Coal Township Acme Revisited!

Photos courtesy of John from WISL1480.com

Today we're returning to the former Coal Township Acme four years after our first visit. The BRL Grocery Outlet has since left the building and it now stands abandoned. John stopped by the store earlier this year to find it still a remarkably intact Acme inside and out A second batch of photos below will unfortunately reveal vandals have finally broken in and have begun to trash the place.


This store was a classic 33M model.


If you look closely, you can see Acme's original Produce letters still on the wall.


Views through the windows along the front of the store...


This wooden structure in front of the checkouts still baffles me. What on Earth was it's purpose? Definitely added after the Acme left. Have to wonder if someone had hit one of those columns with a full cart could the whole thing come crashing down? What is the point of it all??


The crazy thing about seeing this store and being a person of a particular age, I can remember walking into Acmes identical to this (layout and décor) back in the early 80's thinking... "Wow, this store is huge! And so modern!!" How times have changed.






Bakery Department tile here on the right.




Acme's clock still above the exit. We'll have a look at the front of it down below.


Could these seriously be the original ceiling tiles? They are in extraordinary condition throughout the store. The lights are ALL Acme. Standard issue in stores built in late 70's and early 80's.

FAST FORWARD TO SEPTEMBER... 

Photos courtesy of @

Better view through the front door thanks to vandals who have now gotten in the place. Still blows my mind that Acme's Produce Department has barely changed four decades later.


The place is sadly getting trashed.






The refrigerated cases you're seeing here are not left over from the Acme. They were added later a and place several feet from the Dairy wall.

READY FOR A FULL INTERIOR TOUR? 

HANG ON TO YOU HAT
AND HIT PLAY!  

Former Acme – Fallston, Maryland

Photos courtesy of Will aka glamorous indierockandroll on flickr

Location: 2315 Bel Air Road, Fallston, MD 

Acme closed here in February 2011. Independent grocer Harvest Fare opened in the space shortly thereafter. I had wondered what the new owner had done with the interior. Articles about the Harvest Fare moving in did mention renovations were planned for the store. To view the store while it was still an awesome Acme, please click here.


A few weeks ago, Will sent in a couple of interior photos. He pointed out that an ACE Hardware department had set up shop right in the grocery aisles. The company is currently pursuing the store-with-in-a-store concept to grow sales. You can read more about that by clicking here.


Will also mentioned how he noticed some Safeway decor elements around the interior. While looking at the first couple of photos he had sent in, I realized the WHOLE store is done in Safeway's decor! Found that to be very strange as did Will. I believe the decor here is what Safeway was using prior to its "lifestyle" concept. You can see a sampling of that decor package at the former Norristown Safeway by clicking here (scroll down past the former Acme/Big Lots).


Let's head inside an enjoy Will's outstanding tour of the store...


The checkerboard floor is still there! You can see the ACE Hardware department takes up about 2 1/2 aisles. ACE's aisle markers are side mounted rather than hanging from the ceiling. Notice Safeway decor on the walls including the word "FRESH".


A look down the Produce aisle....


As I've mentioned in past posts of 33M stores, produce cases ran along the produce aisle right where you see the beige and blue tiles meet. The Produce department used to be very secluded from the rest of the store. Those cases and the shelving from the one side of aisle one were removed in the 90's to open up the departments.


It's hard to tell from the photos but it looks like some new cases have been put in while others are fixed up cases leftover from the 80's remodel.


I think the Safeway decor looks pretty good in here and actually works well with the checkerboard floor.


The tiled back wall is left over from Acme.




The back end of the ACE Hardware aisles.


Center aisle in the ACE aisles.


Nice wide shot of the interior! Safeway aisle markers hanging from the ceiling.






SuperValu is Harvest Fare's supplier. I remember reading about that as the grocer was preparing to take over the building. A similar situation happened at the former Acme in Jersey City. A win-win for  SuperValu. They got to loose the hassle of owning the stores but kept their products on the shelves. You can see the redesigned Wild Harvest logo on the display there. SuperValu recently relaunched the line of health food.


Freezers along the back of the store.


The installation of new frozen food cases at some point cost the Frozen Food aisle some of it's blue tiles.


These stainless steal panels along the tops of the cases are a nice touch, I have to say. I think overall the store looks really great.


Close-up a the Safeway aisle marker.




They're still using Acme's carts!


So the million dollar question is... how did an old Safeway decor package wind up in this place? I certainly don't have the answer. Would make more sense to see some form of SuperValu decor in here.


This is a beautiful site! An original Acme cart coral gate.


The side of the store with the ACE Hardware sign being where Acme's sign used to be...





Around back...





Now for a look around the rest of the shopping center which is in a sad state of disrepair...








A CVS was located right next to the Acme.


Abandoned now. The CVS has relocated.


Former Acme parking lot sign...





The same sign in the Acme days...




Have to wonder about the after of Harvest Fare with the rest of the center dying a pretty miserable death.

But wait, there's more! 

(See next post for more Harvest Fare fare)