Classic picture courtesy of GUman
Location: 471 Main Street, Chatham, NJ
Thanks to GUman we're treated to a before and after here in Chatham. Acme opened in this spot back in March 1966. The store closed around 1988-89. I very distinctly remember the day I heard they were pulling the plug. I had been by the Chatham store many times on the way to my Aunt's house but had never gone in. Riding along with the rents back in those days. As much as I wanted to say "Can we go in the Acme?", I didn't. My cousin told me the place was not in good shape and they didn't shop there. Too bad because the outside was pretty cool! An early Colonial Cottage model, the earliest one we've seen on the blog. Acme clearly had these stores going up during the pitched-roof era. I had pegged this model coming more towards the end of that era.
How about that classic photo? Interesting variation to the fish-eye sign. Three squares on either side of the sign all done in white. Nice touch with the gate along the roof-line. First time we're seeing either feature on the blog. I remember thinking this Acme looked unusual when we would pass it. Perhaps they tried to make it a little classier with Chatham being an affluent town.
The Acme building is now occupied by a CVS and some other smaller stores. The front side appears to have been completely rebuilt. I could find no scars along the brick walls or sidewalk to indicate the location of Acme's doors or windows. The side and rear do reveal some evidence of Acme...
Around back we see the compressor room doors. Steal lifting bar above has been removed.
Break room and bathroom windows.
From the front, you'd never know it had been an Acme. Certainly looked better back in the Acme days.
Heading back in time...
2007
2002
1987
1979
1970
1969
1966
Brand new in 1966!
1963
The Acme looks to have taken the place of the building in the left.
Flying over to a nearby competitor of the Acme...
A Kings food store just down the street from the Acme. Kings was on the scene as of 1979.
An odd set up for a grocery store. Blink and you'll miss it . The store has no windows facing out to the street.
I've added Kings to this post for two reasons... first, the company is currently being run by Acme's former President, Judy Spires. Secondly, the chain has just announced aggressive plans for the future with a rebranding of their stores and their website. You can read about the rebranding at Supermarket News. Check out the new logo and revamped website here. I don't care for the new tagline "Where inspiration strikes." There's nothing positive about the word "strikes", especially in the grocery store industry.
Not the most inviting of stores. The inside is quiet nice...
Yep, the iPhone 4S needs to be held dead still to get a sharp picture. Looks like that managed to happen only in aisle 4.
Maybe just 7 or 8 aisles. The last few weren't numbered. They're also shorter here to make room for the Deli and Bakery up front.
Kings stores are much smaller than in size to regular grocery stores. They specialize in carrying higher end selection of the products. You won't pay more for your groceries. I was doing some price comparisons and found several items here significantly higher than at Whole Foods!
Views from Main Street...
Through the years...
1987
1979
1970
No idea what was located here back in '70.
1957
Kings will be remodeling it's stores along with their latest rebranding effort. The Bedminster store was the first to get remodeled and just had it's grand reopening last Friday . You can read more about that on mycentraljersey.com. I plan on checking out the store in the near future. I would have liked to include some coverage of it in this post but could not squeeze a visit in before this post was to go up.
When we moved to Morristown in 1984 and would take Route 24 back to Bayonne to visit my grandparents (this was before construction of the Route 24 extension between Short Hills and Route 287), we'd pass by this store all the time. Too bad I don't remember it at all. I always assumed it was a late 50's type store that was constructed many years after those stores were no longer built (delayed construction?) so I'm kinda surprised to see it was actually a Colonial Cottage. This one must have closed not too long before I started working for Acme in 1995, probably before Parsippany closed (which I believe was the last store to close before I started working in Morris Plains).
ReplyDeleteThe Kings is weird. You're right that you could blink and miss it. I wonder why the company never did anything to make it look like a store from the road? I guess it didn't matter because I remember driving along Route 24 and always getting stopped at the entrance to the store- Kings must have paid for an off-duty cop to be present during store hours because there was so much traffic going in and out of the parking lot. Not sure if there's still one directing traffic these days. Wouldn't it have made more sense to put up the money for a traffic signal? Or maybe the town shot down that idea?
I had no idea Kings was overhauling their image. Good for them. I've always liked the chain but admit that lately it seems to have been sitting still. The once-pristine stores are now starting to look old and worn and I can't remember the last time I was in Kings and saw more than a mediocre crowd. Strange because I always remember the ones I occasionally frequented (Morristown, Florham Park, Boonton) being very busy. That new logo is dreadful but at least it's a change.
Glad you said it Rob. Their new logo is awful. I decided not to get to judgmental about it in the post since I was already giving the thumbs down on the tagline.
ReplyDeleteI never knew there was an Acme in Chatham. The part of Chatham that I am most familiar with is Shunpike Road. In the Hickory Square Shopping Center (built in the 1960s), there is a very nice ShopRite (that was expanded and renovated circa 1987). (This shopping center also has another CVS.) Across the street, there is an abondoned A&P Centennial that closed in 1991 (largely due to competition from the ShopRite). When it reopened as a Cost Cutters in 1995, some very ugly alterations were made to its roof. This particular Cost Cutters later became a Drug Fair (I believe they were owned by the same company), which closed when the chain went out of business in 2009. The building has remained vacant ever since.
ReplyDeleteMax, funny thing about that former Drug Fair/Cost Cutters location across from ShopRite Shunpike/Chatham, that would be an excellent location for a Kings, especially the new concept where the emphasis is on the prepared foods & gourmet brands.
DeleteThey no doubt would draw from affluent Harding Twsp. & Morristown area.
The Kings in Chatham was originally a location of Good Deal Supermarkets, a small chain in Northern New Jersey. Another Good Deal store briefly occupied the pitched-roof former Acme in Garfield (see entry in Acme Style) after Acme left. Additional Good Deals were in Passaic, Bergen, and Union counties.
ReplyDeleteI am looking for anyone that can give me information on Good Deal Supermarkets from 1963. Please reply here !
DeleteMy dad used to work part time at the Good Deal in Irvington on Stuyvesant Ave ( later became a Mayfair Foodtown & now a City Supermarket ) also the Good deal in Newark on Irvington Ave near Maplewood. ( this became a Village Shop Rite and now an Extra ) Also a Good Deal on Sanford Ave & Central Ave in East Orange ( now Extra )
DeleteI am looking for two people - a man and a woman - that both worked for Good Deal Supermarkets in 1963 - the woman worked as a meat wrapper. The womans name was Joan and the mans name Richard. I have had no luck looking into this - any information anyone might have please email me as a reply here but also at mdflood1984@verizon.net - thank you.
DeleteMy brother worked in good deal as a checker about 1964 on market st in saddle brook nj. The produce mgr was sal, franki valli's uncle. What store were you referring to?
DeleteThe Chatham "Colonial Cottage" Acme opened one day after a 1950 store next door closed. The historic photos from 1963 to 1966 tell the rest of the story! To build the new store, more land had to be acquired. I would guess that the L shaped building with three roof vents was the original metal front Acme. I enjoyed shopping at this store from 1980-1985, and the interior was very nice. It began to slip a little in the late 1980's. Madison was open in 1969, but not in 1980, so I would guess it closed in the 1970's. And yes, Madison received their groceries into the basement!
ReplyDeleteHi before it was a Good Deal, it was a Safeway/Finast. Kings hasn!t been Kings, since Alan Buildner became ill and sold his business. Expensive yes, great bservice and a super deli. Gerry
ReplyDeleteDid the ShopRite in Chatham kill off the Acme the same way it killed the A&P? (Or were there other reasons why the store closed?)
ReplyDeleteMorristown provides a rare example where an A&P (profiled right here at AcmeStyle) beat back competition from a ShopRite (that occupied the upper story of a two-level shopping center; this space is currently occupied by Staples). Are there any other instances where A&P or Acme defeated the community ShopRite?
Shop Rite exited Morristown in 1992 on their own will. They were beating A & P and Kings at the time. Then some nonunion supermarket opened at that location in 1992 and stayed a couple years. I believe Village Supermarkets took the site back a short time under the name "Village Market" like they did in South Orange and Florham Park. Eventually that closed and Staples moved in. That store was likely doing half a million a week and Shop Rite expects their stores to do more than a million. Village probably abandoned the store to put that money into Morris Plains. They sold Florham Park to Kings in the early 2000's.
DeleteHi. Yes, In Delaware. The Shop nRite in BrooKside is only two miles from mthe Acme On Elkton Road in Newark. Both do extremly well. SO, Maybe coexistance is a better term.
ReplyDeleteThe Acme in Bear is about equal distance from the shop Rite in Brookside and the Bear Shop Rite recently opened. So Far the Shop Rite is doing well and the Acme seems to be doing well also. Detent? Or Shop Rite just to Ny Centrique for DE
I have to wonder if Acme/Supervalu will eventually abandon North Jersey altogether. With so few remaining stores in North Jersey, it can't possibly make sense to do TV/radio advertising in the New York media market. With the departure of Shaw's from Connecticut, it appears that Supervalu mat abandon the New York City area entirely.
ReplyDeleteI believe those remaining stores in northern NJ, which are actually Morris Plains, Randolph/Mt. Freedom and Clifton would only be sold off if the price is right... as of today, 2 of the 3 stores (Randolph & Morris Plains) do very well and seem to be immune to any competition. There's a Stop & Shop and ShopRite on rte. 10 in Morris Plains that are doing average volume but the Acme is in town and does pretty good business for its size; and Randolph is also off the beaten path and can compete well against the A&P on rte. 10...
DeleteHowever most of the stores below the Driscoll Bridge, in Middlesex and Monmouth county, such as Lincroft and below do very well with the exception of Shrewsbury. I think some of Acme stores would be a good fit for Kings as they try to be more aggressive and grow beyond their 24 stores; Monmouth and parts of Ocean would be great areas for Kings to enter into and there's got to be some synergy between having former Acme chief Judy Spires now at the helm for Kings. They would use much less square footage than Acme and a much different product mix as well.
When I worked at Morris Plains between 95 and 03, it did very well. I've heard it doesn't do as well these days. The Shoprite, on the other hand, always did well, especially for a small, outdated store. It's my understanding that Shoprite is looking to move and may be close to securing a location much closer to Acme, although that seems to be the latest in a never-ending stream of rumors of that Shoprite looking to relocate.
DeleteMount Freedom and Morris Plains are affluent areas and there's no reason why Kings wouldn't want either of those stores, although I wouldn't be shocked to see one (or both) subdivided as the buildings are much larger than your typical Kings. Clifton is probably too close to Kings in Montclair, although it probably wouldn't hurt for them to increase their presence as Stop & Shop has two new stores in Clifton on Route 3.
Rob, I have always enjoyed the Morris Plains ShopRite location, because it is so old and outdated. (Though the Chatham ShopRite may be a few years older, that store was renovated and expanded in the late-80s.) According to what somebody told me, the Morris Plains ShopRite opened with that shopping center in 1969. The other anchor has seen a few changes: it was first a Two Guys, then a Caldor, and now a Kohl's.
ReplyDeleteJust found out that the CVS occupying the former Acme had been making a mistake involving some kid's prescriptions. Here's a link:http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/cvs-gives-kids-cancer-drugs-by-mistake/
ReplyDeleteYep, just saw that on that on Good Morning America!
ReplyDeleteChatham had a tiny little A&P in the 60s and early 70s -- it was further East on Main St. When the Madison A&P opened (where Whole Foods is today) the Chatham store closed and all/some of the workers moved over there. The Acme became the butt of a joke in our family. Whenever we found a store that was poorly run or a manager who was clueless about customer satisfaction, we would joke that they must have gone to the "Acme School of Management."
ReplyDeleteThe Acme in Lambertville was the coolest I ever saw. Straight out of the 50s!
I remember the acme store was small they added more on the right side.the parking lot on the right was added in the late 60s there was a home there it was torn down for the new parking lot..left side of the store end was a new drug store built 1969 ?
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