IS Getting Better!
Location: 2497 Brunswick Avenue/Route 1, Lawrenceville NJ
Work is underway at the Lawrenceville Acme! As previously reported on the blog, Acme has recently signed a long-term lease for this location and the shopping center is about to undergo a major renovation of its own. What is not happening here is a full-scale remodel. The somewhat tired looking Chalkboard Market decor is remaining in place. Seems like it would be rather easy to remodel this store from a decor perspective. Most of the cases have been updated in recent years and the floor is in relatively good shape. Perhaps a remodel will happen once work on the shopping center begins, which at this point, has yet to begin.
First "improvement" underway... removal of self-checkouts! Personally, I love self-checkouts so I don't see this as an improvement. The company is giving the standard explanation for this change by saying they want customers to have more interaction with the employees. It is generally believed that stores yank the self-checkouts out to curb shoplifting. As recently reported under September Discussions, Acme is removing the self-checkouts from all of their stores.
More views of the front-end under transformation...
One huge change to happen here is the removal of the last grocery aisle. This change does make a big difference in the Dairy aisle which was once as narrow as could be. See below...
The last aisle used to be very tight. While it is great to now have extra room in the last aisle, the selection in the already smaller-than-usual-store must have taken a bit of a hit. To make up for some of the loss, 2 mini-aisles were added over in Produce for health foods and Heath and Beauty has been reconfigured for more shelving...
The direction of the aisles have been switched here. Floor tiles still need to be replaced.
I believe shampoo was moved from the grocery aisles to the former "Vitamin Center", which you can see below. In the photo above, you can see some old tiles right under the shelve. They appear to form a checkerboard pattern as if they were left over from the 80's but they are alternating between blue and red which doesn't make much sense.
Above is a photo of how this area used to be arranged.
Looks as though the "Photo" portion of Customer Service is getting the boot. Couldn't quite tell for sure. In person, it looks like this area is being prepped for removal.
One final look at the deluxe Frozen Food cases. These have been in place for a while now. They date back to June 2013 when the store had it's full Acme Style treatment which you can check out by clicking here.
I did not know Acme was planning to remove ALL self checkouts. This is a big "no no" in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI almost always use self-checkouts. I rarely patronize stores that force me through a traditional checkout.
It's the main reason why I don't step foot into a ShopRite unless I absolutely have to. The ShopRites around me have no self-checkouts and the lines at their staffed registers are the absolute slowest in the world.
DeleteThe only Shop Rite I occasionally stop at (East Norriton PA; former Gaint-Landover) DOES have self checkouts.
DeleteWegmans was forced to add self checkouts a few years back when their market research showed that people under 35 overwhelmingly preferred to use a self checkout. I am 34 & conveniently feel the same way!
The ShopRites here in Delaware have self-checkouts, up to twelve per store. The Klein's Shoprites in Maryland (formerly served by Supervalu) do not have self-checkout.
DeleteAll the BJs Wholesale Clubs here have them as well.
Interesting that Acme has chosen to remove them. I hope they will have at least two express lines open during peak periods. Not everyone is doing a full stock up shopping trip. Some people just want to grab a few things and get on their way.
It's hard to know if they're going to remove them from all stores. The recently remodeled Devon store kept their self-checkouts while 10th and Reed lost their's during the remodel there.
DeleteThere are so many employees at the store i work at that usually work at self checkout.. It Will be dissapointing seeing self checkout not there anymore If it certainly is true... Interested in finding out if they'll put in more registers as a result...
ReplyDeleteYou accidentally referred to the Chalkboard Market decor as Chalkboard Arch; you got it mixed up with Manasquan's decor.
ReplyDeleteThanks, fixed!
DeleteNot sure if you've seen these already, but Dan Asnis has pictures on his Flickr page of the Lawrenceville Acme with Premium Fresh & Healthy 3. Looks like they did change the decor!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I've been to the store and have it photographed. Pictures will be going up in the next week or two.
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