WILLINGBORO IS CURRENTLY BEING REMODELED!
Comments coming in to the original Willingboro post...
Steve G:
I just visited this store, it is in the process of a makeover, gone are all the 90s wall decor, light green paint is currently in the produce alcove, talked to a worker there who knows this blog and has been here, he says he thinks it will be a lower budget version of the decor burlington NJ got.
Annonymous:
Willingboro is currently being remodeled! The 90s décor is finally gone. The business at the store is up significantly from last year, and with Pathmark closing next month more business should come.
A look at the old 90's decor...
Hoping the same decor from the new Bryn Mawr store is going in here. Still seems to early too tell for sure. I've been concerned they were going to bring the decor package from the Albersons LLC stores over to Acme. It's not a good one and it's filled with the dreaded Alberstons leaf.
Willingboro will be covered again once the remodel is done. This is a classic example of why I do not publish "This store is closing", "That store is closing" comments on the blog. Willingboro has been written of a hundred times over. And now it's being remodeled! Certainly appears that the new owners are committed to Acme's survival.
For the original Willingboro post, please click here.
P.S.: Acme Style will be up and running again the first week in September!
Alright! Hoping that Acme has finally recuperated from the virus that is SuperValu and is now feeding hot bowls of chicken soup to its' stores. Willingboro, after having a makeover to celebrate the 4th of July, is now getting a brand new wardrobe. Good for them. Cerberus actually seems competent in the grocery business.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear of this as I know a few people that count on that store being there so this is good news. Hopefully Acme figures out what they will do in Burlington with the Walmart in the same plaza being converted to a Super Walmart, I don't think that store has a chance. Mt. Holly Has the Albertsons Market Place Decor, but needs new floor tiles and cieling tiles as many are water stained.
ReplyDeleteI work at the one at 20th and Oregon in S Philly and the remodel is starting there on Sept 1st I am told. They are already changing aisles (shorting/lengthening)and moving merchandise in preparation.
ReplyDeleteThe big change will be in the form of a cafe type area at the front of the store where the customer service is now. Alcohol will sold there at it's own register.
Also all the departments are being redone. 1.5 mil is set to be spent here.
10th and Reed is also set to be redone to the tune of a mere million.
And yes business has gone up significantly. I've been working here for five years and never seen the parking lot this full! People are actually leaving with carts loaded up now just like Shoprite versus just a year ago when they just had a couple of things.
In some instances You can find things that are lower priced(!!) than Shoprite. But it seems that most of the hurt is being put on Pathmark/Superfresh. They seem to be in the spot Acme was in not too long ago.
I really had my doubts about a private equity firm after reading about cases involving other companies but they do seem to be the giving the stores the care they deserve(or at least getting customers back).
Thanks For the info! I figured if Willingboro was getting remodeled, there were many other stores getting improved as well.
DeleteThe Acme in Middletown DE business is now up to [dollar amount removed] Range from the [dollar amount removed] Range. It is now listed as and opportunity store, with a Walmart at the other side of the town. The stories of closing, that Shop Rite is buying the lease etc are just that sories. The company is ab out to spend some cash on this location They are also moving the booze separtment in two a vacant store next to the Easton Md, Acme. Opening a first a company liquor store. This to was a rumor mill store,that is now doing a little less then the Middletown store is doing. This company is here for the long run.
ReplyDeleteI deleted the sales figures that were provided in this comment. I do not allow stores' current sales figures to be posted on the blog. According to Anonymous, the Middletown store is experiencing a significant increase in business.
DeleteThe Newtown Square (Delaware County, NOT Newtown Bucks County) PA store was remodeled sometime in the last year, in preparation of Giant opening down the street which will be this winter. What is really odd is that Giant is spending a lot of money to fix up the empty Genuardi's in Newtown Square which closed way back in 2010, about a year and a half before it was announced the Genuardi's chain would be dissolved, and Giant would buy lots of the Genuardi's to shut them down for a few weeks for remodels before grand reopenings.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Rite Aid (which used to be a Woolworth, then a Thrift Drug, then Eckerd before finally Rite Aid) in the Acme shopping center in Newtown Square is moving to a new store across the street with a drive-thru pharmacy, on the site of a former Chevrolet dealership. A small True Value Hardware store takes up the other half of the former Woolworth. Unfortunately, the Rite Aid isn't directly next to the Acme, because this Acme is on the small side (although not as small as it once was) and Acme could use an expansion. This Acme currently doesn't have a pharmacy, but perhaps only because Rite Aid had a lease agreement preventing a competing pharmacy from being in the plaza.
The Acme was heavily remodeled in the 90's though, right after the Genuardi's opened down the street in 1995, so it had the chance to add a pharmacy. This store once had a large floral department and a Citizens Bank but they were both removed around 2002 to make room for a state-owned liquor store that opens into the Acme. Ironically, the very first state liquor store in Newtown Square was directly next to the Acme in its original incarnation, when all liquor was sold behind the counter in PA stores. In 1978, a self-service liquor store was built at the other end of the shopping center to replace this one, and the Acme expanded into what used to be the liquor store, a laundromat, and the original Thrift Drug in the center (when it moved to the former Woolworth space) to make the store a Super Saver. The 1978 store still operates despite the newer, brighter store inside Acme. And I am almost positive the current Rite Aid will become a liquor store to replace both of these, which will make room for Acme to finally add a pharmacy of their own.
Here's something really weird: a Lowe's was scheduled to be built behind the Genuardi's a few years ago, and this was announced in the local papers. But the store never happened. Lowe's however did end up building a store in Upper Darby (about five miles east) less than a year ago, which happens to be next to a Giant which was also built from scratch. I suppose this Lowe's takes the place of the one that was supposed to be in Newtown Square. Amazingly Giant didn't take the opportunity to open where Lowe's cancelled their store, even though the Giant planned for the former Genuardi's will only be 40,000 square feet at the largest! Most newer Giants are 65,000-75,000 square feet, and they have stores as large as 100,000 square feet in some places. The Lowe's would have been perfect for the fairly new Super Giant prototype, and in fact the Super Giant in Willow Grove used to be a Home Depot that moved. Maybe the True Value in half of the ex-Woolworth will move to where Lowe's was supposed to be. The Genuardi's/Giant would be a decent size for a True Value, and double the size of the current one in Newtown Square, but True Value would be a poor fit for the very upscale shopping center, although it would seem to be perfect for the Lowe's site. A nursery/greenhouse store known as "Mostardi's" (hey it rhymes with Genuardi's) is already nearby, and could perhaps move to be attached to a new True Value.
I was just in the Exton PA store, and let me tell you that store needs some help!
ReplyDelete