Location: 415 Egg Harbor Rd, Washington Twp, NJ
This week, we're back in New Jersey! Still working on getting this state finished up. Less than 10 store to go. All open ones, of course. The jury is still out if I'll ever get all the former New Jersey Acmes covered on the blog. Once New Jersey is done, I plan on finally shifting focus to the Philadelphia stores!
Today we're visiting the Sewell Acme, which also goes by Washington Township. It's funny because I have never known this store to be anything BUT Sewell. Then I stepped into the foyer only to see "Welcome to your Washington Township Acme". Those location swticheroos seem to happen more often than not.
The 90's model you're seeing here is a replacement store for a 70's Acme located just next door. According to the historic aerials, the new store arrived sometime after 1995. Around the same time, a Super G opened practically across the street. In the mid-2000's, ShopRite would acquire that location. The Acme must have held up well having received the Premium Fresh and Healthy remodel in recent years. Unlike store in Feasterville and Burlington, it did not reveice the deluxe package. The version here lacks the back-lit department signs, new lighting and new flooring. That said, the overall atmosphere of the store is very nice despite a far too heavy use of the Albersons leaf.
The addition of the small and simple awnings really give the towers a very nice look! Red apples in the windows almost always a sign that the interior is some version of the Premium Fresh and Healthy concept. The Lincroft store is one excpetion. It has the red apples and white Acme signage but continues to sport the Chalkboard Marketplace decor. That store did receive the drum pendant lights which are often found in PF&H stores. No drum pendant lights here.
Produce is over on the left side but I'm showing the entrance on the right as we head in for a tour. I'm always fascinated by how the "welcome" signage can go so painfully wrong. The letters here don't all match and "ACME" seems to be floating away.
The Woodstown store has a similar, yet more successful, treatment.
So this is the second round of the Premium Fresh and Healthy decor package. As I mentioned in the Glen Mills post, the remodels started using a color scheme similar to what we saw in the Glen Mills store.
The unfortunately aspect of this remodel package are the Alberstons leaves. They've gone from being large, somewhat abstract elements, to just plain old leaves stuck to the walls.
Produce windows have been squared off here and a flat drop ceiling has replaced the arches that once ran through the department.
It's unfortunately they didn't keep the backlit department signs going. The bakery kinda gets lost along this wall.
Blury shot of the center aisle. Notice there are no aisle markers hanging from the ceiling.
The original 90's floor is still in place.
Compare Sewell to the above image from Burlington which has the original decor package. Certainly a more expensive treatment with nearly every element of the department getting renovated.
Made a quick stop in the restroom and came across this old sign.
Looks like someone thought the "p" was supposed to be uppercase. It's not. They got it right in Burlington…
Very nice floral department!
More letters that don't seem to match each other. I don't mean to pick on such trivial things but how hard is it to get letters that match?
I discovered the original Acme once I began preparing the aerial images for the post. I did not know about it the day I was here.
The front of the original Acme is completely redone. There are more clues around back...
The old and the new.
Looks like the Produce windows have apples. I should have swung around the side for a closer look. I've been making fast work of my store visits lately to get as many stores photographed as possible.
Acme and ShopRite have been coexisting here for nearly a decade now.
2007
2002
1995
The original Acme still standing in 1995.
1970
A parting shot of the store with the Washington Township water tower in the background.
Since you mention the location name confusion, is there any chance that the township/locality division lines run through the plaza?
ReplyDeleteI know there is one area here where that happened when a plaza was built, trying to figure out exactly where the town line was asto who got taxes, provided fire coverage etc. Turns out the line was in the middle of the plaza, so parts of it are in both towns. Which means that if Acme built next to it's old store, they could have actually changed towns.
It also looks a bit like the name part of the welcome sign was perhaps changed at some point (as the your washington township looks darker in color) - that might also explain that mismatch?
That's a possibility although if that was the case I would think "your" would match "welcome" and "ACME". MIght have also started out like the sign at Feasterville…
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I live in Washington Township. The township doesn't have it's own post office, because there are two other Washington Townships in NJ.
DeleteSo the township is instead divided up into several sections & assigned a city for it's post office, this section just so happens to use the Sewell post office. Other sections use Turnersville, Blackwood, and Grenloch, but it's all the same actual Town.
Yelp lists both the Acme and the ShopRite as Sicklerville, NJ. This may be something like Millburn/Short Hills (where Short Hills is just a neighborhood of Millburn Twp) or Whippany/Hanover (where Whippany is a neighborhood of Hanover).
DeleteDid you happen to visit the Shop Rite/former Super G store? I'd be curious to know if it has any of the original Super G interior. The former Super G now Shop Rite in Cherry Hill had an almost complete original Super G interior up until late 2013 when the completed a massive renovation. I took a few pictures in late 2012 that I have in my flickr photostream. Had I known they had a big renovation planned I would have gone back for more sooner. I don't live in the area so I'm only there very, very infrequently.
ReplyDeleteI did not go into the ShopRite. It didn't cross my mind that it may still have the Super G interior.
DeleteIm not sure, It may have it but they may of put their own shop rite department name signage, like how they did to the Ex-Genaurdi's in Bensalem, Pa and the Ex-Super Fresh in Fairless Hills, PA
DeleteThere were two Acmes at one time in Washington Twp, this one in the Sewell section, and another in the Turnersville section. When they built the Cross Keys Commons strip mall off the Black Horse Pike in the 90s, it included an Acme and a non-supercenter Walmart. Acme did fairly well, until they renovated the Walmart into a SuperWalmart. Acme went out of business and a ROSS is now in its place. you can still see the loading dock if you walk behind the stores.
ReplyDeleteThey couldn't have gotten the "p" lowercase because of the wall trim right there
ReplyDeleteThey did successfully use a lowercase Y in "pharmacy", though, and I can't imagine that the P is much longer than the Y.
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