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suspect the Wine & Spirits Superstore on City Ave (US 1) in Bala Cynwyd, PA (the other side of the street is Philadelphia) is either a former Acme or former A&P from the 50's or perhaps even earlier. Here are the only two photos of it I can find:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.loopnet.com/Listing/18010958 ... Cynwyd-PA/
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/17927969 ... Cynwyd-PA/
It's not too apparent from the street, but looking at the building from above in Google Maps, it seems to have the same features as the former Acme in Lambertville, NJ which opened in 1951 and was barely changed from the day it opened by the time it closed in 1997, other than the fact that the shopping carts were all replaced sometime in the 60's or 70's, and impressively were never replaced again. Yes, this store had a classic Acme tower as seen in this photo of a mystery location Acme: http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot. ... 1950s.html
Also, the shape of the Wine & Spirits Superstore inside reminds me of the former A&P in the heart of New Orleans (French Quarter) built in 1930-1931, which stayed an A&P until 2002! The store continues today as a locally-owned Rouses supermarket, but still has a delightful mix of A&P architectural and decor elements from over the decades.
Acme has had a store in Bala Cynwyd since at least the early 80's, when they bought the former Penn Fruit from 1955 there. This Acme moved to a new spot in the same shopping center sometime in the late 80's and was given a major remodel by Albertsons in 2000. A Starbucks was added at that point, which was later replaced by a Seattle's Best Coffee (owned by Cinnabon), which was in recent years replaced by a Bucks County Coffee.
Food Fair once had a store in Bala Cynwyd which I suspect became a Pathmark which was replaced by the current one in Bala Cynwyd, but I'm not sure about that. The current Wine & Spirits Superstore has been several different tenants over the years, including an American Appliance, a Block Jewelers, and a Dollarland (where I really could feel a former Acme/A&P vibe). Do you recall any supermarkets at this site, or Pathmark being where Food Fair was? I would love to know because Bala Cynwyd is my favorite Philly suburb out of the dozens of them.
There was a 70s/80s Acme in Philadelphia which is paired with a Big KMart.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, The acme is a supreme(Supremo) food market. The Big KMart is still open.
Sorry that the links to the pictures of the Bala Cynwyd site got corrupted. This link should work: http://s.lnimg.com/photo/full/8b92683f78ce4cf48cd60429fe62127a.jpg
ReplyDeleteInteresting development just in late December... the Foodtown in Colonia (Inman Ave.) which was built in the late 60's as a Grand Union, ended up under another Foodtown group in the late 70's and in the late 80's became one of 8 stores owned by Food Circus Supermarkets (the Azzolino & Scadduto families) was sold to Nicholas Markets Foodtown, the Maniaci family, who own Foodtowns in North Haledon, Cedar Grove and possibly 1 in Paterson on West Broadway? I wonder if this is a signal that Food Circus might sell out the remaining 7 stores they own to Stop&Shop just like Norkus family did. All the stores are in Monmouth and Ocean Cty. They're as follows: Atlantic Highlands, Port Monmouth/Middletown, Ocean Twsp., Red Bank, Sea Girt, Belmar & Toms River. Lots of M&A activity is expected as the supermarket industry continues its consolidation in 2014. We may see A&P become part of the Cerberus supermarket group in 2014...
ReplyDeleteDid the NYSC (New York Sports Club) in Colonia start out as a Food Fair/Pantry Pride? It sure looks like one, and I suspect the Jo-Ann Fabrics which is the other anchor to the center was once a Woolworth or perhaps a similar five and dime store. Also, it appears to have been a Cloth World fabric store before Jo-Ann.
ReplyDeleteIt would be ballsy if Stop & Shop tried, for a third time, to run successful stores in South Jersey. They first built in the 70's (many of them in the form of Bradlees-Stop & Shop combo units)...and then sold them all to A&P, Kings and Foodtown in the 80's. Then they, again, tried to penetrate the South Jersey market with the conversion of the Giant/Super G units in the 90's and ended up selling them all to ShopRite operators in the 2000's. They also have built stores from the ground up like the one outside Red Bank in Shrewsbury which crashed and burned in the early 2000's. The Dutch are known for being stubborn, but this is a bit ridiculous. Maybe they figure with a weakened Acme and A&P/Pathmark, and that jazzy, euro-fruitbowl thing they've got going, they have better odds. Plus, with the closure of all the New Hampshire stores, Stop & Shop possibly has nowhere else to go.
ReplyDelete"...and that jazzy, euro-fruitbowl thing they've got going" That is hilarious Dave! I always say… no matter how many hundreds of fruit-bowl icons they put on the walls of their stores, it ain't ever gonna be Target's target. They seem to be under the impression that it will. Fortunately, the new decor package their using now is nearly fruit-bowl free.
DeleteDave, I agree... Stop&Shop, for all its 'firepower' & cash behind it, has not put out a very competitive format to gain on ShopRites dominance here in metro NY/NJ. They (S&S) cleaned up the 5 Norkus Foodtowns but only 2 might be profitable, Raintree/Freehold & Neptune, as W. Long Branch, Manalapan & Pt. Pleasant are small stores in lousy locations. If anyone put some money into A&P/Pathmark, they would easily knock out S&S... if Cerberus continues this unbelievable turnaround of Albertson's, they no doubt would do wonders for A&P!
DeleteStop & Shop seems to put on a better front on Long Island, thanks to a few things:
Delete1) ShopRite is somewhat of a fringe player as opposed to a huge behemoth as it is in other parts of NY/NJ. There's only 9 LI locations.
2) Excluding some parts of Nassau County, Stop & Shop's stores are pretty modern and compare favorably to other competitors. There are no WM supercenters to siphon business on LI as of yet, there's no Wegmans...when your main competitor is two different flavors of A&P, it's like running a footrace against people with no legs.
Great observation and comment! I think one good move that Stop&Shop made (pre Royal Ahold) is when they purchased Mel Weitz FoodTown's on Long Island, there were roughly 22-24 stores when S&S bought them... at that same time, Royal Ahold bought Mayfair Foodtowns in NJ and then a year later, Royal Ahold bought S&S, so they do have a better following on LI. Should Wegman's expand on LI, that would put a hurting on S&S...
DeleteI'm not sure how many of the S&S Foodtown locations are still left on LI. I know quite a few of them have been closed and/or replaced. At the same time, that and the GU deal allowed them to get a foot in the door until they could deploy their more modern stores and bust out remodels for existing stores.
DeleteWow--there were only 4 ShopRite stores on Long Island just a few years ago. I didn't realize there were 9 now. I would love to see Wakefern courting the Cullens family about joining the coop. King Kullen is a great operator, but their pricing is high--about where Acme was during SuperValu days....and they have been closing stores and losing market share lately. The pricing power that Wakefern could provide, along with their local flavor and family-ownership and would give them a great shot at going up against S&S, Walmart and the inevitable arrival of Wegmans. If they wait until Waldbaums goes out, they likely will be dealing with Wakefern anyway...except as a strong competitor instead of a partner/supplier.
ReplyDeleteI just can't see them giving up their name. Not sure if maybe Wakefern would make an exception and let them keep their name, in exchange for a 40-store foothold in some of the country's most affluent neighborhoods. ...or maybe some sort of branding compromise like what they did for Klein's in Maryland or Grade A in Connecticut.
Other than that, I don't see how else these stores will be able to survive once weak competitors like Waldbaums are replaced by better-merchandised competitors.
They already are reeling. KK is closing their Patchogue store, which is in one of the more competitive supermarket towns on LI. A few S&S's, Shoprite, Pathmark, Waldbaums, and some independents made that store a ghost town. Plus, for as big boxy as Gateway Plaza is, King Kullen didn't fit. I could see this as a good place to deploy a Walmart Neighborhood Market. Target and Aldi are also opening stores within the vicinity (Target also has a store pretty close in Medford).
DeleteAs for Wegmans, I'm not entirely certain that they will be coming. For whatever reason, they want to focus on NJ and MA. I'd think it would be a no-brainer to establish stores on LI, as there are very few things that even compare to the hype of Wegmans.
Will the former Acme in Lansdale PA go up on the blog the day after MLK day? I wonder because in the post about elephants at that store last year, it said it would be covered soon but that was a while ago.
ReplyDeleteHaven't been there yet. I wound up switching focus to NJ stores recently since I'm very close to having all the open stores represented on the blog. I may hit Lansdale on my next road trip which is happening soon.
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ReplyDeleteQuestion regarding the Rite Aid in Waldwick, NJ which just went through a massive renovation (which is one of the nicest Rite Aid’s I’ve ever been in.) This location has been through a series of multiple changes and renovations since 1990. This was a Genovese Drug store which later became Eckerd then to present day Rite Aid. However, before that it was home to supermarkets such as Pathmark and ShopRite but I also read somewhere (which I can no longer find) that an Acme was there briefly. Anyone know the full history of this store as I believe it was built in the late 50’s/early 60’s.
ReplyDeleteshocked about Acme closing 2 stores because or not renewing the lease. Is it cheaper to lease the stores, rather than owning them?
ReplyDelete