Location: 101 Byers Drive, Glen Mills, PA
The Frosted Mug has officially arrived at the Glen Mills Acme! The first few pictures are from the store's original post which can be viewed by clicking here. The a la carte cafe, which you see in the photos, has been removed to make way for the beer department. The self-checkouts also got the boot which made for additional room for the new department. New Albertsons is on a mission to remove all self-checkouts from their stores in an apparent move to improve customer service. Big mistake as far as I'm concerned.
And now for The Frosted Mug under construction...
Photos are courtesy of World of Retail's flickr collection which can be viewed by clicking here.
Hard to see in this picture but it looks like the "cheese shop" has been moved out of its original spot. You can see how the department looked previously...
The new paint from The Frosted Mug extends over to this corner and the "cheese shop" signage is gone. It would have been a smart move the pizza station from the back of the store to this front corner. What goes better with beer than pizza? This store is serving beer on tap which I don't believe is the plan for all Frosted Mug departments...
The final touches on the new Growler Station at the Acme Store in Glen Mills, PA. #mainstbeverage pic.twitter.com/lgyRYq1P6L
— Main Street Beverage (@MainStBeverage) February 18, 2015
You can view additional photos on Acme's Facebook page by clicking here. The Frosted Mug has also opened at the Doylestown store, which has yet to be covered on the blog.Word of Retail also snapped this picture over by the entrance on the Pharmacy side of the store. I did not get a photo of this area but I don't believe the "wall of values" was here at the time. I would have noticed it for sure! It was definitely added after the store was but since the font is not a match to the rest of the departments. This may have been the Floral department which looks to have been moved out the the aisles.
As reported on the blog previously, Wegmans is building a 140,000 square feet store just steps away from the Acme. Above is a picture of the stores progress. Thanks to Gary for sending it in. While Acme will certainly be taking a bit, they won't be alone. Giant and Whole Foods are going to take a beating as well. Wegmans offers about half of the products Whole Foods carries at drastically lower prices. These new, giganic Wegmans stores offer a mind boggling selection but the stores can be a little overwhelming to shop in, especially for just a quick grocery run. The chain has older, smaller models in New Jersey, many of which are very disappointing. I wonder sometimes if Wegmans is growing too fast. Some of their New Jersey stores are dirty and very poorly stocked. The service is impressive but I've been so frustrated with out-of-stock items that I no longer bother shopping there.
A review of the food stores in the area. The Westtown Acme, seen in the upper left corner, has closed. A portion of the store will soon house a farmer's market. More details can be found at dailylocal.com by clicking here. (Check out the labelscar from the red oval logo in the picture!) Fascinating quote from the article...
"'The store at one time was the highest volume Acme in the Philadelphia area,' said Walter [a partner in the company that owns Westtown Village], recalling that the center added 15,000 square feet of space to the supermarket’s original 40,000 square feet."
That confirms my speculation in the Westtown post that the store was expanded from its original size. Kinda of interesting too that it kept it's 80's Remodel decor after the expansion. Acme may not have had another decor package going at the time. Surprising too how it was one of Acme's most successful stores only to fade into extinction. You can visit the Westtown post by clicking here.
Will the Acme be able to survive against Wegmans? The company certainly thinks so or they wouldn't have bothered making the investment to add The Frosted Mug.
The Fresh Market is currently the closest competitor of the Glen Mills Acme. In my opinion, The Fresh Market is everything Whole Foods ought to be but isn't.
ReplyDeleteAs for Wegmans, I have a feeling their Dickson City, PA store (which is over 20 years old) will soon relocate to the former Walmart site across the parking lot. Walmart opened there in 1992, but relocated to a Supercenter in 1997, because boulders had been falling from the mountain behind the store and were hitting the back wall! That being said, Walmart sued their original construction company in Dickson City for not building a proper barrier behind the store. My understanding is Wegmans could very easily do this, learning from Walmart's mistake.
Also, Acme Style, did you know both a brand new Wegmans and a relocated Giant are coming soon to Broomall, PA? The Acme there is very nice but I can't see it surviving these two competitors opening on each side of it. And the next closest Acme, in Newtown Square, will soon be competing with both a fairly new Giant and a brand new Whole Foods.
Do you know where the Giant and Wegmans will be located?
DeleteThe Wegmans in Broomall appears to just be a rumor on a Facebook post at this point, and the only mention of the Broomall Giant relocating is from a citydata.com user who's well known to post info with no facts: http://www.city-data.com/forum/philadelphia/1897682-seven-new-giant-stores-coming-soon.html
DeleteI'd be surprised if they bother to move that store...it isn't exactly in the best area in terms of demographics, and Wegmans really has ignored anything that isn't in Southeastern PA for years now. Some of their other locations like Erie, Williamsport, etc. are very dated and seem very out of place. I don't know if that is still the case, but these stores did not carry home of the higher-end houseware type items as of a couple years ago.
DeleteWegmans requires areas of high income and traffic to make money...places where people have no problems buying the marked-up prepared foods and other profitable items. Honestly, the basic grocery items at Wegmans are dirt cheap, but unfortunately, I doubt Acme is going to be able to match them, or make it in the long run.
I just searched around the internet for 30 minutes, and I can't find anything about a new Giant or Wegmans in Broomall.
DeletePlease provide links, Mark B.
I looked too and found nothing. I asked for links in his follow up comment below but none have been provided.
DeleteGiant: http://www.delcotimes.com/general-news/20130821/giant-seeks-rezoning-for-property-in-marple
DeleteWegmans: http://ricorant.blogspot.com/2014/10/archdiocese-sells-delco-property-2.html
Thank you, Mark B!
DeleteTo Matt: you are probably right, but I just am suggesting that IF Wegmans has any plans down the road to methodically upgrade most if not all of their stores, regardless of income in the communities holding those stores, I'm sure the Walmart site in Dickson City will be waiting for them.
DeleteAlso, the Ames in Painted Post, NY was empty for a very long time and may or may not still be today, after almost 13 years since it closed. If it indeed is still empty, Wegmans ought to move their Corning store (which is two miles away but people certainly travel for Wegmans) to that site. Painted Post hasn't had a true supermarket since the very large P&C in town closed quite a number of years back. Now a Walmart Supercenter is their only option for groceries, unless they travel to the small Wegmans in Corning. As for the Ames still being empty, I know someone might assume the area to be poor due to that, but actually the area is richer than it looks. But due to it being as rural and remote as it is, stores sit empty a long time.
I doubt that the Dickson City Wegmans store would be relocated. At the time the store opened, it was one of the largest and still is one of the largest in the chain at approximately 125,000 sq. ft. in size. The newest stores that they build range from 110,000-140,000 sq. ft. in size, even though some have been smaller the past few years to meet their specific site requirements.
DeleteIf anything, I think Wegmans will likely make some improvements as time goes on.
The Giant is moving from its current site (a former Two Guys/Bradlees) to the former Pathmark in town. And Wegmans is opening where Don Guanella Village was (a Catholic home for intellectually disabled men that closed after it was decided their model of care was obsolete). In other words, Wegmans will be somewhere north of the Cardinal O'Hara high school, and south of the former Kmart, now Home Depot.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these new stores are NOT the product of rumor or fantasy. The plans for both have been in local newspapers more than once.
And as for the Whole Foods in Newtown Square, coming soon signs are already up, but the opening is a ways away.
What newspapers have reported concrete plans for Wegmans to build there? Looks more like wishful thinking online.
DeleteWhich Wegmans in NJ are small? The ones I've been to seem pretty large (maybe just in comparison to other stores)?
ReplyDeleteSmall in comparison to the Wegmans of the past few years, not small compared to other supermarkets. The one in Princeton is the smallest Wegmans I've been to. Also the absolute worst. Bridgewater is on the smaller side too.
DeleteIsn't the former EXPO Design Center (a failed concept owned by Home Depot, which also has a store in the center) across from the Bridgewater Wegmans still empty? If so, Wegmans just might move to the site.
DeleteRaymour and Flanigan opened in a portion of the building.
DeleteThanks, good to know... I get the feeling Burlington Coat Factory will take the rest, because they seem to love old relocated Home Depot buildings, as well as at least one former Builders Square that I can think of.
DeleteOK - I haven't been to those two - I've been in Woodbridge, Manalapan, Ocean and one of the ones near Cherry Hill over the years and all of those seemed fairly good sized with the big prepared foods sections and such.
DeleteNot sure if it is still open, but there was one in Rochester years back, fairly near the airport - that was a small store (OK, probably really not that small but it looked it when compared to most other Wegmans I had seen at that time).
The one in Ocean is pretty spectacular. Absolutely massive. I've found Woodbridge to be very hit or miss. I don't understand how they work their produce departments. By 6 pm on a weeknight, they're always completely wiped out. It doesn't seem like any restocking happens throughout the day. I almost took pictures in Bridgewater a few weeks ago to post. Completely empty cases and displays all around the department. And it wasn't the first time I've seen it like that in Bridgewater. Same thing at Woodbridge.
DeleteI think they still have a few small stores in New York state.
Ha! The example of a "tiny Wegmans" was seen in my blog, where HEB can open a huge 90k square foot flagship but still keep dinky ~20k stores that lack the most basic standard supermarket departments (pharmacy, bakery)
ReplyDeleteLocal papers are reporting that the Wegmans will open on November 8th. They plan to hire over 500 (including 175 full timers) and the store will be 111,000 square feet. Applications are being accepted online now, and hiring will begin in April with training to follow.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why self-checkouts are being outlawed at Acme and Jewel-Osco stores...there was a press release in early 2014 that a renovated Market Street store would be ADDING "European style express checkouts" to their regular checkouts. (Market Street is part of the United Family, one of Acme's distant "cousins" in the Albertsons clan)
ReplyDeleteAlbertsons itself outlawed self-checkouts as a whole. Here is a story that was done about it a few years back.
Deletehttp://www.nbcnews.com/id/43687085/ns/business-retail/t/major-grocer-getting-rid-self-checkout-lanes/#.VkLUcPmrSUk