Made the huge mistake of stopping in the Weehawken Acme for a two items. Before I got in the ridiculously long line at the express registers, I walked along the front-end to see if there were any other options. Shocked to see just ONE register open for all the non-express shoppers. I even double checked to make sure one was open but had the light off. Nope. All closed. As you can see above, the shoppers in line at the lone open register were looking toward Customer Service with a "what the hell" look on their faces.
The manager on duty was walking around, clearly saw the lines and did nothing about it. I wasn't surprised. I've seen managers here standing around completely unfazed by absurdly long lines. The two express cashiers kept looking back to see how long their line was. They were nearly as frustrated as the customers. When I finally made it up to one of the cashiers, I asked "why are there never any registers open here?" She put her hands up in the air and shook her head while saying "The company... the company..." I took that all to mean they don't get enough labor hours for cashiers. But they certainly seem to get enough labor hours for the store as I always see plenty of employees walking around this place doing absolutely nothing.
Back in the early to mid 2000's, Pathmark used to run this place with nearly every register open on a Saturday. There would be lines of customers at every single one. Of course Pathmark ran into it's own problems which chased most of those customers away but it baffles my mind that Acme is doing nothing to win any of those people back. In fact, they're offering even worse customer service than Pathmark ever did! If the self-checkouts were still here, Acme could have just one additional employee on the clock and have SEVEN registers up and running for shoppers. But I suppose that would make too much sense.
Today we're returning to the former Coal Township Acme four years after our first visit. The BRL Grocery Outlet has since left the building and it now stands abandoned. John stopped by the store earlier this year to find it still a remarkably intact Acme inside and out A second batch of photos below will unfortunately reveal vandals have finally broken in and have begun to trash the place.
If you look closely, you can see Acme's original Produce letters still on the wall.
Views through the windows along the front of the store...
This wooden structure in front of the checkouts still baffles me. What on Earth was it's purpose? Definitely added after the Acme left. Have to wonder if someone had hit one of those columns with a full cart could the whole thing come crashing down? What is the point of it all??
The crazy thing about seeing this store and being a person of a particular age, I can remember walking into Acmes identical to this (layout and décor) back in the early 80's thinking... "Wow, this store is huge! And so modern!!" How times have changed.
Bakery Department tile here on the right.
Acme's clock still above the exit. We'll have a look at the front of it down below.
Could these seriously be the original ceiling tiles? They are in extraordinary condition throughout the store. The lights are ALL Acme. Standard issue in stores built in late 70's and early 80's.
FAST FORWARD TO SEPTEMBER...
Photos courtesy of @
Better view through the front door thanks to vandals who have now gotten in the place. Still blows my mind that Acme's Produce Department has barely changed four decades later.
The place is sadly getting trashed.
The refrigerated cases you're seeing here are not left over from the Acme. They were added later a and place several feet from the Dairy wall.
READY FOR A FULL INTERIOR TOUR?
HANG ON TO YOU HAT AND HIT PLAY!
Thursday, October 26, 2017
News Break: NEWARK SUPERFRESH TO BECOME FOOD LION!
This location was initially on Acme's list of acquired stores. For reasons not quite confirmed, Acme wound up passing on the store at the last minute. Could they not secure a lease guarantee? This was an issue at many locations Acme was interested in buying. Some of the stores had leases that would be expiring within the next few years and Acme wasn't able to lock in pricing for renewing the leases when the time came. Another factor could have been the store's need for costly upgrades. The building was among the oldest and most outdated of all the stores Acme was interested in acquiring.
Now news have come that Food Lion will be taking over the store. No word on how much work they will be doing prior to moving in. The landlord will be spending $4.5 to upgrade the shopping center.
To check out the article on Newark Post Online, please click here.
The photo above was taken at the Edgewater store and the one below is from Weehawken. Truth be told I didn't read the small print and just assumed the signs were announcing the arrival of Plated at Acme. After taking a closer look while preparing this post, I see that is not the case. The signs simply announce that Acme and Plated have teamed up. To what end? It's not clear. I went to the website and found no mention of Acme at all. I assume both stores will be carrying the meal-kits but can't be sure. Guess I'm just too anxious to see how this whole thing plays out!
MEAL KITS AT WEIS MARKETS >>>
Sopped in the Hillsborough Weis recently and found this display just inside the entrance. Their very own meal-kits! Have to say the pictures on the boxes did make the meals quite tempting. I happened to grab the Fettuccini Alfredo with Kale for a closer look and was shocked at how light the box was. Dinner for two? Felt more like lunch for one. Still, it was interesting to see how one supermarket chain is jumping into the meal-kit game.
Progressive Grocer has an interesting, in-depth article on the new trend of supermarkets teaming up with meal-kit companies. You can check it out by clicking here.
Location: 435 North Beverwyck Road, Lake Hiawatha, NJ
Exterior photos are courtesy of Google maps street view. Interior are courtesy of unknown at this time. I downloaded these a while back from a link that was sent in but I unfortunately deleted the email somewhere along the way. If these are your photos, please hit me up and I will credit them as you wish! A few more former Grand Unions will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
Super Foodtown has made minimal changes to the interior after Grand Union left the building. Their late 90's remodel is alive and well here. I've never been to this store so the photos below might not all be in the correct order. Unsure of what department is to the right just above. Bakery, Produce and Deli are just beyond the dramatic archway.
Unlike Grand Union's cookie-cutter 80's remodel, many elements of thethe late 90's décor packages varied from store to store.
I believe this area of the Produce Department is to the left of the Bakery but I'm not entirely sure.
The Pharmacy sign appears to have been updated since the GU days.
Frozen Food is in the last aisle just like we saw at the Waldwick Stop&Shop. Dairy is in the second to last aisle which was pretty standard for Grand Unions particularly after the 80's remodel.
This store did not receive the ultra-deluxe/totally retro register lights that were common for this remodel. I unfortunately do not have a photo of them on the blog.
For a look at a more deluxe Grand Union with the same décor package, jump over to the East Rutherford post and scroll down below the Acme pictures.
HISORIC AERIALS
2002
1987
1979
1970
1963 UPDATE: FORMER ACME LOCATED RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET!
Now I remember why I had been holding on to the Grand Union photos for so long. I was planing on getting out this way to photograph the former Acme to include in this post. Completely forgot it was there. Got an email earlier today asking me if I knew about the Acme on Beverwyck Road and then it hit me... it's right across the street! Oh well. There isn't much to see here anyway. The Acme was relatively short lived. Opened in 1963 and was gone by 1979. Certainly done in by the much larger Grand Union. For additional information on this location, click on Josh's photo above to jump over to flickr.
1963
Just Acme in 1963.
1970
Grand Union has opened by 1970.
1979
And Acme is gone by 1979. You can see the awning for the bank's drive-up area sticking out of the left side of the building.
