Images courtesy of Patrick Richardson
A close-up view of all the advantages offered at
the brand-new Lincroft Acme.
And how about this for our final image... a look inside the Lincroft Acme on Grand Opening day! There's some very interesting things going on in here. Namely the department signage. First off, we can see "Lancaster" on the back wall over the Meat Department. The letters are done in the style of the Colonial Decor package. This clashes with the department signs above Bakery and Dairy. Those signs are modeled after the fish-eye logo. I'm finding all of this confusing as I had thought both signage designs seen here would have come after 1960. Putting together such a timeline of store interior this far back is tricky of course with such little concrete evidence in existence today. I assumed the fish-eye department signage was rolled out for the pitched-roof stores which officially debuted after this store opened. (There is just one example of this signage on the blog from the Clayton pitched-roof store. Click here to have look.) Perhaps the "Lancaster"lettering here eventually lead to the Colonial Decor package which I believe started in the late 60's.
Moving on to some other observations... notice how low the aisles are. The amount of variety of packaged foods had yet to command higher shelving. (Interesting side note: some A&P fresh remodels have gone back to this eye-level shelving strategy.) Fewer registers here than I would have expected. The store isn't very large either. (You can see exterior shots of the store in the late 90's by clicking here). Looking closely at that far wall and at the relation of the registers to the rear wall, you began to tell how truly limited the floor space is. Not so much a concern in 1960 but this store did remain in business until 1999! Even had the 80's remodel, according to a comment left after the original Lincroft post. Most smaller stores were passed over during that remodel phase as their sales volumes didn't warrant such an investment.
Regardless of all the questions this photo has raised, it is unbelievably fascinating. The likes of which we haven't been treated to on the blog. A special thanks to Pat for sending them in. He's provided some others which we will be seeing in the future. But for now... what aisle is the Meat Ball Stew in?
Check out the former Red Bank Acmes by clicking here.
The trademark "Lancaster Brand Meats" goes back to 1927, when American Stores Company purchased the meat processing plant in Lincoln, [Lancaster County], Nebraska. In many of the metal front stores, Lancaster Brand Meats appeared across the rear in a cursive red neon sign. When the classic flat roof stores were opened in the mid-1950's, Lancaster Brand Meats appeared across the back in black Old English lettering. I agree that the fish-eye department signage is unusual for 1960. During the prior five years, department signage was spelled out on diamond shaped squares. There is a picture of this under "Memorabilia" towards the end of the pictures from the 1992 calendar.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff! I love the "advantages" page... freshness is listed as a "fetish". Priceless.
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