Classic Acme by night!

Classic photo provided by Greg P.

Greg picked up this photo at a flea market. I haven't been able to identify it's location. Here's what he had to say about it...

"The photo is dated February, 1960, and was entered into a photo contest sponsored by the Diamond Camera Club of Wilmington, DE. The location is not identified, but the seller thought it might be Price's Corner. Evidently Acme took the corner space in this shopping center to maximize floor space and minimize the storefront. The photo is dated February, 1960, and was entered into a photo contest sponsored by the Diamond Camera Club of Wilmington, DE."

BREAKING NEWS CONTINUED>>>

ACME BEGINS NEW ERA OF LOW PRICES!

EVERYONE SAVES STARTING TODAY...
NO CARD NEEDED!

As I mentioned in yesterday's breaking news post, I had been prepping a post for today showing the new shelf tags at Acme. I began seeing them a couple of weeks ago and have been snapping pictures of them to share. Hadn't noticed any ties-in with the circulars or website so I wasn't sure what was going on. Yesterday I received a press release directly from Acme headquarters which explained all the details. You can read the press release by visiting yesterday's post down below. 

The big news is... no more SuperCard to get the sale prices! I hate those cards with a passion. Thanks to the CardStar app on the iPhone, theres's no need to carry them all around anymore. Still, it's annoying having to open the app and find the card every time I'm in a checkout line. Personally I think these cards are outta control. I was shocked recently to see even a store like Toys R Us has them. Nice to see Acme doing something different from most of it's competitors. 

In recent months, we've all been on the edge of our seats waiting to see what changes would be coming to Acme since it was acquired by Cerberus Capital Management. Details have been hard to find online since the new owners are a private company. I have been doing as much research as I could on Albertsons LLC, which is technically the company now running Acme. Albertsons LLC has been the owner of the stores not acquired by SuperValu back in 2006. They were rebranded Albertsons Market. Those stores have been card-free for quite sometime now. This past week Albertsons and Albertsons Market websites merged ditching the SuperValu designed site. You can read more about that at ProgressiveGrocer.com.

Now back to the new shelf tags...

First up is the "Low Price Every Day" tag. These tags all all over the store. It's almost crazy. Acme went from having minimal price messages, thanks to SuperValu who could never seem to get a clue, to now having hundreds up and down every single aisle! Seriously... you cannot miss them. 

Next up are the "Something more for less" shelf tag...

I'm assuming this is the new "sale" shelf tag. I was noticing a serious lack of sale tags that mention the SuperCard. There were some around but not many. It didn't occur to me that the card was getting phased out. It appears now that all weekly specials will get the new SMFL shelf tag. 

A couple of "Sale" tags still going here. There is NO shortage of red and yellow shelf tags anywhere in the store. 

Another big push is low prices on Milk. This is a huge sign above the milk case. (I should have pulled back for some perspective). These signs hang in multiple places back in Dairy in the two stores I visited.. I noticed too that the plastic milk bottles are still branded "ACME" but cardboard milk containers are "Essential Everyday". I looked pretty quickly so I could be wrong. I did notice tons of "ACME" branded boxes in produce displays. Hopefully they're bringing the name back after SuperValu banished it from stores.

Here's a preview of the new circular announcing all the big changes at Acme...

Click on images for larger view.

For now Acme is still starting its sale week on Friday. Other banners like Jewel and Albertsons begin the sale week on Wednesday. 

To view the full circular, please click here. 

BREAKING NEWS>>>

ACME LOWERS PRICES! 

BEGINNING TOMORROW,
SUPERCARD NO LONGER NEEDED

FOR SAVINGS!

NEW FRESHNESS GUARANTEE! 

REDESIGNED CIRCULAR!

CLEANER STORES!

The official press release sent to the Acme Style Blog:

ACME-What’s New?

Malvern, Pennsylvania, June 20, 2013- On Friday, June 21st, ACME Markets will unveil new changes focused on making shopping easier and better for their customers. 

The first change customers will see the card-free savings. All customers will get the same great prices, with or without an ACME SuperCard.

Additionally, customers will see lowered prices on the items they buy most. Throughout the 112 ACME stores, there will be thousands of items with lower everyday prices and many more on sale. 

ACME is also committing to offering the best selection of fresh quality product. If a customer is not happy, ACME will refund the purchase price and replace it with another item of equal or lesser value for free. This fresh guarantee, which ties nicely with the new card-free savings, will highlight to customers that they are in for a new experience at ACME. Customers will see a redesigned circular and new in-store signage designed to create excitement and illustrate the company’s commitment to quality products and great customer service. 

 “All customers deserve the same price on all items.” said Jim Perkins, ACME president. “We feel it is our job to give everyone a great shopping experience. With our cleaner stores, superior customer service, and offering our great values to everyone, we can do that.”

_____________________________________________

As fate would have it, tomorrow's post is all about the new store signage! I've been taking pictures of it all as I've visited stores in the past two weeks. I was wondering why they weren't advertising these new low price messages in the circular or online but I now see that everything officially starts tomorrow!

Former Acme – Randallstown, MD

Photos courtesy of Michael H.

Location: 8053 Liberty Road, Randallstown/Baltimore, MD

Opening date and closing date of this store are both unknown. The satellite images reveal it was built sometime before 1964. The store is currently an ALKO Clothing Outlet which specializes in discounted designer clothing and health care professionals' uniforms. They have three locations throughout Baltimore.


Some interesting things to see here... check out the cool drum lights hanging along the awning. No telling if they are original to the Acme or added later. We haven't seen anything like them on the blog.  The lower awning has been completely removed and the entrance and exit doors have been moved to the center of the store.


This side of the store has the drop ceiling along the left side which is where the Dairy aisle would have been. The original entrance and exit would have been off the left side of the photo.






A 50's styled rear attached to a 60's styled pitched-roof store. Funny thing is... we saw a similar situation in the last "Pick of the Day" post at the former Cortland NY store.


The beam for hoisting the compressors to the second floor and the doors to bring them inside remain intact.


Second floor break room and bathroom windows which no one is escaping from.


A great looking former pitched-roof store!

Satellite Images...

A great view of the rear of the store. The Acme may have extended a bit on the left side where that flat roof section meets the pitch.

Historica Aerials... 

2005

1971

1966

1964

1957

Thanks to Michael for taking these pictures for us to enjoy!

A&P's New Style!

Well this was a surprise... A&P is once again rolling out all new packaging for its America's Choice brand. The current packaging is only a few years old now, having been introduced back in 2009. You can take a look at the product line as it has been for the past 4 years at Private Label Store Brands.

The new packaging, which has just begun to appear on store shelves, is a huge departure from all previous incarnations of the brand. The patriotic colors and elements have been ditched in favor of a bold colors and a more artistic, less corporate approach. My first impression wasn't good. Judging from what I saw online, the packaging seemed rather juvenile. That impression completely changed when I saw it on the shelves next to the national brands. A&P is clearly trying to evoke a small-company feel with this new packaging and I have to say... it works. After seeing it throughout the store, I'm officially a huge fan.

A&P has a video on their website announcing the new packaging. It features "real" customers sharing their opinions of the America's Choice brand. Each comment sounding more canned than the one before. The video is a complete FAIL. They should have just let the packaging do the talking.

Signage around the store announcing the new logo and packaging.
Seems as though only about a third of the product line has
been updated at this point. Cereals, pasta and cleaning
products still have the old look. I was able to get
some "before and after" pictures...

The round America's Choice logo was bit of a bust. The words
were shrunk down so much they could barely be seen on
some packaging. Previous versions of the logo can be
seen here and here. (Pictures are not easy to find!)

The new packaging shows less food but in a much
fresher and delectable state. 

Big difference here with the toilet paper. Gone is the big, bold, generic look in favor of a cuddly, soft and lovable feel. 

No old paper towel packaging left to be found. 

The new red banner has a much bigger impact
than the former logo.

The one package design I will be sad to see go is for the seltzer bottles. This was a knock-out of a design from day one. I've always loved the retro look and colors. I was glad to see the new packaging hadn't made it to to soda aisle yet. This package design will now live on at Acme Style!