News Break:

Beach Haven to reopen around Easter... 
brand new store planned for May 2014!

The Sandpaper.net has an article about the current and future plans for the Beach Haven store. The current store, heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy, is on track to reopen around the end of March. Come October, this classic store will shut down for good so the property can be cleared for construction of a replacement store. If all goes as planned, the new store should be open in May of 2014. Thanks to Paul for sending in the link to the article! 

The Former Burlington Acme!

Photos courtesy of trex354

Last Friday's post of the current Burlington Acme included satellite images of the town's former Acme, the most recent image showing property with the building long gone. Thanks to trex354, we can go back in time and see the old Acme! Abandoned at the time of the photos, the building was a hodgepodge of additions and upgrades. An expansion to the left side of the store can be clearly seen in the photos. The addition appears to have been done between 1963 and 1971 when comparing the satellite images of those years. The brick on the bottom half matches quite well, but the same cannot be said for the top half. The addition here resembles that of the one done to the old Newtown store, even with a slight bump in height along the newer section. Neither store received the "Super Saver" awning when the cursive letter logo was switched out for the fish-eye sign. Stores in Newton and Sparta did receive an awning upgrade when the fish-eye sign was installed. Burlington's awning went the same way the old store in Lincroft did with this rather odd brown box. 

Unfortunately signs here were removed rather than painted over. Delivery doors and trash shut along the side as there is a lack of space at the back of the building.




Burlington had the same odd door configuration as Woodstown, possibly due to a lack of a vestibule inside.


Not sure if the mini-vestibules were original to the buildings or added later. The appear to be somewhat of an after thought.




As we learned in the comments section in the current Burlington Acme post, the building remained abandoned until it was torn down in 2006. The property is now home to a Super Wawa.

Former Hillsborough A&P!

Location: 626 Route 206, Hillsborough, NJ

This former A&P still has some old decor up on it's walls! Andrew7239 tipped us off to this in his comment under last week's post about Weis coming to Hillsborough. The A&P was located directly across Route 206 from the ShopRite and Stop&Shop. About a third of the A&P building is taken up by a farmers market and the other two thirds by a liquor store. The farm markets section is where the decor remains. There are no remnants of the former supermarket in the liquor store. Just so happens the farmers market set there produce section up in the same exact spot as the A&P.




There may have been another department sign here. I didn't think to look closely for a lablescar when I was in the store. It looks as though the fruit collection may have been added by the farmers market.


No decor along the rear wall. I think the A&P may have extended further back with another section of the wall decor extending back from the department sign.


Look closely and you can see the lablescar... "cold cuts".


Looking towards the front.








Awesome former A&P. Thanks to Andrew7239 for the tip!

To visit more classic A&P's please check out the Bonus Store Collection.

Step inside the old Moorestown Acme!

If there is one former Acme on this planet that I've been dying for a look inside, it's the old Morrestown store. The closing of this store back in 2006 was the moment I realized I had to do something to preserve the history of these old stores. Thanks to an article at phillyburbs.com regarding the sale of Acme, we can finally have a look inside. They include an interior picture of this store under the headline "Troubled grocery Acme sold; county has 8 supermarkets". This, obviously, isn't one of them but lucky for us we still get a look inside of this classic!

Click here for a look inside!

Ahhhh... the Checkerboard Arch Decor in all it's glory! Looking most exceptional here thanks to the high ceiling giving way to ample wall space. The store also has the package's flooring which was very unusual. Most stores that received this package kept their 80's Remodel checkerboard floor. Not sure if this store was skipped in the 80's. Some that were skipped did get upgraded to this decor. The cases here do look to be left over from the 80's Remodel. Another thing I am not sure of is the orientation of the store in this photo. I believe the customer is facing Schooley Street with front-end of the store behind him. Along that far wall, it looks as though the store had an impossibly small service Deli, if one at all. Tough to see there in the distance. In another unusual move, the store did get the custom designed aisle markers. Most stores kept the aisle markers that were put up long before the 80's Remodel. To view the original Moorestown posts, please click here. For an update on what's to finally become of this building, visit the Moorestown Patch.

Acme — Burlington, NJ

Location: 2200 Mount Holly Road, Burlington, NJ

The spectacular Burlington Acme finally arrives at Acme Style! One of the top requested stores here on the blog since day one. Another frequently requested store is the nearby Mount Holly location. Believe it or not, I didn't make it to there on this trip. The sun was already beginning to set when I arrived here at the Burlington store. Mount Holly will be covered in the first half of this year. At this point, nearly every remaining New Jersey Acme has been photographed and will be going up on the blog in the coming months.

Lots of interesting things to talk about here at the Burlington Acme. I've been told the store opened back in 1997, having taken over a portion of a former Bradlees discount department store which closed in 1995, possibly due to a Walmart joining the center. All remaining Bradlees stores closed in early 2001 when the chain went under. Judging from the satellite images, the Walmart opened before the Acme set up shop. Back in those days, Walmart wasn't the quite the threat to supermarkets as it's grocery selection was relatively minimal. Acme appears to have done alright in all of it's years competing with Walmart. The store had a huge remodel done back in 2006. I believe this is the only New Jersey location to receive the full floor-to-ceiling "Premium Fresh and Healthy" package. This includes all new cases, new lighting and new flooring. I haven't quite been to all NJ Acmes just yet but I don't think any of the remaining ones on my list have had this extensive remodel.

The Walmart, on the other hand, has not been extensively remodeled like most of their locations. Granted, I didn't step inside but the old logo and color scheme remain on the outside. I flat out refuse to do any business with Walmart. Gave up on them in the late 90's when I began learning of their truly evil business practices. Looks like the residents of Burlington may share some of the same feelings. Walmart's plans of converting this location into a Super Center date back to 2005 but have yet to begin. Legal issues and resistance from the township have the expansion plans on hold. For Acme's sake, let's hope the plans never get the green light!


Let's get fresh and healthy...


This decor package was rolled out in the mid-2000's. Two stores featured on the blog were built with this package... the Avondale store (scroll down past the Kennet Square pictures) and the now defunct Limerick store. Many existing stores were remodeled with variations of this package with very few getting this deluxe treatment. The only other store I've been in with this same package is the Feasterville location. Most other locations received a less extravagant version of this package as seen in the Woodbury (below the Mantua pictures) and Flourtown stores. Prior to the 2006 remodel, Burlington had been sporting the 90's Red/White/Blue decor, which we'll get a slight peak at down below.


This is a huge and impeccable clean store. Unfortunately a little light on customers during my visit.




Center aisle looking across to Dairy. Notice the super high ceilings left over from the building's department store days.


Deli and Meat along the back of the store.










Awnings like the one seen here were built in a few departments around the store for the remodel. These would not continue to be added in stores as this remodel was rolled out. Back lit department letters were also ditched in favor of just sticking the letters on the wall. See Woodbury.




Center aisle looking over to Produce.




The deeeeluxe Pharmacy department!


Faux hardwood floors in Health and Beauty.




The cavernous front end.

And now for a peek at the former decor!

These photos were taken back in '97 or '98, focusing more on displays than the decor. Check out the register lights! Acme was so late in the game joining other chains in having register lights. They were not included in the 80's remodel and only some stores received them during the Checkerboard Arch remodels. It wasn't until the 90's Red/White/Blue package that they became standard issue. Unfortunately, they were soon ripped out of all stores and replaced with the generic, advertisement holding register signs. See here. The ads have thankfully disappeared in recent years and have been replaced with Acme's own promotional signage. You can see them here at the former Glassboro store with "Gotta Love Great Deals" signs in each.

Now that we have the register lights taken care of, check out the deluxe aisle markers! They're a little hard to see here. Jump over to the former Fallston store for a slightly better look. The aisle markers there were mostly likely a hand-me-down from a remolded store. The original Red/White/Blue aisle markers can be seen here.


Fruit Bar and Bakery just over the mountain of bread.


A bit more of the wall decor beyond the wall of baked goods.

Back to the present for a look outside...

Acme took up about 2/3 of the Bradlees store with Marshalls taking over the rest.








Walmart over on the right.

Through the years...

2007

2002

1995

Acme had yet to move in as of 1995.

1970

All that remains of

the former Burlington Acme...

Location: 364 East Route 130, Burlington, NJ

The Burlington Acme that once stood here opened in Feb 1960. I don't have confirmation on this but would imagine it closed when the new Acme opened.

UPDATE: A super Wawa is now open at this site.

2007

2002

Did it remain abandoned until it was torn down? Kills me finding out about all these abandoned Acme's I could have gone to back when I was only dreaming about doing an Acme website!

1995

1971

1963

1958

Let's hope Burlington continues to say NO to Walmart!

UPDATE: The Walmart expansion has unfortunately begun.