Former Acme Pick of the Day!
Photos courtesy Hugh A.
Location: 3937 Route 281, Cortland, NY
Not so much fun from the front. One interesting thing to note is the location of the Produce receiving doors. They're located in a flat-roofed section along the right side of the building instead of being contained under the pitched-roof as they are in every other model I've ever seen. Check out the back of the store...
The world's great grocery store sign in painted form! Seems odd that they went to all the trouble since the back of the store doesn't seem to have been in of nearby roads.
I don't have any information on when this store opened or when it closed. The large store in the shopping center behind the old Acme is a Tops Friendly Market.
1969
Interesting section at the back of the store. Clearly added on while it was an Acme. The building next store looks to have had an addition put on soon after. The Acme sign that was painted on the back must not have been fully exposed for very long.Thanks to Hugh for sending in the pictures!
Wow, a great find. I suspect that when this store built, it may have been the only store on the lot. Travelers on route 281 and route 222 could easily spot the Acme sign painted on the side of the building. Similar to the Acme signage on the side of the old Point Pleasant Acme. Since the side of that store faced route 35 and the front of the store faced route 88.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why Acme left New York.
ReplyDeleteIs it really possible for that sign to be original? it has to have been re-painted at sone point.
ReplyDeleteI believe that sign to be original in every aspect.I know there is an old Super Saver logo painted on the side of a building along route 9 in the Freehold area. The building was a Gold's gym not that long ago.
ReplyDeleteThere is still an old storage trailer along route 9 South in a construction company yard and the old Acme logo from the 1950's is still very clear. I may even have a photo of that trailer.
Thanks Acme Style for another gem
ReplyDeleteKJV4Life:
Acme left the Empire State in chunks. The stores in the NYC area were the first to go in 1979, (same time that Food Fair left the same region) it closed a number of stores in other parts of the state throughout the 80s. but it kept stores in the upper New York Area into the 90s. it left the area in 1994 mainly to pay down the debt that it racked up buying the Lucky Stores chain out west. Penn Traffic which owned the P&C and Quality stores in the region, was ready to expand and bought the last 45 Acmes there. Since Tops bought the renmant of Penn Traffic a while ago, the large Tops store may have been a P&C or Quality that may have been a relocation of the old Acme (since Penn Traffic bought the Acmes as a group )
Thanks, Roy. I didn't think they lasted into the 90s. The last stores in the NEPA area closed and were sold to Penn Traffic too in the 90s.
ReplyDeleteDid Acme ever make it out to Long Island? I doubt it, but I'm wondering...
ReplyDeleteBill,
ReplyDeleteCan you give more details about the store in Freehold? I am ver familiar with the area and I do not know of any former acmes there.
I grew up in the area and remember (barely) that strip mall had both an Acme and an A&P. Acme was gone by the mid-70's and I don't recall a time when the painted logo wasn't obscured. After Super Saver and possibly something else that slot was a Central Tractor store for a long time. There was nothing between the back corner of that strip mall and Rt 281 until the mid-90's (the Tops was purpose built for Tops in 1995 or so, after it moved out of the former A&P slot) so the painted sign was more visible.
ReplyDeleteThis store apparently closed in January 1975 following a fire, according to some legal documents I found on Google books. The (very long) document also gives addresses for many other Acme stores in the western part of New York State in the 1970s. http://books.google.com/books?id=q3Rxmy88yhIC&pg=PR26&lpg=PR26&dq=CORTLAND+ACME&source=bl&ots=sthgyUNoHL&sig=mwwPV8r0kNMcNJvvfzX5upX3JQQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CQ5wU7CXE-fNsATvqYCwDg&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=CORTLAND%20ACME&f=false
ReplyDelete