CLIFTON ACME
CLOSES TODAY!
Time now for a final tour of the Clifton Acme. These pictures were taken on Monday. Very little merchandise remained in the store at the time. The store closes for good today.
Location: 467 Allwood Road, Clifton, NJ
Time now for a final tour of the Clifton Acme. These pictures were taken on Monday. Very little merchandise remained in the store at the time. The store closes for good today.
There was still some bread in the Bakery and a small selection of produce. They aren't kidding with the "we've lowered prices!" sign. Everything is 50% off!!
Both the regular and Kosher Delis were completely shut down.
Former home to the Bucks County Coffee. The department was removed last October., a change that was made most likely before the store was slated for closure. For a look at the former café, click here.
The self-checkouts survived until the end.
As mentioned in previous Clifton posts, this store offered a wide selection of Kosher items to appeal to the local community.
The Acme at Oregon and 19th is a virtual twin of this store. You can visit that location by clicking here.
Sad to see all the signage signaling Acme's turnaround still handing in this store.
Dairy was completely shut down.
Have to say my visit here this week was pretty bizarre. Back in 2004 when the store was just weeks away from opening I would occasiotnaly stop by at night to check on the progress. On one evening that I still remember very vividly, the entire interior was completed. Shelves, fixtures, registers signage all in place. Only thing missing was products on the shelves. This past Monday the store was virtually in the same condition, although this time it was getting ready to close... for good. Comments left on the blog have indicated that a sharp increase in rent is the main reason the store is closing. A comment just in this morning claims the rent had soared to $120,000 a month.
One quick look at the former Acme in Clifton...
1006 Route 46 West, Clifton, NJ
This location opened in 1959. As of Friday, Clifton will be without an Acme for the first time in 56 years.
Below is a map showing the locations of Acmes that existed in this part of New Jersey over the years. Granted, not all stores shown here were open at the same time, some stores were replacements of other, but it does give you an idea of the presence Acme once had in this area.
The same map is below, showing how many Acmes are in this part of the state as of Friday, February 20th...
For additional coverage of the Clifton store, please click here.
Aww, what a blow! The Clifton Acme closes today! Clifton had an Acme for 56 years...with two homes.
ReplyDeleteI suppose this one isn't on Supervalu. Thankfully, it isn't on Albertsons either. It's just a landlord jerk. Do you think it would have been worth it for them to try to move?
ReplyDeleteI think this store was bound for closure no matter what. Any time I went in there, it was dead.
DeleteThe people simply didn't follow from Route 46, and Stop & Shop picked up a lot of that store's regulars (and believe me, that old rinky-dink Acme had a following). Don't know where they could've moved, because Clifton doesn't have that big of a store available anywhere else.
I'm curious to see what happens to that big store...assuming it'll be subdivided, and they'll try to get a grocery tenant in there at least.
Well the damage SuperValu did to this location, which I have seen with my own eyes, certainly handicapped the store going forward with the new owners. With all of the established competition in the area, there really isn't anywhere to move to. I would love to see Acme come back to nearby Secaucus. The town is trying to attract a supermarket so its residents have a better option than craptastic Walmart. ShopRite and one other unnamed chain are in the running. I doubt Acme is the unnamed company.
ReplyDeleteThis one definitely will not remain empty for long...
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to bet money that it might be something more high-end. One of the losses this month (might be closing at the same time, who knows) will be the Mandeville, LA Albertsons, one of just a handful of new openings under Albertsons LLC. There was a rumor that there would be a Whole Foods there, and it was announced almost as soon as Albertsons announced closing. I'm certain a massive rent hike was the reason there, too.
ReplyDeleteI work in the offices over the shops, and tonight, the sign has already been removed from the facade... I have heard a few rumors about the future of the store--the most interesting of which is that Corrado's is looking at taking a portion of the store and the rest will be sub-divided between PetSmart and a few smaller spaces. Over the past 10 years, Corrado's has grown from it's main store,on the other side of Clifton by the Paterson border, to 5 locations around the Essex/Bergen/Passix suburbs--all in areas which are heavily Italian-American. This area fits that bill!
ReplyDeleteTo think that they not only used to have a big presence in NEPA and North Jersey, but even stretched into Upstate New York at one time...
ReplyDeleteThe doors are missing that "Shop our other nearby locations" sign...they just say "thank you for your patronage". I guess Morris Plains is too far away to direct people to. Wonder how it is doing with the new ShopRite...
ReplyDeleteThe past few times I've been at Morris Plains, it was pretty busy despite the ShopRite being open. That store is kind of a nightmare if you just need to pick up a few things. The Acme's location and convenience factor might be enough to keep it profitable despite all the new competition moving in.
DeleteAs usual, great job on reporting the last outpost of Acme's once-mighty North Jersey empire. As an area resident who remembers the Passaic Acme, may I please add the following to your map of the “fondly remembered”; all of these have been gone 25+ years:
ReplyDeleteO Little Falls: 69 East Main Street – small store, now QuikChek;
O Paramus: north curb of East Ridgewood Avenue, near Highland Avenue – not too far from the Paramus Stop&Shop – small store that was converted into a convenience store after Acme left – building should still be there;
O Verona: 225 Bloomfield Avenue – beautiful repurposing of a pitched-roof into a car dealership – pitched roof can be seen from street;
O West Caldwell: 584 Passaic Avenue at Bloomfield Avenue; new stores were added to the back of the building after Acme left.
Could someone also confirm, please, my vague (40+ years) recollection of an Acme in Nutley at 217 Darling Avenue, on the other side of Route 3 from the current Acme – brick “ribs” on the left side of building are visible from street.
And to Anonymous’s post of Thursday: Yes, this is a prime location that will quickly be re-tenented!
Here's a picture of the inside of the car dealer on Bloomfield Ave in Verona. The Acme roof is clearly seen: https://www.google.com/maps/place/DeCozen+Chrysler+Jeep+Dodge+RAM/@40.825888,-74.23595,2a,90y,90t/data=!3m5!1e2!3m3!1s-BUTH1uMrVYo%2FVHzrVokfT3I%2FAAAAAAAAABw%2FGtXU8ZrduB0!2e4!3e12!4m7!1m4!3m3!1s0x89c3aaa14db9b2ad:0xc61c5a484542a07c!2s225+Bloomfield+Ave,+Verona,+NJ+07044!3b1!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x77e34f57d55ce430!6m1!1e1
DeleteWhere was there an Acme in Saddle Brook, New Jersey?
ReplyDelete360 Market St. It's now the Post Office.
DeleteSorry for the late reply. Where did you hear that the post office was an Acme?
DeleteI have several directories that list Acme locations.
DeleteTwo things:
ReplyDelete-First, the Styertowne Mall website still lists Acme as a tenant. They've clearly moved out by now. http://www.styertownecenter.com/clifton/shop.html
-Second, is the huge sign seen in the seventh picture on the page above a former Acme sign (it appears to be similar in design), or is this location too new to have one of those giant signs?
That sign is actually mounted to the top of the CVS and was there long before the Acme moved into the shopping center.
DeleteGrand Union was the original supermarket tenant at Styertowne where CVS is now located, and yes: definite resemblance of that sign to the old-school "heavy metal" Acme highway signs.
ReplyDeleteI was at Styretowne today, and I got some photos of the store in it's current state. It still has all the decor, including the aisle markers and checkouts, and it even still has the TV's hanging up and powered on (reading "no signal"). The "Welcome to your Clifton ACME" sign still remains, as well as the shopping carts, cart corrals, and even the hours of operation sign. The Acme logo has, of course, been painted over on every plaza sign, although you can still see it (and if you look hard enough, you can even see the Sav-On logo). I mostly got interior shots, because I got caught in a heavy rainstorm. Anyway, there's a TON of competition within the nearest mile or so...
ReplyDelete-Stop&Shop (Broad St)
-Stop&Shop (Clifton Commons)
-CVS (Styrtowne)
-CVS (Delawana)
-Target
-Trader Joe's
-Cosco
-ShopRite
-Amazing Savings
-Dollar Tree
-Walgreens
Plus the Woodland Park A&P, the Nutley ShopRite, Corrado's, the Clifton FoodBasics, and countless CVS's, Walgreens', and Dollar Trees. But if you're interested in the photos, let me know, and I'll email 'em to ya.
I photographed it a few weeks ago! Pics hopefully going up soon.
DeleteOkay then! Thanks for letting me know.
Delete@PennFruitFan:
ReplyDeleteI can confirm the existence of the long ago, long-gone Acme on Darling Avenue in Nutley, at Four Corners, the location where Bloomfield, Nutley and Clifton meet. I remember one shopping excursion with my mother and all I recall is that we bought a jar of Skippy peanut butter! And this must have been around 1955!! I know a Kodak film processing business moved in when the Acme closed and Dana Automotive has occupied the location for many decades now.
We lived on the last street in Bloomfield. The Acme was at the end of the street, across Darling Avenue. The building to the left of the Acme was already in Clifton.
Next to the Acme to the right, or perhaps with one business in between was Willie's Bar, IIRC--it HAS been a long time since I am gone from New Jersey!