Friday, May 1, 2015

Discussions: 
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56 comments:

  1. Has anybody kept tabs on whether the construction for the new Beach Haven Acme has been completed or still in progress? Thanks in advance!

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    1. I personally have heard nothing on the progress.

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  2. I know I'm always mentioning it, but I am in the process of getting photo's of the new Wallington, NJ ShopRite. I'll defiantly get interior photos on May 20 when it opens, but I also have construction photos and photos of the former stores in Passaic (8th st) and Rutherford (Union Ave). If you like, I'll email you them.

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    1. Thanks but I won't be able to post any ShopRite pictures any time soon. I have an unbelievable amount of Acme pictures to get posted with more being sent in every week. Until I get caught up with those, I won't be covering any non-Acme stores.

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    2. Whenever you are interested in visiting and photographing a non-Acme store, I'd highly recommend a trip to Dickerson's Foodtown in Mount Tabor, NJ. It's a tiny, old-fashioned grocery store (you can barely call it a supermarket) about 5 minutes south of downtown Denville on Rt 53. It's worth a visit if you're in the area because it's very old-fashioned and you really get the feeling you're in a small-town grocery store (which you are), and not some generic, mediocre supermarket that could be anywhere in the country, like a Stop & Shop. It has only 8 aisles, the first being produce with a tiny deli counter at the end. Along the right-side wall of the store are pictures of the original Dickerson's Market in downtown Denville and the new(er) one down Rt. 53. There are four registers in the front corner of the store opposite produce, and past them is a staircase leading up a half-flight of stairs to the open manager's office (I think) which is tiny and exposed to the store, so it has a view of the entire store. The Deli department's sign might be original, or else very old, and it has a clock in the front like what's in the Manasquan Acme or what was in the Union ShopRite (the old one). It has the same red panel "Thank you for shopping with us", and on the clock face it says "Thank You for Shopping Foodtown" with the old Foodtown logo. It's worth a visit if you're ever in the area.

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  3. Check out Supermarket Memorabilia Manual! My very own supermarket memorabilia blog!
    supermarketmemorabiliamanual.blogspot.com

    POSTING IS DONE EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY
    Get ready for a great post tomorrow!

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  4. Acme Style, Caldor.com now redirects to CALDORE.com, basically a rip-off of Caldor.

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  5. The Lakewood Shop-rite, which housed one of the most extensive kosher sections of any supermarket around, has just closed. It was a big deal in these parts. In other news- I will be on LBI soon, so I'm going to try to get pics of the current state of the new Acme being built. http://www.app.com/story/news/local/jackson-lakewood/lakewood/2015/04/20/lakewood-shoprite-moves-howell-loses-kosher-deli/26096461/

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  6. My topic is pitched-roof stores, of which we have seen many on Acme Style; do we know which one has (/had) the "largest" front, i.e., longest span and highest peak?

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  7. Finally got my own Flickr. Mainly I will be posting images of retail, with occasional pictures of other interesting stuff.
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/132911176@N03/

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    1. Cool! FINALLY GOT A BLOG
      Supermarketmemorabiliamanual.blogspot.com

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  8. What exactly is Lancaster Meats? I know it's a brand by Acme seen on the décor, but is it just used on cut meats (where I presume a sticker is put on the plastic) or deli meats (ham lunch meat, etc.)? I would be genuinely surprised if it was the latter, having survived the mainstreaming of Albertsons and the budget cuts of SuperValu.

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    1. Lancaster Brand Meats has always been an Acme Brand from way back with the original American Stores Company

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    2. I have only seen it on stickers. I don't think I have ever seen store- brand lunch meat there, much less Lancaster brand.

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  9. In my Acme, they just put in all new refrigerated cases all over the produce section. They are doing a lot of work, in fact the self-checkouts are coming out on Tuesday morning.

    Also, have you seen the renderings of the Target Express in San Diego? They look awesome, with the barrel roof. The store was a Safeway when the building was built. Just google "san diego target express." You won't be disappointed!

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  10. It was announced on Monday that the last Genuardi's in Audubon,Pa. will be closing on May 27

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  11. Hello Anonymous, I can't find anything on line about Genuardi's closing the Audubon store. Can you provide a source?

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  12. There are store closing signs in the front windows and they are having a 30% off going out of business sale.

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  13. As sad as that is, Genuardi's prognosis wasn't very good and hasn't been good since Safeway shut down most of its stores. It wasn't listed on the brands when Albertsons made noise about purchasing Safeway, and my guess is Safeway just let the lease lapse.

    It'd be pretty cool if they closed it and converted it to an Acme, though.

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    1. That would not work, unfortunately, because the Acme in Eagleville in an old Super G building is too close and wouldn't want to close or move.

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    2. Genuardi's. Best donuts I have ever eaten. I will go down there tonight and buy whatever they have left, and also see if I can get their recipe. I have tried the ones at Safeway, they are not as wonderful. Anyone know of some place as good as them?

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    3. ShopRite of Lincoln Park, NJ is the best I've ever had, at $0.59. ShopRite of West Caldwell, NJ also has great donuts at $0.65. However, I've never had a Genuardi's donut, so I can't compare!

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    4. ShopRite's quality varies from store to store, I've found. Passaic/Clifton is very meh when it comes to bakery selection. Little Falls and Nutley had decent donuts, but for my money the best donuts came from the Brookdale store.

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    5. I visited the Audubon PA Genuardi's this weekend, and I can confirm it is closing. Very sad.

      I wonder if Safeway would ever consider selling the rights to the name Genuardi's.

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    6. The genuardi name would be worthless after the way Safeway ran the company into the ground

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  14. Today, 9 closings of Safeway were announced in Denver, all unprofitable. I imagine that Houston might take a hit before it goes local management again...

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  15. Any news on potential tenants for the vacant Clifton store? I heard they wanna subdivide. Personally, if A&P wasn't in such bad shape I think they'd fit in there perfectly.

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  16. I saw on Reuters that Delhaize and Ahold are in merger talks... The only interesting part in the U.S. would be the New England overlaps between Hannaford and Stop & Shop, and i guess some mid-Atlantic overlaps of Food Lion and Giant/Martins. If it goes through, they probably will need to divest some stores in areas of Western Maryland and West Virginia where Martins and Food Lion are really the only supermarkets left.

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    1. Time to boost Team Shaw's/Acme/Safeway, because seriously folks, I can count the number of all new stores both companies have opened this year on my fingers.

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    2. Dave W- I hope this goes through. Ahold's near-perfect track record could only help out the almost dying Delhaize.

      Pseudo3D- How can you count that on your fingers? Its a negative number!

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    3. By both companies, I was referring to Albertsons and Safeway as a whole. United Division opened an Albertsons Market in New Mexico, and I think a few Safeway stores opened that NorCal had been planning, but that's about it.

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    4. On Delhaize and Ahold though, I might be wrong on this, but I don't think that the U.S. holdings are all that important. Albertsons and Safeway were both domestic companies, but Delhaize and Ahold have stores all over the world. All Delhaize has to offer in terms of supermarkets in the U.S. is Hannaford (which overlaps), Food Lion (which is not exactly a collector's item), and a few others. Since nearly all of them overlap Ahold's holdings (again, except Food Lion), what might end up happening is that the merger will force Delhaize to exit the States entirely, probably by spinning off Food Lion, and selling Hannaford and Giant/Martin's, just like what Delhaize did with Sweetbay in Florida. (Solvency of these chains is a toss-up)

      This will generate some cash flow for the merger and avoid any FTC problems/compromises in fell swoop.

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    5. The U.S. Holdings are more significant than they used to be. Ahold is not as diverse as they used to be. Since their accounting scandal, they have exited all of South America and some Eastern European countries and the U.S. now is their biggest market. According to Reuters, this merger would put the combined company as the #3 grocer in the U.S. (Ahead of Albertsons/Safeway) after Kroger and Walmart at #2 and #1, respectively. (The WSJ put it behind Albertsons/Safeway...but not by much.)
      The Dutch and Belgian stores are probably also important because they probably have little competition in many areas. When I lived in Holland, I was surprised that Ahold was allowed to buy up its strongest competition, such as C-1000 and Jumbo...but they were--probably (like here) due to the threat of discounters Aldi, Lidl and Hema, which is the Dutch supercenter. As for Delhaize US, Food Lion's sales have improved, and they are in OK shape and profitable...I think they would dispose only of the overlap. Hannaford overlaps only in Massachusetts (I believe) since they have driven Stop & Shop out of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont...but it will be interesting to see what happens in Massachusetts. Peapod could definitely expand. This also may also explain why Delhaize disposed of Bottom Dollar.

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    6. I don't know a whole lot about Delhaize and Ahold, like who is on top, but I just don't see Food Lion meshing with the strong New England-area holdings Ahold has, partially because Food Lion has relatively low-end, small stores. The fact that Food Lion is in fact profitable means that it could fetch a good return investment in case Delhaize spins it off, unless they wanted to keep it to run head-to-head with Aldi. If Delhaize was on top, I would hope it would do away with much of the homogenization affecting Ahold's holdings, though if Ahold was on top, Hannaford would get the "fruit basket" logo and Food Lion would probably get ditched.

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    7. We shall see....Hannaford and Stop & Shop are both very successful in their respective markets...and they are very different stores and formats. Definitely they will need to dispose of some locations in Mass, which will open an opportunity for another operator...not sure if Market Basket has the finances....but maybe Big Y, Star/Shaws, or Price Chopper.
      One other thing I have been wondering about is the different cultures...Ahold's Stop & Shop/Giant Landover is union and Ahold is union-friendly; whereas Delhaize is notoriously anti-union. To this day, they blame the UFCW for staging the infamous PrimeTime live undercover footage at Food Lion--of them pouring bleach on their meats at several locations...which ultimately contributed to hundreds of store closing and market withdrawals.

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  17. When are you going to post the Freehold post? I am excited to read it!!! Also you should go to the West Caldwell ShopRite and make it a bonus store because it is the most unusual ShopRite ever.

    On another note, they are taking the self checkouts out in my store today.

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    1. I haven't been to the Freehold store yet but will be getting there this summer. Probably sooner than later. I have passed by the West Caldwell ShopRite. Very usual looking. If I'm in the are again, I'll get some pictures of the place.

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    2. I think they're doing very VERY minor renovations on it. When I was in there last, about a week ago, they had added a Sunrise Kitchens Catering desk and they had repainted some of the walls. It's definitely worth a trip, though, and I don't think they're doing anything major anytime soon.

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    3. By "it" above I meant the West Caldwell ShopRite.

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  18. Safeway this past week has started a new ad campaign in the stores. "It's just better" started this past week. Since the merger, I've seen my local store get spruced up, such as getting repainted, even though the store is not that old. Really good to see the new ownership being serious and infusing money into the stores. Here is a link that will take you to my flickr page were I uploaded a scan of a letter that was on the front of today's Safeway circular.

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    1. It would help if I actually gave the link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/130307553@N08/16990276514/

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    2. WHOA IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING

      What division/area was this? I did hear in May or June the Safeway divisions would go under local ownership.

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    3. This is in the Eastern Division...so the stores in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Washington DC. I've been noticing these changes at the store in Towson MD which does very good business. I'll check around at the other Safeways in the NE Baltimore County area this week.

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    4. I was in the Safeway in Parkville MD today and they have upgraded the lighting in the store. Gone are the days of darkness inside Safeway. Ive never been a fan of how dark the lifestyle remodel was. There are now new fluorescent lighting around the whole store. The produce section is now especially bright. Good to see the new ownership updating the stores!

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  19. Here's a picture inside the Watchung, NJ ShopRite. These aisle markers are the same as those in the old Union, NJ ShopRite and various former Acmes. Was this store ever an Acme, did it get the aisle markers from a closed or renovated Acme, or were these the generic aisle markers that everyone used?

    https://irs1.4sqi.net/img/general/600x600/20009534_CQB8GrSUahRhfC_hw0BlGtB7Zg7kbtfHZIqk27rwTpg.jpg

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    1. They were generic ones that a lot of stores used. They were specifically designed to hold advertisements that would generate additional revenue. Acme never had the red ones.

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  20. Reacted with sadness about the Michigan based Hiller's Market becoming Kroger...that grocery store was kind of like old Dominick's...Kroger is like Safeway (was?), ruiner of chains.

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  21. Could you put my blog on your links list? It is named Retail Recognition and the address is supermarketmemorabiliamanual.blogspot.com

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  22. So much for Card Free Savings! All of the Albertsons LLC stores are participating in a digital coupon program, MyMixx, which will be used at the registers by phone number lookup! Might as well have a card again to make it more convenient. I knew that they, and A&P, would miss the benefits of card based tracking, the second after they got rid of it.

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    1. It's not the same thing. It's a stand alone coupon program for people who want to participate. It is not required for the weekly sale prices and won’t be tracking nearly the same amount of customers as the card programs do. MyMixx was tested at Acme for the past year before being rolled out to the other banners

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    2. That's true, but phone number lookup still seems counterintuitive, and these digital coupon things run on the same loyalty card infrastructure (through IBM SurePOS ACE loyalty), as does Upromise, Savingstar, etc.. So, they dumped all the data, told people to get rid of their cards, but still have partner programs that take advantage of the 4xxx codes. Don't even mean to criticize them or A&P, but it's funny.

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    3. I can also confirm that instead of typing in your phone number, you can use your store card to get your MyMixx offers.

      Phone number and store card are essentially the same thing.

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  23. Clearly someone still cares about Acme, and under AB Acquisition they've received a lot of clean up, but I can't help but wonder if Acme really is getting better. Does Acme have more local products and a localized product mix or more comparable prices?

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  24. Wild Harvest out for O Organics!
    Stopped in the Norristown-Trooper store yesterday (BTW, its a really cool store), and at least in the Dairy section, the Wild Harvest had been replaced with O Organics. However, I still saw some Essential Everyday items available.
    Side questions: What décor used the white wall tile with red stripes?
    Will Supervalu keep using Wild Harvest (If they do, they probably owe ACME some money)?

    Unrelated, I have heard rumors that something is moving into the abandoned Lionville Genuardi's. Apparently, the owner of a café in the shopping center is offering free crepes to whoever can tell him what's moving in.

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    1. Essential Everyday is not being replaced yet.
      SuperValu owns the Wild Harvest brand. They have since they bought Albertson in 2006. They don't owe Acme any money for it.
      Not sure what décor you are talking about it. If you're seeing in the Norristown store it might be left over from Super G.

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