Photos courtesy of Tom K.
Location: 1130 Chester Pike, Sharon Hill, PA
Thanks to Tom for a final look at Sharon Hill as it fades away after 54 years of service. It takes with it the very last 80's Remodel still in existence today. (At an Acme anyway. The 80's decor does live on at this store.) A classic 50's model which remained in it's original form to the very end. No expansion, no major layout changes to the interior. The store outlasted newer models in the area including the 70's era Yeadon stores and the 60's era pitched-roof store in Landsowne. To visit the Sharon Hill store while it was still open,
click here.
click here.
The original form of the store is disguised slightly by an awning upgrade that was done by the landlord.
I'm fascinated that they took the decor elements off of the walls but left the department signage. It always seems to go the other way... leave the decor, remove the lettering. You can see an example of that here at the former Newtown store. Obviously there's more cleaning up here to do but it seems strange that if they were already pulling items off the walls, they wouldn't just pull down the department names too.
Another register or two would have been where the blue tiles are on the left. The CSR stand may have been here too just after the 80's Remodel. If you enlarge this image you can see that some of the blue tiles do not match the original ones to the far left.
The registers look to be the ones put in back in the 80's. They do match the stands my store received around 1989 when we switched over to scanners.
Express Lane and Customer Service to the left. The original office would have been located further to the left, in the front corner. They were often moved in 80's Remodels to make room for the in-store bakery. It appears that this store never had a bakery, just an alcove that has been used for "Great Deals" in the last few years. You can see that area by clicking here. What's interesting though is the the tiles in the alcove do not match the color from the 80's Remodel. (You can see those tiles here.) Perhaps this area was reconfigured sometime later. There is a former bread delivery room in the front which was being used for the manager's office.
Interesting that they neglect to mention the store at the MacDade Mall in Holmes which is closer than the Glenholden store.
The last of the red oval logo signs... gone.
Amelia's Grocery Outlet will be taking over the space. Opening date is planned for May.
UPDATE 6.13.13: Ameila's opened today! Check out the comment left by Trent down below for more details.
The Macdade Mall is often referred to as being in Glenolden despite technically being in Holmes; I would have thought they would have mentioned Folsom though.
ReplyDeleteHow long ago were these shots taken? If they were in the past month or two, I'm amazed the Acme security camera is/was still on the facade...
ReplyDeleteThe photos were taken on December 31.
DeletePathmark has a store in Glenolden that appears to have opened not long after a Penn Fruit across the parking lot (now a Pep Boys) closed. Behind the Penn Fruit/Pep Boys is a Walmart in a building that has served as no less than five discount store chains: first JM Fields, then Two Guys, then Jefferson Ward, then Bradlees, and finally Walmart. Also, a Rickel was next to the Pathmark, which later was a National Wholesale Liquidators, then a Forman Mills which I believe is also now closed. I'm surprised the Pathmark has survived as long as it has, because a Giant has been in nearby Aldan for over 15 years now. The Pathmark was updated in the late 80's or 90's at some point though, but I think Giant redid their store around 2002, when it must have been less than ten years old.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think the Acme in Sharon Hill stayed open as long as it did only because land is very scarce in the surrounding area for new supermarkets to be built. But perhaps the news that Giant was opening in Lansdowne made Acme retreat from both Lansdowne and Yeadon. The Acme at MacDade Mall looks good with an early 2000s Albertsons decor package. But on the outside I find that Acme very uninviting, and remember its age and size are the same as the dead Yeadon store. Surprising Acme kept it open considering their new Clifton Heights store was built in 1995 (a new Acme here was long overdue, replacing a very old one) in response to Giant announcing their Aldan plans. The Acme in Folsom from 2000 is also rather close. Amazingly a 60's Pathmark stays open only separated from the Folsom Acme by a Home Depot, but the Pathmark has much better visibility than the Acme in this case. Also, a 50's Acme in Folsom (identical to the one in Sharon Hill) coexisted less than a mile away from the MacDade Mall Acme for just about 30 years (1970-2000) until the current Folsom Acme was built. But the MacDade Mall store started as a Super Saver, so it must have had a different selection than the even smaller, older Acme nearby.
Also, some big news: Giant has just announced its Brookhaven store from 1986 (the oldest Giant in Delaware County by far) is moving across the street. Surprisingly the early 70's Pathmark only separated from the Giant by a Kmart is still open, but it most likely will close once Giant is done moving. Ironically though, the Pathmark in this case is both cleaner and brighter than the current Giant, but that isn't saying much. Yet both stores have the same light fixtures (identical to ones used by both Acme and Walmart in the 90's), but while the Giant probably opened with them in the 80's, the Pathmark probably never had them until a 90's or early 2000s renovation.
The Amelia's Grocery Outlet at the former (50's) Acme site in Sharon Hill PA opened today! I also happened to find out as I left that the furniture store next door, which used to be a Rite Aid, is closing. Hopefully something else nice like a Hallmark store will open there, but I get the feeling a liquor store or maybe an auto parts store will instead.
ReplyDeleteAn interior photograph is available on Yelp:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/amelias-grocery-outlet-woodlyn?select=Eze4YwWCFZNXSmTo9--LQg#Eze4YwWCFZNXSmTo9--LQg
I just realized that that's not the Sharon Hill store, but instead Woodlyn, PA. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteActually, you can get a tour of the store here before it opened:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt82XSmvEkQ