Location: 80 Pemberton Browns Mills Road, Browns Mills NJ
I'm sure I don't need to mention this, but for the newer Acme Style fans out there... there is nothing in the grocery world that excites me more than pitched-roof/A-frame Acme! Nothing. These stores are the most spectacularly designed of all grocery stores in the history of the world. It's true. This one is looking a tad lackluster having been abandoned for 16 years now. After 30 years of tried and true service to the residents of Brown Mills, the store saw it's last days in 1995 when a giant new replacement store was built just a few blocks away. Back in the 60's these stores were a dime a dozen. Today, there remains only one in it's original form... the
Clayton Acme. A few abandoned ones are still floating around out there and they will all be making their way to the blog in the future. For now, let's check out all the wonders of the old Brown Mills store...
This is the basic model of the pitched-roof building... awning over the entrance only. The Clayton store mentioned above is the large, deluxe model with a full awning and much wider foot print.
The blue tarp was recently added to seal over the leaking roof.
Dairy and Frozen receiving on this side. Not sure what the wood framed opening could be there above the doors.
This was most likely Meat receiving. I didn't get close up of the doors for some reason. Always find plenty of missed photo opportunities when I get back from a long road trip. But too... the local police were making frequent stops in the parking lot. Had to get the pics and get out.
Grocery receiving here. If you look along the roof line you'll see that the beam for lifting compressors is missing. It would normally be sticking out of the roof above that door up near the peak. You can see an example of that at the
Princeton Junction store.
Back around to the front where we see the produce receiving doors. I wonder if we can see through those windows to the inside?
Yep, June 20th proved to be my... and your... lucky day. I kept postponing a trip to this store since I was aware that is was completely boarded up. On this day however... the were boards missing. And in we go!
Would you get a load of that! The 70's Colonial Decor lettering on the walls. Actually the letters themselves have been removed but due to a beige paint job, the old 70's colors were left under the letters. To see how this store would have looked back in the day, check out this
picture from the
Somers Point store.
Looks like they hit this place with the 80's Remodel wall paint. May have painted all of the letters brown like they did in the
Sea Isle City store. The 80's checkerboard floor made it into a section of this store as well. We'll see that down below.
"Fresh Produce" here. Haven't seen "Fresh" in a 60's/70's store before. What are the windows there for? I seem to think there may have been a managers offices in this back room area but these windows would have been covered over with the produce cases.
The Corner Deli still displaying some scrumptious party platters. The framing is from the 80's Remodel package.
The checkerboard flooring looks to have gone in just along the front end and down the frozen food aisle. Lots of minor fixes-up here but not major remodel done in decades.
The old bread receiving room which would have been converted to office space.
Bakery in yellow.
6 checkouts looking rather tightly spaced especially over by the office.
Ahhhh... one last view of the interior. We're not going to see anything like this again. Or will we? Never can tell what I have stored in the Acme Style Vault.
Home of the great fish-eye logo sign. May still be up there under the boards. To see what the sign looked like in it's glory days, check out this shot of the abandoned
Parkesburg store.
The old Acme parking lot sign is now looking for a new tenant. Many attempts to redevelop this property have yielded zero results.
Now on to the aerials...
2007
1995
1970
1963
1956
Over to the replacement store just a few blocks away...
Location: 18 Broadway, Brown Mills NJ
Great looking exterior for a 90's store. This model is a big improvement over the Hamilton store from last week's post which was built around the same time.
"Albertsons Marketplace" remodel with lots of remnants of the 90's Red/White/Blue package.
Most of the signage and trim remain from the 90's decor package. The department letters were switched out and the red grid pattern removed...
In the picture below from the Morrisville store, you can see how the old decor at Brown Mills was mostly just painted over during the remodel.
Always tough getting "Lancaster Meats" in one shot without laying on the floor.
As of last June, this store had not received the Premium Fresh and Healthy aisle markers.
Nice crowd there in the parking lot. The roof painted white when this shot was taken.
Looks like they're starting to paint the roof. You can see a white section in the front and what appear to be painting supplies scattered around.
And the painting was done by the time these shots were captured by satellites...
2007
1995
Construction not yet started when this image was taken. Perhaps someone can confirm for us when the old store closed and the new one opened. Seems like ground should have been broken as of 1995.
And once again... boarded up. Made it there just in time. The interior will live on for eternity her at Acme Style.
