Grand Opening of the Manahawkin Acme!

Photo: David P. Willis

Location: 609 E Bay Avenue, Manahawkin, NJ

The remodeled Manahawkin Acme held its grand reopening on Friday, May 18. The store debuted a whole new look for the interior as well as the exterior. I was particularly pleased to see Acme dumped Superfresh's DIY cabinets in the Deli and even retiled the walls! Acme did not retile the entire store. The flooring around the perimeter appears to be mostly unchanged although the grocery do appear to have new tiling. Regardless the store looks great! You can take a tour at app.com by lcicking here. For past coverage of the store, please click here.

Dover Acme's Final Days...

Photos Courtesy of Marv

Location: 1001 N Dupont Hwy, Dover, DE 

Marv received this email directing Acme  shoppers to
visit the nearby Safeway store. 

Dover Safeway welcomes Acme Shoppers!

Photo above courtesy of Marv

Location: 190 John Hunn Brown Rd, Dover, DE

Signs are up at the Dover Safeway welcoming Acme shoppers as the Dover location winds down. Marv will be getting us some photos of the store in its final days. You can check out some interior photos of the Safeway by clicking here. 

P.S.: Store posts will resume next week. An unexpected busy spell at work and an even more unexpected nasty cold has kept me from working on the blog for the past two weeks. 

Soon-to-be-former Acme – Lansdale, Pennsylvania

Photos courtesy of John from WISL1480.com

Location: 1150 Welsh Rd, Lansdale, PA 

The classic 90's Lansdale Acme is scheduled to close in June along with two other locations. Sad to see this store go as Acme has been a presence on this property for nearly 6 decades. The original store opened June 24, 1959 as the sole business on the massive property. As we recently saw with the Edgewood, Maryland store, the property was cleared and paved to make way for more stores which didn't arrive until many years later. According to the historic aerials, Acme was the lone business until at least 1971. Additional stores were eventually built creating the Lansdale Village.

Some additional information from JoshAustin on flicker:
"the original store closed no later than 1994 with the new Acme opening in 1997. originally the site of an older Acme which closed in the early 90s (no later than 1994), and a small shopping center called Lansdale Village. In the mid 90s the Acme and rest of the center were demolished for one large Acme, which opened in 1997 (and is a twin of the former Quakertown store)."

The Lansdale Acme has suffered from new competition moving into the area. ShopRite opened less than 3 miles north in 2011 and Wegmans opened about 3 miles south at the Montgomery Mall in 2013. Not helping is the fact that Acme sits alone, just like the original store once did, with no other accompanying stores to draw in customers.

I always hated those carts. Acme was never green. Not for one minute. Red, white, blue, yellow...yes. Green no.

90's Red/White/Blue décor painted over with the basic Albertsons Marketplace signage up on the walls. The floor throughout the store is unchanged since 1997.


The store received the Premium Fresh and Health aisle markers and light up store directory. You can also see the self-checkouts sign hanging from the ceiling. They have since been ripped out. John took these photos a few years ago during the "getting better" era. Since then, Acme has done nothing but get worse thanks to the company's flat out refusal to staff stores with cashiers. Their new tagline should be "Damn, that's a long line".


The Salad Bar remains in it original spot rather than being relocated to the Mellon Bar/Bakery walls.

The store is not without some nice upgrades. It must have performed well before getting stuck between ShopRite and Wegmans.


Coffin cases in frozen were not replaced with upright cases in the early 2000's like they were in other 90's stores.














The original registers remain in place having not been painted a color that matched the updated décor.



While putting this post together, I checked out the reviews on google to see what people were saying about the store. To be fair, there were quite a few positive reviews. I cherry picked the ones that mentioned high prices and/or terrible checkout experiences as these are two of Acme's mot serious problems of which they refuse to address. As you will see, the removal of the self-checkouts is a source of many complaints...

Mel
2 months ago
Pharmacy is helpful. Wish they had self checkout.

Mark D
5 months ago
Everything is overpriced, there's no more self checkout so expect a line. No reason to come here over shop rite or Giant if you have the option. 

Crystal Sackal
5 months ago
Decent, but some of their prices are WAY too high.

Nicole Lupacchino
7 months ago
Well stocked grocery store! I just wish the prices was lower.

Audrey Booker
8 months ago
They had good sales but the everyday items not so much

Stanford Burrell
8 months ago
Decent prices. No self check out.

Creativity Blog
10 months ago
Selection is ok, has no self checkout.

Andrea Jaffee
a year ago
Not enough lines open, takes awhile to check out.

Chris Faulkner
a year ago
My main complaint is that they got rid of there self service check outs which make quick trips into long trips sometimes waiting for cashers or lines.

Gabrielle Guerre-Chaley
a year ago
This ACME is going down hill fast. Very dirty and the employees don't seem happy.

AERIAL VIEWS

Still looks like a relatively new store from this vantage point.

HISTORIC IMAGES

2004

1999

1992

The original acme is at the bottom of the photo and in the photo below...


John shared this picture with us back in 2013. It was taken in May 1981.

1971

1969

1967

1965

1960

Thanks to John from WISL1480.com for bringing us BOTH of the Lansdale Acmes!

 

News Break: 
BROWN MILLS DAYS ARE NUMBERED 

Location: 80 Pemberton Browns Mills Road, Browns Mills NJ

Really hard to believe the abandoned pitched-roof Acme in Brown Mills is still standing. It has been empty since 1996 when Acme relocated to the Pine Grove Shopping Center. The township is currently moving forward with plans to purchase the property so it can be redeveloped. If a deal cannot be reached with the owner, the township will then move to have the property condemned essentially taking control from the owner. Either way, the days of the old Brown Mills Acme are definitely numbered. For more information on the townships plans check out this article on BurlingtonCountyTimes.com.

THIS JUST IN >>>

Woke up this morning to find this incredible photo in the Acme Style inbox! Huge thanks goes out to Leetta Tamn for taking the time to provide this classic photos for our enjoyment!! 

NO ONE WANTS THE
POMPTON PLAINS A&P 

Photo above from NorthJersey.com

Location: 63 Wanaque Ave Pompton Lakes, NJ 

This store has been the topic of many discussions here on the blog. Seemed like a decent location for for Acme to acquire, especially since Acme once had a store on this very property, but the company passed and the store remains abandoned. ShopRite reportedly toured the store recently but wound up passing as well. So what gives? A&P must have done decent business to have survived until the very end. Turns out, there is simply too much competition in the surrounding area to make this a viable location for a large supermarket. Both Walmart and Target have stores close by with Stop & Shop just minutes away. I would think ShopRite could easily crush the Stop & Shop and lure plenty of people away from Target and Walmart with the extensive fresh foods they offer in their newer stores but apparently they don't agree. You can read a detailed article about the struggles of finding a replacement for the A&P at NorthJersey.com.

Former Acme – Edgewood, Maryland

Photo above courtesy of Will from B-More Retail on flickr

Location: 2216 Hanson Rd, Edgewood, MD
Opened October 6, 1965
Closed due to fire June 11, 1966
Reopened June 11, 1966
Final closing date unknown

Not a lot of clues remain along the front but around back the store is still all Acme....

Acme's parking lot sign is now sign-less.


Food Lion is located on the right side of the shopping center.

1982

1970

1966

The parking lot was built for a larger shopping center which didn't materialize until years later.