't arrived yet.
Rob got this interesting shot here to show that the Acme is a separate building from the others in the strip.
Check out the crowds in the summer!
63rd & Landis opened in 1959 (May 13th) so it has been there for over 50 years! It looks like they repaint every 10 years or so, but don't do much of an upgrade in decor.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing this Acme when I visited Sea Isle City a few years ago. Didn't take any photos though.
ReplyDeleteSuch a cool little store. And when I say little, I mean it. The ceiling is low and the aisles are narrow, meaning an average-sized person feels like an absolute giant shopping in this store. In the dead of winter there was hardly anyone in the store (the cashier walking out of the store for her break meant that 33% of the staff left the building) but I can imagine it gets crazy during the summer months. The place is a mess of different decor packages meaning the store likely gets a lot of hand-me-downs but everything was in decent shape, so the people working there obviously take a lot of pride in their Acme. The palm tress scattered throughout the store were a nice touch.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, a very well kept store. I know the store manager and he is ALWAYS wandering through the sales area touching up and making things look nice. Also this is a very well stocked Acme for it's size. Great location.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.philly.com/philly/business/breaking/20121102_Acme_official__Shore_stores_sacked_by_floodwaters.html
ReplyDeleteThis and Long Beach Island were completely ravaged by Sandy Both stores will have to be gutted and rebuilt
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that store has the complete 70's decor, but repainted in albertsons marketplace colors. If it reopens, I hope that they can salvage most decor.
ReplyDeleteSea Isle Update
ReplyDeleteI was down during the polar bear plunge, and I stopped by to take a look and it was OPEN, but only about 1/10th of it so they could rake in money on the tons of people who go there for that weekend. They only had non-perishable food like cookies and snacks. Also, I couldn't take any pictures because everyone working there was there to assist you with the few merchandise they had, even the manager. Just shows dedication!
Also, I found out why the ceilings were so low. There were a few displaced ceiling tiles, and above that there was about 2 feet of space above for extra pipes and wires. Above that there were very old 60's or 50's tiles, probably original.
Sea Isle Update 2
ReplyDeleteWith The SIC Acme officially open, I decided to take a look and.... No décor changes!!!! everything just got a fresh coat of Paint!!
70's Corner Deli - Up!! just pained blue (looks like the 30th coat of paint if you look up close)
70's Lancaster Brand is still along the back and is painted blue
80's - 90's produce alcove signage is still up and also painted blue. There are also pictures along the walls of local sea isle similar to the Neighborhood Market décor. and lastly, they took down the Albertsons Marketplace aisle markers an replaced them with ugly black and white aisle markers which have no relation to acme whatsoever. Also, I think parts of the tile were even saved but I'm not sure. And lastly, acme style, you are allowed to use any of this information in updates to your posts.