Former Acme – Hamburg, Pennsylvania

Classic photos courtesy of John from WISL1480.com

Location: 700 South 4th Street, Hamburg, PA

Another 50's styled Acme to feast our eyes on thanks to John and his travels around Pennsylvania! This is another extraordinary find. As you can see right off the bat, the store hasn't changed much since opening in May 16, 1960. It is looking a little sad and run down in the photo above but when we move in for a closer look, you can see much of the exterior is freshly painted and has been well maintained.


Looking much better here. It's really the brick wall across the front that is showing it's age so badly. Perhaps a good power wash could freshen it up.


This building is nearly identical to the abandoned Woodstown store. You can see the awning is an exact match...




The former bread delivery door is along the left side the Hamburg store. We'll head inside shortly.


The space looks to have been divided into two store fronts. Not sure what occupies this half of the store. Looks like the Salvation Army from the sign in the window.


The produce delivery doors converted to windows. Some sort of drop box has been added next to the original windows.


Additional windows and a couple of doors have been added along the side. The sides and back of the store have been cleaned up much better than the front.


Stairs have been added up to the compressor room doors. The beam over the door has apparently been removed. The former Brick Township store has a nearly identical back with the compressor beam still in place...

Loading docks still intact.


Heading around to the entrance...


Real carpets are likely covering up scars left by the magic carpets.




The former bread delivery door there in green.




The aisles of the Dollar General run parallel to the front of the store, the opposite way of Acme's aisles.




The interior has been renovated from floor to ceiling but still has that undeniable Acme-feel to it.




Along the back where the Meat Department used to be located.

Aerial Images… 

Notice the abandoned train cars behind the store.

A close-up of the rusting train.

Historic Images…

2008

2004

1968

1951

Thanks to John for the tour of another classic Acme location!

News Break:

Chestertown Acme expanding!

The 25,000 square foot, pitched-roof Acme in Chesterown, Maryland, will soon be expanded to 41,500 square feet! The fate of the pitched-roof interior is unknown but the roof will be covered over from the outside with a brand new facade. A rendering of the exterior upgrades can be seen by clicking here. An article with a few additional details can be found on MyEasterShoreMD.com by clicking here. The store is currently not featured on the blog but a few pictures are available over on flickr.

 Lawrenceville Acme signs
long-term lease!

Acme has signed a long-term lease extension at the Lawrenceville Shopping Center in New Jersey. It appears there are still no plans for the store to expand into the former CVS next door. Reports mention the lease renewal is for 42,000 square feet which seems to be the current e size of the store. The entire shopping center will soon undergo a facelift which will include improvements to the facade, signage and parking lot. We'll have to wait and see if Acme will renovate their space as improvements happen to the rest of the complex. The store was last renovated in the late 90's with the Chalkboard Marketplace package. It's definitely due for an update. You can check out the store by clicking here.

"With Safeway, Cerberus acquires
management talent"

A very interesting editorial by Mark Hamstra of SupermarketNews speculates that Alberstons is as interested in acquiring Safeway's management team as they are in acquiring the stores themselves. It is a fascinating read. He concludes the piece with…

"And although Safeway has left the Philadelphia area through its sale of its Genuardi’s banner, Albertsons’ Acme stores could eventually merge with Safeway’s presence in the Baltimore-Washington region. With Chicago closed down, Safeway Eastern is now the company’s smallest division with about 127 locations, but would nearly double that if it were to join forces with the 110-store Acme chain."

Jump over to the editorial by clicking here.

Acme is getting BETTER every day!

Acme has kicked off new low-price message in this week's circular. Gone is the "Card-Free Savings" message, replaced with "Acme getting BETTER every day". As I've mentioned before, I don't shop at Acme on regular basis as there are no stores in my area. Keeping an eye on the price situation is a little challenging for me. I do make a point now to do some shopping when I am out on my road trips because the sale prices have gotten really good. When Acme runs a special on coffee k-cups, you cannot find a lower price anywhere. Another example of a big price drop has been with Chobani greek yogurt. Acme used to feature it frequently as a "10 for $10" special. Lately they've had it on sale for 88¢. I do check the circular weekly and have notice that Alberstons has brought back a lot of Acme's fun, kitschy sales which were standard in the 80's and 90's. A few weeks ago they had a "loose change" sale where all the featured sale items were priced by the number of quarters required to purchase the items. At the very least, Acme is making efforts to differentiate itself from many of its competitors. Something that SuperValu flat out refused to do.

Here's a look at some screen grabs from this week circular. (The red color is not rendering properly on Acme's website which is why it's looking a little funky here.) You can view this week's circular by clicking here.






I really wish they would redesign their BOGO logo. It is awful. At the very least, grab the one used by Shaw's and Alberstons. It's about a million times better. Click here for a look.

Former Acme – Upland, Pennsylvania

Location: 851 Upland Ave, Upland, PA

Acme opened at this location in June 1967. Closing date unknown. The current tenant is Sam and Sam Meats. This is a former pitched-roof which is disguised by the facade. It is also undetectable  from the interior which you can see in the photos below...


A drop ceiling has been added inside and the flooring has been changed out. It appears that there have been several tenants over the years. There are no clues inside that this store was ever an Acme.




Notice the mix of tiling on the floor.


Gigantic parking lot! This section looks to have the original pavement.


The Acme parking lot sign is gone but the stump remains.

Aerial Views...

Cooling units are a recent addition to the left side of the store. You'll see that they are not present in two of these aerial images.




The back doesn't have any of the features normally seen on pitched-roof Acmes. I didn't venture around to the back to see if there were any scares to be seen.

Historic Images...

2008

The empty lot all the way to the right has been here since the shopping center was first built but has only recently been utilized. You can see up in the first aerial image that a building now stands in this area.

2002

1995

1971

1970

1965