This ad from January 1999 comes to Acme Style courtesy of the ClassicRetailAds Channel on YouTube. To see more Acme commercials and other classics from Pathmark and Thriftway to name a few, click here. If you haven't already, please press "play" now.
The Vineland Acme is ready for it's close-up! Freshly watered down parking lot (with no rain clouds in site) creates a crisp and cool reflection. The front of the store is basked in a sunshiny yellow glow for that crack-of-dawn feeling. Built sometime between 1995 and 1999, this stire was clearly a stand-out in the chain to land a role in a TV commercial. The interesting design of the foyers was actually dictated by the shopping center which has a castle theme throughout. We'll be taking a tour down below.
January 1999... finally time for the red oval logo to go! (Too bad cause it's looking really good here.)
In with the new block letter logo... a good 5 to 6 years after it was first introduced.
The Vineland NJ Acme in real life! Still looking quite sharp from the outside. Unfortuantely the interior doesn't live up to the high bar set by the exterior.
I was hoping to replicate the shots in the commercial but didn't quite get there. The trees in the parking lot are much larger than when the commercial was filmed creating some obstacles to getting the perfect matching shot.
The Pharmacy and Dairy side of the store.
ACME got bumped over from it's original spot to make room for the Sav-on sign.
The red signage is being converted to white on stores that receive the "Premium Fresh and Healthy" remodel. The signs here blend in to the brick walls to the point of being practically invisible from the roads surrounding the shopping center.
The trees further disguise the store until fall does away with their leaves. Still a hardy green for late October.
Produce right through this foyer. Let's take a tour of the interior...
Albertson's Marketplace remodel: the no-frills version. The Produce Department looks quite nice here. Notice how the left side of both of the A's in "Farmstand" is busted.
All departments names spelled out with no bells and whistles. Reminds me of stores from the 70's. The service departments here didn't get the deluxe treatment with the large sign mounts and blue light boxes on either side. The previous 90's Red/White/Blue look had more pizzaz to it than the remodel.
Split aisles which is common in the 90's stores. The soda aisle lines the Frozen Food Deapartment in the center of the store. The green on the columns add some much needed color. In other stores, the slanted part of the drop ceiling is painted green as well which adds a very nice effect,
The 90's Red/White/Blue floor tiles still in place. This store is also lacking the faux iron signs- can't find a better way to describe those things- that are usually mounted to the walls around the permitter of the store. There was an abundance of these signs hanging along the checkout area... which I didn't get a picture of.
And back outside...
Time to check out the rest of the castle-style shopping center...
I would have gone nuts over this place as a kid.
Hard to believe that this is the backside of Café Centro.
Even the back of the Acme (back on the right) has nice details.
  |
The sign out on North Main Street... didn't quite get the castle treatment. And now on to the former Acmes of Vineland...
A former "Colonial Cottage" about a mile up North Main street. I drove past but didn't stop to take a picture. Didn't look as much like a former Acme in person as it does in these aerial shots (plus I had alot of other stops to make for the day). The Acme windows were still intact along the front. From here it looks as though only minor upgrades were made to the awning.
Another former Acme. This one is about 2 1/2 miles west on Landis Avenue. Not many clues in this shot that the CVS was a former Acme. In the shote below, check out the old Acme sign in the lower right-hand corner. Drove by this one too not thinking there was much to see until I looked up the aerial images.
 |
A perspective of the new Acme in relation to the old stores. (Oval logo used just reference. Not sure what logo appeared on the front of the old stores.)
Thanks for the wonderful commercial from 1999 and the great pictures of the Vineland Acme and two of Acme's prior stores. The oldest of the three stores opened in 1957 (Apr 24th) at Landis and West Avenue and is now CVS. The former Acme sign was typical of 1957. The next store at 574 N. Main Road opened in 1965 (Oct 6th). Interesting that it was a flat roof and not an A-frame store. Maybe it was in the development stage for quite some time. Both stores probably closed in the 1980's. The new combination store with it's unique architecture opened Dec 1, 1996. To quote The Trumpeter, "Our new location in Vineland, New Jersey, is significant because it heralds the return of Acme to the Vineland marketing area, after an absence of many years."
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting my commercials!
ReplyDeleteI've noticed (thanks to your help, Bill) that not all Acme stores built during the A-frame/pitched roof era had that feature. I'm going to assume that while Acme built many of its own stores, it also took advantage of new retail space when it became available? Keeping things local to me, the Pompton Lakes Acme with its barrel roof wasn't like most stores built at the time- is it possible Acme took advantage of new retail space that was the right size and in the right location, or even took over an existing store? There was supposedly an Acme in nearby Franklin Lakes but the location does not show an A-frame/pitched roof building that one would have expected at the time. Maybe that explains why the old N. Main Road location in Vineland wasn't like most built at the time? Maybe it was remodeled in the early 70s and that's when it adopted the look of stores like Port Reading and Manasquan?
ReplyDeleteI would have assumed that the current Vineland store was a replacement for the other two but now it's clear Acme abandoned that area for quite some time. Was that also true of nearby Bridgeton and Millville- towns with old Acme locations that were eventually replaced by newer ones?
Hi all. The Millville and Bridgeton, New Jersey Acme's were open during the opening of their newer store. Bridgeton was a Jamesway I think, and of course Millville was built from thr ground up.
ReplyDeleteThe old Vineland Acme closed in the early 80's and did not re-surface till the mid 90's.
trex354
Did you check out the nearby Millville Acme as well?
ReplyDeleteI did not get to Millville on that trip but I did get to some other very cool locations. Some great abandoned stores coming up!
ReplyDeletei do beleive that shoprite is killing this store also
ReplyDeleteI work occasionally in the Landis CVS. The back of the store is really the only remnant of a grocery store. I'll grab pics of the backroom as well.
ReplyDelete