Photos courtesy of Jacob V
Location: 460 E Main St, Middletown, DE
The Middletown Acme opened in 2003 as part of a boom of newly constructed stores under the first round of Alberstsons' leadership. The new store replaced a tiny, decades old Acme in town. The Middletown store is one of only four Acmes to have been built with the Theme Park interior, also know by its official name... Grocery Palace. All of that tricked out décor has recently been sent to the dump. The store received a relatively extensive Quality Built remodel with the store layout and décor being dramatically simplified. It's interesting to see how much work Acme put into this store to make it... boring. I'll let you be the judge but I think I prefer the store before the remodel. For all the work that was done, the Theme Park floor was left unchanged aside from patching areas which were scarred from departments being relocated.
A couple supplemental exterior views from google maps which explains the odd perspectives.
The Deli is just to the left of the entrance with Produce to the rear. Huge changes were made in the front of the store where a large Floral Department and Pharmacy were freestanding departments on the sales floor.
Floral was significantly downsized and moved to this area. "Before" photos are included below following our tour of the remodeled store.
Not sure if new blue tile has been put up in the Deli or if the old tile was painted over the previous tile like it was in Willingboro.
Middletown got the stunningly beautiful Bakery display cases! The lighting, the signage, the wood veneer... there are times when Acme knocks it straight out of the park and this is one of them. This area of the Bakery was completely overhauled. Hardwood flooring from the former Wild Harvest aisle extended into the Bakery has been replaced. You can see white tile now extending out from the Charmin display.
Checkerboard flooring in aisle 6 is left over from Health and Beauty which has been moved to a new location.
I've supplemented Jacob's photos with some photos from catnapped on flickr. Between the two of them, we're getting some fanatic tours of the Delaware stores!
You can see the wood paneling remains from the original Meat and Seafood department, simply painted over now. Again, either new tile on the back walls here or it's been painted over.
No more barn above the milk!
The Dairy floor looks like something out of an Atari 2600 game!
Health and Beauty was relocated to the front corner from the grocery aisles. This area used to be, oddly enough, the Shop The World department.
Guess the state and incorporate date are officially back! Well, for the Delaware stores anyway.
The Pharmacy was moved from it's freestanding location just inside the entrance over to the previous home of Customer Service.
Have to ask... why its't "PHARMACY" centered?
Self-checkouts survived!
Signage here probably wasn't updated since the wall would be a mess once the original words were removed.
REMODEL UNDERWAY >>>
These are some fun photos from catnapped showing the remodel in progress. The new Customer Service counter being assembled.
The original Deli wall tile seen here.
A ton of work was done to the walls to remove all the previous décor.
You can see the original wall tile in this photo.
TURNING BACK TIME >>>
Now were jumping back a few years to see the store prior to the Quality Built remodel. These photos are a mix from 2011 and 2015. Some were sent in by Will from flickr. Some others are from an unknown source. I filed them away a long time ago and lost track of who sent them in.
You can see above the Deli the amount of décor that had to be removed from the walls to transition to the simple Quality Built painted walls.
Honestly, I like the Produce Department much better in the "before" photos!
Flooring here was swapped out for plain white tiles.
The Bakery was stripped bare of all its previous décor elements for the remodel...
Repeating this photo just show the significant changes made to this area.
The beverage and snack aisles weren't as tricked out here as they were in Milltown.
I'll miss the barn most of all!
It does make a lot more sense to have Health & Beauty in this corner with Shop the World moved to the grocery aisles.
The Pharmacy is now in the former Customer Service alcove.
You can see the freestanding Floral and Pharmacy Departments in these photos.
AERIAL VIEWS
Giant is just down the road. I believe Acme was first to arrive in this part of town with Giant following shortly after. Both stores were built between 2002 and 2006.
For a tour of the interior of the Middleton Giant, check out Will's pictures here.
HISTORIC AERIALS
2006
2002
The two former Acmes in shown above.
The Pennington Street store at the top of the photo with the West Green Street store at the bottom.
Location: 12 Pennington Street, Middleton, DE
Opened: January 29, 1953
Closed: January 15, 1963
WEST GREEN ACME
THROUGH THE YEARS >>>
Opened: January 29, 1953
Closed: January 15, 1963
WEST GREEN ACME
THROUGH THE YEARS >>>
Location: 17 West Green Street, Middleton, DE
Opened: January 16, 1963
Exact closing date unknown but was likely
the day before the new store opened.
Opened: January 16, 1963
Exact closing date unknown but was likely
the day before the new store opened.
2002
Last seen in 2002 in the historic images. Torn down and replaced by 2006...
Thanks to all our contributors for brining extensive coverage of the Middletown Acme!
The Theme Park decor always looks more impressive in photos than in person. I've been in the Milltown store plenty of times, and it feels rather gaudy, and also a bit dated at this point. Of course it probably doesn't help that the store doesn't have the widest or freshest selection. But I'd welcome a Quality Built remodel in this store. Sometimes less is more.
ReplyDeleteI do agree. I just think Quality Built looks a little flat in Middletown. The light boxes in the converted A&P's really take the simple décor to a higher level. Another problem with the Theme Park décor elements is they become giant dust traps that no one ever cleans.
DeleteSeeing the theme park decor in photos for the first time in years made me go back and look at some photos I took of an Albertsons in Gilbert, AZ last year (I might have sent them to you- if you don't have them and want them, let me know). It appears a lot of the more basic elements of this decor package originated as a standard Albertsons decor package, with lots of dust-collecting elements added.
DeleteWhen I first saw this at Milltown many, many years ago, I thought it was the most awesome thing ever to happen to grocery stores. Now I don't feel so strongly about it. Current Acme stores may be boring, but they're simple and elegant, which is probably what they thing most shoppers want. And maybe they do.
Yeah, simple is in. Just look at what Stop&Shop and Giant are doing these days. Gray paint and not much else. Quality Built is a good look but it sometimes turns out a little dull. This is not the case in some of the converted A&P stores where the walls are lit by light boxes...
Deletehttps://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zXA_MSINryc/WYNGA2-Ql9I/AAAAAAAAjaQ/w52t6CAzIecNCmjFk1HbSKRDunxcUgZ6wCLcBGAs/s1600/acme_style_Woodcliffs_Lakes_16.jpg
Ugh, yuck. I hate S&S's new decor. You can tell they bought a crap load of them... probably bringing in the signs by the truckload. That's what I like about QB, it's practically custom for every store.
DeleteThis store is also difficult to photograph. I was last here a few months ago while the renovation was finishing up, and I tried to take a few photos and actually got bumped into! The wall in the entrance vestibule, with "welcome to your ACME" has been removed and lets in so much natural light to the front end. Now there is two pronounced entrance and exits. The new space seems to be used for seasonal at this point....maybe a Starbucks down the road? It was time for Acme to renovate this store since Middletown is one of the fastest growing communities in the region. Within the past two years, Aldi and Lidl have also opened up.
ReplyDeleteAlso, here's some photos online from the architect company that designed this store - MMA: http://www.mma-architects.com/work/acme-middletown/
ReplyDeleteFor all the work that went into some parts of this remodel... I'm surprised at some of the more ignored aspects that you pointed out, such as the floor tile, the painted-over wood paneling above the meat counter (and likely the tile behind the service counters, too), and the odd patch job with plain white tile in the old Wild Harvest area. I have to agree with you, I think I like the before photos better, even if the new décor does brighten the place up a little.
ReplyDeleteAcme has a recent habit of remodeling stores and leaving the crappy old floors behind.
DeleteI'm surprised they didn't even put their new wood grain floors in the Produce Department. Acme has been putting in new floors around the perimeter for some remodels which would have worked out well here too.
DeleteAcme Style-- I agree... It's like a shadow of the store's former self, almost. I love those new wood grain floors... absolutely stunning.
DeleteIt's a shame they removed the old decor... wasn't this Acme's budget-busting decor? Both Yardville and Milltown have their decor. My crappy S&S still has it's early 2000's cover-it-up decor... Why?
ReplyDeleteAlso, the exterior of this store has the same awnings and color scheme of Clifton.
THE reason that the pharmacy was mived to the corner is two fold. That was originaly the pet food corner, then the pasta section, it became a dead corner of the store. Mean While shop lifters would roll carts full of prodyct around the pharmacy and out the in door
ReplyDeleteThe cure was to eliminate that blind spot and at the same time eliminate that dead corner by miving the pharmacy to that corner. The Giant is also being renovated at this time. The aldi dosent di much business a d the Lidl is in its death spiral. The town has apprived a condo development on the other end if the Acme Property. There is also a Walmart and a Foidlion on the other end if town. THE Acme is the destination for meat and seafoid in this TOWN
Lidl just opened, how can it be in its death spiral?
DeleteThe company is. Their US stores are underperforming and they've cancelled construction of many planned locations. Lidl's future is bleak.
DeleteUnderperforming, okay. Death spiral, give me a break.
DeleteLidl's CEO himself described their entrance to the US market “a singular catastrophe”. Death spiral or not, they're not going to be around for the long term.
DeleteGo into Lidl and most of the perishables have clearance stickers....
DeleteI just figure they need to be open a year or two before we sound the death knell, but maybe that's just me.
DeleteThere is one more former Acme in town, the original store located in main street. The stire was an American stores ,two door shop.The first door was the meat store, managed by the Meat Manager. The second door was the grocer managed by the Grocery Manager. This is why meat unions and grocery unions were formed separately. Interestingly enough the eastern shore Acmes were the last stores to be unionized in 1970 in the company. The store is now a Mexican Food Store, the two doors still exist but the dividing wall is gone.
ReplyDeleteDo you know the name of the store? I'll add it to the post.
DeleteILL GET THE NAME AND PHOTO I LUVE IN TOWN
ReplyDeleteAcme Style-- A question's been bugging me about this tour... you said that there's four stores that had this decor. I originally thought there were only two... Yardville and Milltown, but your article proved three... where is the fourth? Is it closed? I'm really dying to know... can't find it anywhere on the internet!
ReplyDeleteSwedesboro is/was the fourth store. A couple of photos on yelp show Quality Built going up on the walls. I have photos of the store taken years ago so I'll eventually do a "before" and "after" post.
Delete