Decor Directory!

Below are summaries of all decor packages
used in Acme stores from the 60's
through present day…

60's Fish-eye Decor

Classic image courtesy of Michael Lisicky

The 1960's saw Acme focusing more on the look and design of their interiors. Previous decor packages consisted mostly of simple lettering above the departments. There is also very little photographic evidence to document the evolution of Acme's interiors prior to the 60's. Even for this package, we have only two pictures that give us a look inside. The photo above if from the Clayton store. As you can see, the figh-eye sign that we're all very used to seeing on the outside of the stores was also used on the inside. Below if a photo from the original Lincroft store. If you look closely, you can see the fish-eye signs along the back wall...

Classic image courtesy of Patrick Richardson

70's Colonial Decor

Somers Point store photos courtesy of Michael Lisicky

This decor package began in the 60's and was used until the mid 80's. As you can see in the photo above the package didn't start out with a lot of colonial flare. It really hit it's full stride in the 70's and was the standard decor for nearly all Acme stores during that decade. The decor was officially retired when the 80's remodel swept through most of the chain. Some stores were passed over for remodels and kept this decor until the late 90's. 

The Produce Department flooring. Introduced well into the 70's when this decor package became more deluxe for newer stores and some remodeled stores.

The 70's lettering still in place over the Deli at the Sea Isle City store! The store has been remodeled with what looks like bits and pieces of several different decor packages... some of which were probably brought in from stores that closed. Thankfully they left the old Deli sign in place!

The Meat Department signage was virtually the same in every Acme throughout this era.


The abandoned Brown Mills store still has remnants of the Colonial decor. The walls were painted beige at some point with the signs left above each department. When the letters were removed, the original wall colors were revealed. 

The fish-eye logo which was used from the early 60's all the way through to 1986. This sign remained on many stores well into the 90's. The store in Manasquan, New Jersey is the very last stores to still have the world's most awesome supermarket sign!

Some great pictures from the American Stores 1978 Annual Report showing off the very deluxe version of the 70's Colonial Decor package...

The lamps on the wall were a big feature to the deluxe version of this decor package. They were not actually wired to anything so they were never lit.

I do hope to track down a photo of the Bakery wall paper. It was very 70's with a brown and gold foil pattern. Still holding out hope that will get to see it again someday!

80's Remodel

The 80's Remodel. Debuted around 1986. Acme's first new decor package in nearly 20 years swept through nearly the entire chain by the late 80's. With the new decor came several additional service departments that were generally not yet available in most stores.
They included...

Expanded Floral with refrigerated cases

Salad Bar

Cheese from Around the World

Full Service Seafood

Hot Foods

In-Store Bakery

West Coast Video Rentals

Stores received all new cases throughout

And... the systematic removal of Customer Service desks/counters in favor of the ill-conceived CSR stand. Also referred to as the "California front end". Went over about as well as a California earthquake.

Although Acme focused on remodeling and expanding existing stores during this period, the 80's Remodel look did make it's way into several new "super" stores that were built at the time. These new stores were huge in comparison to the largest existing Acmes of the time and included additional departments like full service photo, pharmacy and even an small appliance and gift department. The newer stores wall graphics were made up of darker colors while the colors of the checkerboard floor were toned down.

The 80's Remodel look pretty much went out with the 80's... running only about 4 years. Many stores were done again in the early 90's with the Checkerboard Arch decor (coming up next!).

The Seafood sign was usually capped off with a 1/2 ship steering wheel. You can see one below in the former Adams Avenue store in Philadelphia...

"Lancaster Brand" went from taking up most of the back wall in the 70's to being an after thought under the awning. 

The 80's Remodels included the arrival of the "Eggs" department.

The checkerboard floor. A bold choice indeed. It can still be seen in many Acmes today (as you can see here in the Phoenixville store) where the decor has been updated but the floor has not. Produce was green... Deli orange... Meat red... Dairy, Frozen Food and front end blue, Bakery gold and grocery aisles beige.

The red oval logo debuted with the 80's remodel. It was relatively short lived as the block-letter logo debuted in the early 90's. 

Checkerboard Arches

One problem coming out of the 80's remodel was that stores began to appear dark and dreary. Something missing from the 80's remodels were improvements in the lighting. Added to that issues was tan color used on the walls. Many Acmes began to feel dull compared to other grocery stores of the time. Acme addressed these issues in the early 90's by rolling out the "Checkerboard Arches" decor. Walls were painted bright white, checkerboard patterns with rich, bold colors were put up, and new light boxes were hung from the ceilings. Stores that received the deluxe version of the package had lights installed along the tops of cases illuminating the walls. This is one of my favorite decor packages. It did a huge favor to smaller outdated stores by bringing much needed life and excitement to the look of the store.

Department names were moved up to ceiling preventing them from being blocked by merchandise placed on top of cases... something Acme was notorious for especially in their smaller stores back in the 80's and 90's. You could find park benches, bicycles, TV's, VCR's, beach chairs, microwaves, coolers, garbage cans, ferns, barbecues, air conditioners.... there was hardly an item in existence that Acme wouldn't try to sell.

The Checkerboard Arches went into some stores that were passed over during the 80's Remodel like here at the Washington store.

A sampling of some merchandise that could be found on the cases.

The Middlesex store is the only one I've seen with a cursive font used for the Deli. The cursive font was usually reserved for the In-Store Bakery.

The new light boxes over Produce and the checkouts. Larger stores also had them installed over the frozen food cases.

The blue light boxes over the checkouts. You can see some remnants of the 70's decor along the back wall... the orange and brown panels lined the Meat Department until multi-tiered meat cases were installed which covered the panels.

Many stores were done just in blue and green. The red and blue combination was more often seen along the back of the store for the Deli and Meat Departments.

Hanging lights were put into the Bakery and Deli departments. Here you can see the cursive font used in the Bakeries.

Faux awnings were also added to some of the service departments. It's tough to see the one in this photo there along the windows... might have been the plant and floral section here.


The death of the CSR stand could not have come soon enough. Checkerboard Arch stores saw the return of the Customer Service "department" often coupled with an express register to the side. The store safes were moved back off of the sales floor to more appropriate locations that were not within reach of the customers. Chances were much great of finding assistance here thant at the infrequently manned CSR stands.

90's Red, White and Blue

Apologies for the poor picture quality here. These were all taken with an old cell phone at the Morrisville PA store. Didn't realize how bad they were until I started preparing this post. I will be stopping by this store again soon for a reshoot. Unitl then...

Welcome to the 90's Red, White and Blue decor... part of a complete floor to ceiling reinvention of the Acme grocery store as we had known it to be. By the mid 90's, American Stores had finally gotten serious about building new stores and, more importantly, replacement stores to it's severely aging fleet. Up to this point, Acme had focused largely on remodels and expansions of existing stores which, despite all the efforts, still kept Acme lagging behind the competition. Enter the 90's "mega-store" concept...

The gigantic Quakertown store is a great example of the new 90's stores, dwarfing all other Acmes that have come before. The layout of the sales floor remained similar to the late 80's superstores... now super-sized with expanded service departments. The biggest change in the floor plan came with the relocation of Customer Service to the front and center of the store with double entrances and exits on either side. These new stores were built in and around the Philly market area never reaching into North Jersey, Maryland or Delaware.

The Produce alcove... an Acme staple for many many years running... continued on here, bigger and better than ever with the addition of huge arched windows to the rear.

Arches continuing to play a role for the third decor package in a row. Nice to finally see custom designed aisle markers to match the decor. Gone are the bulky plastic ones which hung in Acmes for decades.

The Red, White and Blue decor is gone now from most stores although not due to full remodels. Many stores received what's referred to as "repaints" which basically entailed a fresh coat of paint on the walls and a switching out of the department lettering.

The iconic red oval logo bit the dust sometime in the early 90's in favor of the block letter logo. This logo did not sweep very quickly through the chain. I may have first seen it in '93 or '94. The red lettering falls a little flat here on the brick facade. Acme has recently switched the logo to white on stores being remodeled with the "Premium Fresh and Heathly" decor.

Convenience Store

So here were are heading into the late 90's. Acme has about four types of stores at this point...

1. New and remodeled stores with the Red, White and Blue decor concentrated in and around the core Philly market.

2. Checkerboard Arch decor in decent volume small and medium sized stores.

3. The 80's Remodel still in place in stores whose sales have fallen since the 80's and/or stores that Acme isn't interested in upgrading. Many of these stores having the 80's upgrades removed like Full Service Seafood, Salad Bars and In-Store Bakeries now reduced to just baking bread.

4. And believe it or not... a good amount of small, low volume stores still sporting the 70's decor.

I'm not 100% on how things played out at this time but here's what I speculate... American Stores decides to put itself up for sale. I believe the company was having problems but not sure how severe they were. Before showing stores to prospective buyers, Acme needed to freshen up old rundown locations on the cheap. Nothing says neglect like 70's decor when everyone has Y2K on their minds . Although, to their credit, some of the 70's decor stores were looking better than the 80's remodels.

Enter the "Convenience Store" decor... the one and only name I did NOT make up! This was by no means a remodel. It entailed nothing more that repainting the walls and putting up new department signage. The look based loosely on the Red, White and Blue decor of the early 90's. Some stores did receive new cases if desperately needed while others received cases removed from stores that had closed. Flooring was not replaced. 80's remodels kept their checkerboard tiles and the only 70's decor store that I know of getting new flooring was Sparta... but only portions of the floor were replaced.

The Convenience Store concept included the reduction of merchandise offered by stores. General Merchandise took the biggest hit. The idea was to convert these locations back to old school grocery stores rather than small stores desperately trying to be super-stores. The Sparta location was touted as one of the test locations for this format. Nearly 25% of shelving space was removed from this already impossibly small store creating nothing more than a big 7/11. Shockingly, it did not prove successful. Sparta closed in 2001. Nearly all other "Convenience Store" formats were closed soon after Albertsons purchased American Stores in 1999. The only one I know of still open today is the Acme in Fallston, Maryland.

This is the abandoned store in Berlin, New Jersey. It started with the 70's decor as you can see remnants of along the Meat Department. The brown and orange paneling was covered over by tall meat cases during the 80's remodel. This store had the checkerboard flooring til the very end.

This looks varied a bit from store to store. The biggest difference is the font used on the walls. I don't think I have ever seen the same one in two different stores. Acme probably purchased whatever kind of letters they could get there hands on rather than designing custom lettering.