Location: 4100 Park Avenue, Weehawken, NJ
The Weehawken Acme opened on November 6, 2015. It's my absolute favorite converted store... so far. Pathmark remodeled the place from floor to ceiling back in 2012. While they did a great job maintaining the store in recent years, Acme came in and cleaned it so thoroughly, it felt like it was remodeled all over again. The interior color scheme goes so perfectly with Acme's black and red signage, I wonder if they'll even bother with a remodel anytime soon.
Some problems with the Christmas decorations here but you have to give the landlord an "A" for effort.
This store was featured in the post "Future Acme Markets" so you may be familiar with many of these photos. The main entrance leads to a concourse with small shops on the left side and the Acme on the right. A laundromat and another entrance are located all the way at the end.
No mini-carts at this Acme. They were here when the store first opened but were gone about a week later. I asked at Customer Service and was told all the carts "walked away". So I said "they were stolen?" And the Customer Service Rep said "Yep, every single one of them." They apparently weren't equipped with the wheel lock that would have prevented them from being removed from the parking lot. Another round of mini-carts with locks is expected to arrive... someday.
Premium Fresh and Healthy store hours sign! You can find these in a lot of converted stores. This location is open 24/7.
Self checkouts used to be to the left next to the floral displays. They didn't add any new registers here. Only nine registers which doesn't always seem to be enough on busy weekends.
Bright new lights in Produce! Check out the before just below...
Acme's produce is seriously about a million times better than Pathmark.
Alcove here on the right due to the second floor offices above. Acme really livened this area up by adding seasonal and baked goods.
The hanging "Live Better" structures were removed. Have a look below for the before...
That all wound up in the dumpster. Sad to see some of A&P/Pathmark's efforts just thrown away, never to be seen again.
The aisles here used to run parallel to the front-end. Can't remember if they switched if for this last remodel of the Path to Savings remodel. It's really crazy how nice this store is these days compared to 10 to 15 years ago.
Soda in this back alcove.
Still a messy mix of Essential Everyday and Safeway products.
Check this out.. refreshe water WITH the ACME logo on it!
The section in the Bakery has improved dramatically since Acme took over.
Acme is doing an incredible job keeping this store clean and stocked. Still looks just like Pathmark yet is nothing like Pathmark at all.
The Meat Department lost "very" in its sign. Now it's just "the best".
A lot of body parts here that I'm just not interested in.
Always found the Deli location in this store to be very odd. All the way in the back corner by the milk.
Acme did a very nice reset of the Dairy Department. Pathmark's arrangement was rather confusing.
Ice cream alcove in the front.
Aisle 19 lost it number along the way. I thought Acme might rotate this sign so another side with "19" on it would face the front but no such luck.
AERIAL VIEWS
The Pathmark was built on a reservoir. The old water tower still stands to the rear of the store and is a major landmark in Weehawken.
The Pathmark was expanded sometime between 1987 and 1995. The newer section has a darker roof and sticks out into the parking lot.
HISTORIC AERIALS
2002
1995
1987
Prior to the expansion in 1987. While the place looks insanely busy, many of those cars aren't for shoppers inside. About 1/2 of the parking lot is designated for Weehawken residents as on street parking is limited in the area.
1979
The reservoir looking dried up in 1979.
1966
In use in 1966.
Gotta say... the Weehawken Acme is a winner!
I see that although the "Live Better" signs are removed from the ceiling, the phrase is still all over the walls. I guess they figured that it's clearly A&P branding in the former context, but can be taken as just a generic phrase in the latter.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDelete- The aisle signs in this store are great for a Pathmark (it has a three-sided one, instead of the junk that A&P filled the stores with), but the department signage is not. Dark red on red? Who thought that was a good idea? It looks like there were white letters on there, then pried off later. (That's not the case, but that's what it reminds me of)
- The interesting meat selection reminds me of Fiesta, a supermarket chain based in Texas with focus on Hispanic and ethnic foods. They're usually downscale but often huge (80k-100k square feet), and their meat counters are long with exotic cuts. What are the demographics of this ACME?
- I've said before that when they remodel this store, they should just rebrand the whole store as an ACME, while moving the liquor store to the corner and basically integrating the smaller shops while removing the fence that separates ACME from everyone else.
I think the red on red scheme doesn't work for the front of the building, either. Though it probably worked with Pathmark blue. And it's probably up to the landlord as to what the color of the exterior is.
DeleteAs for the deli, it was a similar setup in the former Pathmark by me. Right next to the milk.
Even I they'd let them just paint that section a light color it would work better.
DeleteI agree. The dark red aluminum siding clashes with the red in the "ACME" sign. A beige or tan color wood look much better. Also the dark red looks very dated, it says 1970's to me.
DeleteThe thing is they didn't need to paint over the sign. The Pathmark sign had a white background that was painted over when they took it down.
DeleteActually, no. I was wrong. The white background was part of the Pathmark sign. Still, would've made more sense to pull the Pathmark logo off if they could have.
DeleteOr in that case, have a rectangular sign made with the white background and the red letters attached/imprinted (similar to the ones seen at the street at some stores)?
DeleteSo they got to keep the DVDXpress? I thought Acme was Redbox.
ReplyDeleteIf you search the refreshe brand images online you will see that Safeway has their logo on all the products. At the moment I've only seen the Acme logo on these sized bottles/cases. Hopefully it will be added to other refreshe products in the future. But the worst was when the spring water had that awful Super Chill logo. Fortunately it was short lived.
ReplyDeleteAcme is honoring A&P store contractual obligations. That's why stores in North and Central New Jersey carry Tuscan milk instead of Leheigh Valley Daries like the pre existing Acmes in the same areas (though both brands are owned by Dean Foods and have. Almost identical packaging)
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised DVDXpress didn't try to push itself further. From.what I understood they got the big stuff long before Redbox did.
DeleteMakes sense if you think about it. Why have some of your trucks cross territories to deliver milk? Milk is milk. All they do is shut down the machine, change the labels, and start it running again with new labels. Plus, if the people are used to Tuscan, carrying it makes good business sense.
DeleteFunny you mention milk...my mom went to Krauszer's the other day and they were selling America's Choice milk.
DeleteWhy not put Tuscan labeled Milk in the Pre existing Acme in the same territories ( i.e.Milltown, Lincroft, Morrris Plains, Randolph, Middlesex, Manasquan, Fair Haven and Shrewsbury.)?
ReplyDeleteI recently saw a news report on the store's grand re-opening. The locals that they interviewed all loved the store, saying that it's cleaner, the staff is friendlier, and it's just much better as Acme than it was as PathMark.
ReplyDelete