Acme Style: Advertisement

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Monday, May 11, 2015

"The Story of Louella Butter"

Images courtesy of Greg Prichard

These classic images are from a 1950 Acme Louella Butter publicity booklet. The majority of the booklet consists of the history of butter with these stunning classic Acme images.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Another New Ultra-Modern Acme!

Classic ad courtesy of Amy Macnamara

Location: 51 North Woodbury Avenue, Pitman, NJ

The Parade of Progress came roaring into Pitman, New Jersey on July 18. 1956. Acme opened this ultra-modern store packed with the latest shopping conveniences including one I have never seen before. This place had an in-store bank! If you look closely at the entrance, you'll see the teller window just to the left of the doors. The rendering also has a generic "BRANCH BANK" sign on the left corner above the stores vestibule. Look below for a zoomed in view...

Amy discovered this vintage ad tucked away in her Grandmother's sewing drawer. She hopped online to research the ad's date and wound up stumbling across Acme Style. Unfortunately the location had not yet been featured on the blog so she emailed a photo and asked if I had any information. I was able to pin down the opening date of the store but that was about it. If anyone has more information on the store's history, please leave a comment below.

2002

The Acme is gone. TD Bank now located on the property. The Acme building survived until at least 1995...

1995

No way of knowing from this vantage point if Acme still operated here. The building had been expanded by 1995 but it looks as though another store was added to the left side.

1965

Look at the size of the parking lot!

1963

1957

1956

I did a rough count of parking spaces in this image since the lines are nice and clear. Came up with 165 spots!

1951

Thanks to Amy for sharing her incredible find with us!

Friday, May 23, 2014

Acme – Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania

Thanks to this RICLO ad, we're getting a look at the original Clifton Heights Acme! This store was one of the very first pitched-roof store prototypes. Acme began rolling out these models in 1957 to compete better with Penn Fruit's unique, arched-roof stores. Both the architectural style and signage of these stores would undergo several incarnations before a final prototype was chosen. The one shown in the RILCO ad was made with wooden arches. This allowed for the store to be free of support columns allowing for more flexibility with the store's layout. The final piched-roof stores would be made with steel arches and have support columns in the store. It would be interesting to know why the switch was made. Cost? Longevity? As far as I know, none of the wooden stores exist today.

Look Mom, no columns! Check out all those registers!!

Not much effort put into the design of the sign. No awnings across the front on this early model. There are flat-roofed wings on both sides of the store. Hard to tell in this photo.

Some other early models...

The photo above is from a Plexiglas ad from 1957 posted on the blog back in 2009. No mention of the location of the Acme in the ad. The store appears to be made of wood but it's difficult to tell for sure from this photo. Slightly better sign than the Clifton Heights store.

Unknown Acme location. The store was featured in the "Check Acme Fast" advertisement. Architecturally similar to the store in the Plexiglas ad above but with another version of the Acme sign.

This postcard appears to be showing the Acme in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania but according to a comment in the store's post, this is not the Shickshinny Acme. Not sure if the store seen here was ever a real location. It may just be a rendering of a planned store.

After several rounds of prototypes, this is the model that won out!

Photo courtesy of Rob Ascough

South Plainfield still looking great in the late 90's! Today this location is an Aldi. For additional coverage of this classic, please click here.

Now for a look at the current

Acme of Clifton Heights...

Location: 5300 Baltimore Pike, Clifton Heights, PA

The original pitched-roof model, along with the entire shopping center, was torn down at some point. This 90's "fortress" model was built at the opposite end of the property from where the Acme once stood. A Home Depot was also built on the property.

Snow and ice falling off of the awning here.

I don't know if that is Plexiglas but that's what I want to call it. Pathmark used a similar type of awning in their 90's stores. I believe this is the only Acme to have this feature.

The welcome sign looks to be left over from the 90's Red/White/Blue decor package. We're standing in the right side entrance here but will jump over to the left before going in...

I saw this sign at a couple of Acmes on this particular road trip. The stores smelled like chicken too!

The deluxe Albertsons Marketplace remodel here. Love the tube lights in Produce.

Quick look across the front-end. Check out how high the ceiling is!

A world of difference from the poor remodels that just had letters stuck on the walls.

Apparently no one could come up with a couple of descriptive words t put under the Seafood and Meat sign.

90's tiles still in place.

Almost all new frozen food cases.

Not sure if I've seen this before… dairy cases on both sides of the last aisle. This store could really use the new PF&H aisle markers. The ones here are looking a little busted.