Acme Style: NJ: Cape May North

Showing posts with label NJ: Cape May North. Show all posts

Friday, July 22, 2011

Jersey Shore Acme – North Cape May NJ

Location: 3845 Bayshore Road, North Cape May NJ

Photos courtesy of Rob Ascough

The arrival of the North Cape May Acme to the blog nearly completes our tour of the southern most portion of New Jersey. One more Cape May location to go. I have had a little trouble keeping them all straight. For others who may have had the same problems, here's a list of the Acmes in the Cape May area:

Cape May Court House/Swainton: 15 Avalon Blvd
Cape May Court House: 11 Court House South Dennis Road
North Cape May: 3845 Bayshore Road (This post)
Cape May: Lafayette & Ocean Streets, Cape May NJ

Also in the Southern most tip of New Jersey:

Sea Isle City: 63rh & Landis Ave
Wildwood: 5300 Park Blvd

Rob traveled to this location last August to photograph it for the blog. From the outside, it's certainly not the most exciting Acme location we've seen. As he explored the area, he did stumble across a very interesting surprise that will be revealed down below.

Update: Originally I reported that this location had been a former Jamesway and later Ames. That is incorrect. The building has always been an Acme. Thanks to Zach for clearing that up in the comments.

A few shots of the interior...

Albertsons Marketplace decor. 80's checkerboard flooring remains in place, with a bit of a twist in this area with the combination of blue, beige and white tiles. The flooring, seen here and in the images below, would indicate that the Acme opened in the very early 90's at the latest. By 1993, Acme had rolled out the Red/White/Blue decor for it's new stores and the checkerboard flooring would have been history. We'll see in the historical aerial shots that the shopping center was built sometime between 1987 and 1995.

The wall tiling might be leftover from the 80's decor. The green used in Produce and Deli went from kelly green in the remodels to dark green in newly built stores. One thing is for sure, it's not the usual tiling done in Albertson Marketplace remodels. The floor is all 80's-Deli here.

Premium Fresh and Healthy aisle markers throughout the store. The 80's beige and white tiling in the grocery aisles.

A look around back...

And up for some aerials...

As previously mentioned, the historical aerials show the entire shopping center arriving sometime between 1987 and 1995. Obviously much closer to the 1987 mark.

Heading across the street...

The former pithed-roof Acme of North Cape May! Rob happened upon it by accident as he was heading out of the area and stopped by for a closer look.

The current satellite images show the former Acme as being a movie theater. This is no longer the case.

As you can see, the pitched-roof had an addition put onto the left side. The store opened in July 1963. Closing date unknown. The addition was done sometime between 1970 and 1987, according to the historical aerials. Additions were commonly put on pitched-roof stores during the 80's remodels but there is no way to know for sure.

Looks as though exit doors were added out of each theater.

And now to Rob's photos of the old pitched-roof store as it was last August...

The movie theater is gone and the building was undergoing major renovations. Would it be great to get a look inside?

Back Corner Cafe isn't kidding. Not exactly a prime location. Judging from the leasing company's website, nearly all of the Acme/Movie Theater building is still available for leasing.

Most of the old Acme elements still in place looking fresh and clean with a new coat of paint.

And now, let's take a look inside...

Wow! Rob took a chance walking up to the door not thinking there would be much to see. Quite a surprise. Look along the back wall and you can see Acme's second floor where the break room, bathrooms and compressor room used to be. We've never had this kind of look at the interior skeleton of a pitched-roof store. The "Mezzanine" remains in place. If you scroll all the way down on the leasing companies website, you can see in the illustration that it is included in the available space.