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.
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.
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!
Funny that you said the reviews are negative... someone asked a question on Google Maps about a fixture sale, and they had several responses, all saying that they're sad to see the store go.. and that it was almost the only game in town for specialty goods (like New York brands).
ReplyDeleteI actually said there were a lot of positive reviews for the store but that I had copied just the ones complaining about the prices and self checkouts being removed.
DeleteI know, but I found it interesting that there were so many negative reviews... the store actually has an above-average rating for a 90's Acme. Sorry if I didn't make that clear.
DeleteSo now Lansdale will have three empty supermarkets?
ReplyDeleteI actually thought the Lansdale Acme did a half decent business. Always was pretty busy when I was in the store.
ReplyDelete