Location: 2625 Morris Ave, Union, NJ
Today's much delayed post has us making a return to the former Acmes of Union, New Jersey. The original Union post featured limited coverage of the former Magie Ave location with only one aerial view of the former Acme here on Morris Ave. At the time, I wasn't aware that an Acme was ever located in this building. There are virtually no clues left behind. Acme left this location in 1968 little more than 10 years after opening. Since then the building has been expanded several times but remained relatively small due to the limitations of the property.
I made a visit to this store shortly after learning it was within days of closing. A replacement store was due to open over on Route 22 in an extensively renovated, former Pathmark. And not a moment to soon. This ShopRite was sorely outdated. The interior here, which we will tour below, leaves a lot to be desired to put it mildly. That's not to say there aren't some interesting things to be seen inside.
One of the only clues I thought I found were the columns here on the right side of the store. Pretty standard issue for Acmes of the 50's. You can see some examples here and here. Thing is, this side of the building was expanded long after the Acme left. The columns may have been included here to match a portion of the left side which remains intact since the Acme days.
No signs of an Acme ever being here from the font of the store.
Again, some classic looking Acme columns on this side. On this side, the front half of the building is original with the back half being an expansion. If you look closely, you can see the slight difference in color of the front and back half.
In we go...
I've been in some ShopRites that were a little round around the edges but this takes the cake. Have to say, the interior looks better in these photos than it did in person.
Bakery is there in the front corner just to the right of the entrance. Hard to tell though. There is ZERO department signage in the store. Zero decor as well.
An odd alcove here in the right, running between the Bakery and Seafood in the back corner.
Looking up towards the entrance. The floor doesn't lack for pizazz as we'll see over in the grocery aisles. I imagine there used to be signage on the walls at some point. Who knows why it was all removed.
Looking along the back of the store. There are "Village Market" signs hanging above the meat cases.
Check this out! The same aisle signs used in Acmes in the 70's and 80's! I've seen another ShopRite with a blue version. Acme's cream colored signs can be seen below in the former Mantua store.
Some intense checkerboard patterns in the grocery aisles.
Some old cases, some new cases. The floor has seen better days.
Dairy here along the left wall of the building.
Floral in the front corner.
A look across the front-end and what do you see off in the distance?
The SAME clock Acme had in its stores in the 70's and 80's! Mounted to the wall here where as Acme's were usually hung from the ceiling. Below is a look a the clock in the Manasquan store...
Acme's clock included the fish-eye logo. ShopRite's clock has no logo.
I'm not sure of the exact closing date here. The new store opened on April 29th with a grand opening celebration on May 4th.
The aerial image above illustrates the location of the original building. Not sure if the small section on the left was part of the Acme or a separate store. Either way, this would have been a relatively small Acme for the 50's, especially considering the size of the property.
Historic Aerials…
2007
2002
1995
Expansions to the left side and rear were complete by 1995.
1987
The right side had been expanded by 1987 but not the left side.
1979
1970
Acme is looking abandoned here with possibly some activity at the small portion on the left side which may have been another store.
1966
1954
The map above shows the old store jumping South to its new location at 2401 Route 22.
A photo from flickr showing the former Pathmark being transformed into the new ShopRite. News12 covered the opening of the store which you can view by clicking here. You can visit the official website for the store by clicking here. There is a photo gallery at the bottom of the page which includes some photos of the new store still under construction.
Time now for the other former Acme of Union...
Union Acme images courtesy of Rob Ascough
Location: 1319 Magie Ave Union, NJ
The Acme located on Magie Avenue faired much better than the Morris Avenue store. This location opened in February 1956 and lasted through October 2006. As you can see, it has since been converted to a CVS, a fate that is pretty common to former Acmes of the 50's and 60's. Interesting to note, the Magie Ave store closed the same day the new Freehold and Marlboro stores bit the dust.
Rob's classic pictures were included in the original post but at that time I had not visited and photographed the CVS that took its place. This ancient Acme did receive the block-letter logo as well as the Checkerborad Arch decor. With only 6 aisles, it is one of the smallest Acmes to survive well into the 2000's.
A quick look inside. The place was completely gutted and redone. Nice to see a CVS with a straight shot to the back of the store.
Same columns along the side of the building as we saw at the Morris Ave building.
Aerial views of the abandoned Acme were still available when I put together the original post.
Rob's classic pictures were included in the original post but at that time I had not visited and photographed the CVS that took its place. This ancient Acme did receive the block-letter logo as well as the Checkerborad Arch decor. With only 6 aisles, it is one of the smallest Acmes to survive well into the 2000's.
A quick look inside. The place was completely gutted and redone. Nice to see a CVS with a straight shot to the back of the store.
Same columns along the side of the building as we saw at the Morris Ave building.
Aerial Images...
Aerial views of the abandoned Acme were still available when I put together the original post.
2007
2002
1995
1987
Big crowd in 1987! No parking available along the sides of the building.
1979
1970
1966
1954
ACME must have been in the shoprite store until the '90's considering the "thank you for shopping with us" sign in the clock matches the ones ACME had.
ReplyDeleteThe Morris Ave Acme closed in 1968. The clocks were not exclusive to the Acme chain.
DeleteI found a Acme clock in the Denville Foodtown. It had the old Foodtown logo from the 70's, 80's ,and early 90's on it. The store itself hasnt been remodeled since the 70's and has freezer cases that can barely work anymore! VERY cool bonus store :)
DeleteThat store has been on my radar for a few years now but I have yet to get there! Thanks for the details of the interior. They'll definitely get the store moved to "priority" status.
DeleteAttention Acme Style Blogger - Is it your hunch that the checkerboard floors are vestiges left over from the days when the building was an Acme, or are they just erringly similar to what Shop-Rite used?
ReplyDeleteNope. While the floor isn't in great shape, it's certainly not 50+ years old. Plus, it extends into areas of the store that were added on long after the Acme left.
DeleteAttention SuperSaver81 -- Do you have a picture of that cool Foodtown clock? I live right near an old Foodtown in Toms River and agree that it has a lot of vintage character. It might be a subject for a different blog!
ReplyDeleteThe similarity of Acme clocks to ShopRite clocks here reminded me of a question that really has been hurting my brain. ShopRite recently bought a very small Philadelphia supermarket chain called The Fresh Grocer. I was at one of their stores in West Philadelphia recently. Really strange is that a very large room (not accessible from the outside except by an emergency exit) is tucked against the middle of the front wall to the store. It right now is being used as a room to showcase clearance items, which were mostly Easter items on the day of my visit. What's weird is that walls separate this room from the rest of the store, and sliding automatic doors (which were parked in the open position the day of my visit) must be passed through between it and the rest of the store. I saw a very faded (or was it painted over?) and unreadable square symbol on the door to this room with the words "in the public interest" below it. What was this the slogan for? I'm thinking a bank was here and knowing who this slogan belongs to would almost certainly identify the former tenant. Or could the slogan be for Code Adam, the child-abduction prevention program used by many retailers? There were lots of security cameras inside this unusual compartment of the ShopRite, and a very loud chime would ring every time anyone would go in or out. I also must say this room had the feel of a post office, and some grocery stores do have post offices in them, but I doubt this actually was one.
ReplyDelete