For the first post after Acme Style's summer break, we'll be taking a look at several of the A&P and Pathmarks that will be converted to Acme in the coming months. The focus is on the stores that line the Hudson River starting in Jersey City and heading north to Fort Lee. All are a stone's throw from the river and about half have great views of New York City right from the parking lot. This will be a whole new area for Acme. Each location currently does very good business even with all the troubles A&P has had over the past few years. We'll start with the most southern location in Jersey City on 18th street...
JERSEY CITY A&P
Location: 125 18th St, Jersey City, NJ
Check out One World Trade tower off in the distance! This store is just a few blocks from the river. It started out as a Waldbaum's in the late 80's and was later converted to an A&P. It retained its original interior until the fresh remodel in the mid 2000's. This area has been exploding with residential towers since the early 2000's. Not sure why A&P took as long as they did to remodel the place since the store was clearly not living up to its potential. There is a large, extremely unpleasant, ShopRite just a few blocks away at the Newport Mall. Once the extensive remodel was complete here, business exploded! The store was jam packed on the weekends to the point where they had to bring in additional portable registers. Things have died down since then but it is still are very successful store. You can find plenty of reviews on yelp where people say they prefer shopping here over the ShopRite even though A&P's prices are higher.
The store has the second version of the "fresh" remodel.
I think it's safe to say one of the first things Acme is going to do in these fresh stores is replace the lighting. The permitter of this store is particularly dark.
Frozen Foods were relocated from the center of the store to the left side during the remodel.
Acme is also acquiring the Stadium Plaza Pathmark which is on the western side of Jersey City. It's not a terribly unique location and also not one that's easy to travel to from where I live so it it not featured in this post.
HOBOKEN A&P
Location: 614 Clinton St, Hoboken, NJ
The Hoboken A&P is one of the smallest of all the locations in this area. Prior to ShopRite coming to Hoboken, this place used to be pretty high volume. Tons of shoppers are within easy walking distance.
Liquor department to the left of the entrance. As you'll see, this place is pretty cramped.
I wonder if Acme will eventually remove and aisle to expand Produce. When this place is busy the Produce aisle is a nightmare. Seafood is back in the corner on the left.
First version of the "fresh" remodel.
Corner Bakery is up in the front of the store with the Deli to the right.
WEEHAWKEN PATHMARK
Location: 4100 Park Ave, Weehawken, NJ
These exterior pictures were taken back in August 2012 when the store was having it's grand reopening. The interior shots are a mix of then and now. Even with the extensive remodel, this place never seemed to recover from the merger with A&P. Its days of being high-volume are well in the past.
Just inside the entrance here with stores along the left and the Pathmark entrance on the right. This store is open 24/7.
Pathmark's latest decor package. Bright, white and clean throughout! Acme will have a easy time converting this store although it will be interesting to see if they ultimately keep Pathmark's layout.
Every single case here is brand spanking new.
The Deli is in the far back corner.
I used to shop in the store back in the early 2000's. This front-end would be packed with customers. Nearly every register open with lines. Never see more than 3 registers open these days.
WEST NEW YORK A&P
Location:
55 Riverwalk Pl, West New York, NJ
A very unique A&P soon to be a very unique Acme! This one is located on the first floor of a residential building right on the river. Very nice store although I don't think it has reached its potential by a long shot.
Built with the second version of the "fresh" remodel.
A&P has removed many of the fresh offerings that started out here. Salad bar is kaput and the hot foods bar is now just piles of fried foods.
Cafés days are probably numbered. Not sure what Acme has against offering coffee these days.
Two registers at the rear of the store by the exit that leads to the parking garage.
You can see the river and the city from the side of the store.
If you ever find yourself at this store, don't miss out on the views!
EDGEWATER PATHMARK
Location: 481 River Rd, Edgewater, NJ
This is a huge Patmark with the "Go Fresh, Go Local" remodel. Target is right across the parking lot and stole a ton of business from this place when they did their PFresh remodel. Since A&P took over Pathmark, they have reset this store about once a year ever since. As a pretty frequent shopper here, I have found it to be maddening! Looking very forward to Acme taking over this location. The store does very big business on Sundays when the Target is closed.
A double wide deal aisle was created just in the last year. As you can see, it's a huge draw. The latest reset happened here when the Bank of American branch closed opening up some space in the front of the store.
The former bread alcove was expanded and switched over to soda when the bank closed.
The Bistro was a flop. After the remodel they would have a live cook here doing demonstrations. Lasted a few months and then it was shut down.
FORT LEE A&P
Location: 2160 Lemoine Ave, Fort Lee, NJ
A huge A&P fresh located in Fort Lee just blocks from the George Washington Bridge. I've only been to this store a few times and it seems to do excellent business. Has a Starbucks too!
Looks like the Bakery lost its signage along the way.
Very nice liquor and wind department. This is just a plain ol' aisle but there are very nice wine displays to the left.
The original flooring remains in most of the store.
Heading west of the Hudson River to check out some other interesting locations that I have photographed over the years...
DENVILLE A&P
Location: 125 West, Main St Denville, NJ
An expanded centennial store was torn down and replaced back in 2004 with A&P's very first "fresh" store. Some of the interior pictures here have been seen on the blog before. I covered the various "fresh" remodels on the Little Silver post which you can visit by clicking
here.
NEW PROVIDENCE A&P
Location: 1260 Springfield Ave, New Providence, NJ
Well... well... well.. what do we have here? The A&P fresh that was built right on the spot where the New Providence Acme was located. Acme gets to return to a virtually brand-new store that they didn't have to bother building themselves!
This store has the 4th version of the "fresh" remodel which essentially reverted to the 1rst version due largely to the skyrocketing costs of the "fresh" remodels.
Acme will be able to update the decor in snap!
Judging from my one visit here, this is a very busy store!
And a look at the Acme that once stood here...
You can check out additional coverage of this store by clicking
here.
Check out what I said back in 2010...
They sure are!
Some of the satellite views show the Acme still standing with work starting on the new A&P. You can see how they A&P expanded out of Acme's original footprint...
And a quick jump across town to see the old A&P which has been abandoned since the replacement store opened...
Location: 592 Central Ave, New Providence, NJ
This store had a basic version of the first "fresh" remodel but the exterior signage was never updated.
And soon, no more A&P for New Providence but welcome back Acme!
