Have an off-topic comment or question and don't know where to post it? You're troubles are over. Going forward, there will be a "Discussions" post published on the blog the first day of each month. Any supermarket related comment or question you have can be posted here for others to see. These posts will be tagged with a "Discussions" label which will appear in the directory along the right side of the blog. You'll be able to click the link to quickly jump to all of the monthly discussion posts. While this won't work quite like a forum or message board, I hope it will be a suitable way for off-topic conversations to happen on the blog. So let the fun begin…
Could the former Shop N Bag in Pennsauken which may have been destroyed by fire at some point between 1987 and 1997 have been a Food Fair/Pantry Pride? Or what about the other Shop N Bag in Pennsauken north on Crescent Boulevard (US 130) from this site which is still open? Acme/Super Saver, A&P, and Penn Fruit were all represented in Pennsauken, and Food Fair/Pantry Pride is the only "Big 4" Philly supermarket chain that could have been missing. There certainly was a fire on the same property as the one store, but it may have survived and be the current Dollar General building. If not, a Hoyts cinema was built on the site, which closed and now is partly a Harbor Freight Tools store.
ReplyDeleteAnother Loehmann's store in Greater Philadelphia (now closed, only survived locally by the one in Moorestown, NJ not far from Pennsauken) was the one next to the Food Fair/Pantry Pride in the Drexel Hill section of Upper Darby PA, which makes me think Food Fair/Pantry Pride had an agreement with Loehmann's of some sort to locate together. There currently is a Loehmann's in Falls Church, Virginia (near Washington DC) which is next to a Super G, who bought a number of stores from Acme in Baltimore sometime in the 80's. I'm thinking Super G also bought stores from Acme in DC, and maybe some of these former Acmes in both cities were originally Food Fair/Pantry Pride.
Might the other current Shop N Bag in Pennsauken, in a former Kmart building, be owned by the same Thriftway/Shop N Bag franchisee who owned the store that burned down? According to a 1987 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the manager of the old store at that time was named Jim Burke.
I was wondering... could the Super G in Falls Church, VA be a former Acme and also possibly a former Food Fair/Pantry Pride? Also, might the Total Wine in Cherry Hill, NJ be a former Acme and maybe a former Penn Fruit? The Dollar General in Pennsauken, NJ which was a Shop N Bag also I think may have been a Food Fair/Pantry Pride, then Acme, and I believe this Shop N Bag was owned by the same management as the one down the street which opened at a former Kmart site in 2002, a few years after the older Shop N Bag closed when its shopping center had been devastated by a fire.
ReplyDeleteThe Giant in Falls Church, VA that you refer to is in Loehman's Plaza. About 5 years ago the entire shopping center was renovated and reconfigured. At that time Loehmans moved from where Giant is now to a new location further down the strip. Giant then built the current store from scratch to replace two smaller stores. One was at Gallows Road and US 50 just inside the Beltway and the other was just west of Seven Corners on US 50. Prior to Loehmans at the current Giant site was a Consumers Co-op Supermarket that was originally a Kroger as a part of their short lived 1960s DC expansion.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 questions. Theres a Former Acme in Philadelphia that is now under the shop n bag brand: Surpreme Food Market: The peoples choice next to KMart. And in Levittown, Pa Theres a Acme that is in a original location but it appears to have been expanded and now turned into a Acme Sav-on
ReplyDeleteThe Levittown just so happens to be the next store going up on the blog. It opened in that spot in 1956 and has been expanded twice. If you go to the aerial images on bing maps you can see there roof line of the original store.
DeleteHow about the new ShopRite of Morristown in Hanover, NJ--with a smokehouse, oyster bar, patisserie, Fitness Center and lots more? People cannot stop talking about it. It is meant to lessen the impact of North Jersey's first Wegman's, but the Morris Plains Acme is a mile away. Its days are undoubtedly numbered...
ReplyDeleteThe new ShopRite of Morristown is extraordinary in both scope and size, even dwarfing the huge Parsippany location. Sadly, it will result in the closing of the Morris Plains Acme and of the Cedar Knolls Foodtown (which actually was a Stop & Shop from 1973-82). This new ShopRite is a replacement for the classic Morris Plains location.
DeleteSpeaking of Morristown, I am still so sad over the impending loss of my beloved Centennial A&P. I'm sure that it would have struggled mightily against the new Shoprite, however. Furthermore, I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that A&P's days as a whole are most likely numbered.
I'm not convinced the Morris Plains Acme will be driven out of business. While the ShopRite will have a significant impact, Acme's convenient location right in the center of town may be enough to keep it going.
DeleteOld A&P can of nuts
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.billlawrenceonline.com/2013/11/22/eating-nuts-means-healthy-life.aspx
Unrelated, I read that someone found a black widow spider in a Giant store near Monoghan.
Anyone check out the new Weis in Huntingdon Valey, PA? I stopped in today and was fairly impressed. Although the interior is a little bland, the prices seemed very reasonable, they have a lot of 'to go' food options (including a very large beer section!), and store was very very busy (of course, it's new and it's almost Thanksgiving, so time will tell if they are able to keep it up). This is definitely going to have an impact on the nearby Warminster Acme. (Which is mainly frequented by seniors from a nearby complex..but Weis seems to be offering a senior discount on Wednesdays to lure them in).
ReplyDeleteThe plaza where Total Wine is was built around 1985, after Pantry Pride stopped operating in the Northeast. Pantry Pride had a store nearby at Church and Lenape Roads from 1971 until they went bankrupt; after they closed it was eventually expanded and reopened as a Pathmark, which closed this year. Before that there was a Food Fair/Pantry Pride in the Cherry Hill Mall from 1961 to 1971.
ReplyDeleteI think the store at Loehmann's Plaza was originally a ShopRite. The store on 130 near Browning Road has always been a Shop n Bag or some other franchise or independent operation, never a major chain. Both of those opened in the early or mid-'70s.
There were Food Fair locations reachable from parts of Pennsauken even if they didn't have a store in the township. In Camden there was one next to the old Sears on Admiral Wilson Boulevard; it eventually became a liquor store and was torn down in recent times. One at 27th and Federal Streets in Camden was occupied by Sonnenberg's Mattress City when it was destroyed by a fire caused by an 8-year-old boy in 1987. The Teamsters union hall on 130 next to the Speedline tracks in Collingswood was a Food Fair, although it may not have lasted long as one; it was vacant for several years in the '60s, then was a temporary Kiddie City after the toy chain had a fire in their Airport Circle store.
stunned that ACME closed 2 stores. I'm shocked they chose not to renew the leases of the 2 stores.
ReplyDelete