Photos courtesy of John from WISL1480.com
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.
This store was a classic 33M model.
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!
AND HIT PLAY!
What a great video and pictures of what a supermarket looked like in the 80s. You never get to see the back loading dock and office areas like that.
ReplyDeletePlease remember when Bi Lo took over these stores that all that was changed was the outside sign. That was it at first.
Then usually if the when a store moves out, if they don't take down signage or trade mark signage usually the next tenant being a very chain will use the signage to save money.
The sad part is this building got trashed. Its sad to see the front door open and the back loading dock doors open. I am surprised this store hasn't been boarded up. There was allot of acme history destroyed by the vandals.
I am glad the person taking the video went to the back of the store and upstairs. We finally get to see what these areas looked like.
This model 33m looked like it was very well designed and planned out. The backroom seem huge compared to a publix back room. Awesome feature
It's a depressed part of the state and being the buildings (that, Ames as well as Kmart) are secluded and set far back from the road, not too surprising they've been trashed.
DeleteSurprised no one's tried to get the Acme clock! I might have to take a trip up there and take it down myself.
ReplyDelete