Edgewater ACME to become ShopRite! (surprise, surprise)

Location: Location: 481 River Road, Edgewater, NJ

The Edgewater ACME shuttered on August 15th with ShopRite's "coming soon" signs going up almost immediately. Mystery solved! I was able to speak with a current employee of ACME and was told ShopRite, in fact, outbid ACME on the lease. I was also told that this store had one of the most expensive leases of any ACME in New Jersey. Makes sense as this is an upper-class, densely populated area with next to no room for any additional stores or shopping centers to be built. Due to the extremely high lease, the Edgewater ACME may not have been terribly profitable. I have noticed a steady decline in business here over the past few years. Not sure why. No additional competition had moved into the area and ACME was the only standard supermarket around. The interior had been getting a bit tired as ACME never did a full Quality Built remodel. Strange resets had also happened in the past year, giving me the impression things just weren't working here anymore. 

In the first photo of the post, we see ShopRite has erased the remaining evidence of Pathmark. Interestingly, this is the only work that has been done to the store so far. It has been closed for two weeks with months of preparation time and literally nothing is happening here. The interior is completely untouched. Has me wondering if Inserra* will doing anything at all. It looks like everything was purposely left in place, including the self-checout terminals! ACME even left all of their carts. 

*Assuming this is Inserra owned as are the other ShopRites in the area. In my opinion, Inserra runs the absolute worst ShopRites of all. Defunct pharmacies, shuttered service departments, scaled back fresh offerings are the norm in their stores. 

Will Shoprite gut the former pharmacy or just wall it over with a Doritos display? I'm surprised ACME didn't, at the very least, tear the logos off the walls around the interior. 

Tough to see inside on a few photos with the signage added to the vestibule windows. 

Baffled by the self-checkouts terminals remaining. Could ACME not use these in other stores? ShopRite certainly won't be using them. Or will they if this is a bare-bones conversion?

Register stands stripped but looking like they're prepped for reuse. Will Inserra put signage on the checkout lights or leave bare bulbs like their Columbia Park location? 

ACME carts left behind. At one point this store had received a ton of the new black carts but then most seemingly disappeared. Any remaining ones have been removed.

Cart corrals remain with ACME signage removed. Perhaps ShopRite compensated ACME for all the items that were left behind. At this point, it's looking like ShopRite is just gonna move right in.  

I will begrudgingly cover this store when it reopens. Really hoping the place gets some upgrades. ACME was looking a little rough in the end but at this point I don't have much hope for an improved shopping experience. The other Inserra ShopRites in the area are among the saddest supermarkets you could ever step foot in. 

Closing: ACME – Edgewater, NJ

IT'S A WRAP IN EDGEWATER!

Location: Location: 481 River Road, Edgewater, NJ

Stopped by Edgewater yesterday to do a little shopping and was shocked to see the store is rapidly calling it quits. No longer being stocked and circular not being honored. Most of the store is 30% off but that's not as exciting as it sounds as ACME has pulled much of the merchandise out of the store. With four other ACME's very close by, merchandise has most likely been moved to those stores to avoid taking the 30% hit. While an official announcement has yet to be made, it is believed that ShopRite was able to obtain the lease here which was set to expire in August. So ACME is sadly out and even sadder, an Inserra ShopRite is on its way in. The last thing this area needs is another filthy, failing, Pharmacy-free Inserra ShopRite but looks like that's what we're gonna get. 

ACME is reminding shoppers that 3 other stores are very close by, with West New York being the closest. That store remains one of ACME's very last stores to be remodeled since the A&P days. 

ACME's produce department here has been outstanding, having improved dramatically in recent years. Not looking forward to ShopRite's moldy and bruised produce, which they are famous for. ACME also did an excellent job promoting healthier supermarket food options, while ShopRite fills its stores with endless displays of Doritos and Ding Dongs. 

The store will be closing "on or about" August 15th. I can't imagine it making it that long, considering how low inventory is 2 months out. 

Pharmacy signage both inside and out has been removed. I didn't see any signs saying where the prescriptions have been moved to. I would assume West New York but perhaps that's too far, considering the amount of pharmacies close by. 27 years later and this store will no longer have a pharmacy. Inserra shuttered all of their in-store pharmacies after failing to make them profitable. 

CLOSING: Edgewater, New Jersey

ACME LOSES LEASE
TO SHOPRITE?

Location: 481 River Road, Edgewater, NJ

The ACME in Edgewater, New Jersey, notified its 115 employees on Friday May 15th that they would be laid off and the store would be closing by August 15th. Many of the articles online did not site a specific reason while others did mention the store had lost its lease. Shortly thereafter, comments online were stating that ShopRite was able to obtain the lease, giving ACME the shaft. Currently there is no official confirmation of ShopRite's involvement although it does seem plausible. I have wondered for years if ShopRite would build a store in Edgewater as land is continually stripped of former industrial plants. Alas, ShopRite may have found its spot at ACME's expense. Unfortunately for us locals, if this store becomes a ShopRite it will be operated by Inserra, which I personally find to be the worst ShopRite operator in all the land. Many of their stores operate with reduced and totally eliminated services. Pharmacies all closed, hot foods gone, bakeries operating at reduced capacity, deli cases abandoned with walls of Dorito displays in front of them. It's all very strange to me as ShopRite as a whole is wildly successful. 

I wonder if Inserra would even do much to upgrade the stores prior to taking over. As great as this ACME is, the store is showing its age in many areas. For some reason ACME has not done the level of remodeling here as they've done in so many other locations including Fort Lee, Hoboken, and the two Jersey City stores. So as we wait word on the fate of this store, let's revisit some its quirks.  

The spot left by Pathmark's Bella Cafe (seen below) has been a struggle for ACME to utilize. The last significant remodel saw this case added as an extension of the produce department. For years this case had fresh and fruit and vegetables but recenlty all was switched out for bottled drinks. The space behind this case has been a dead zone. It does get transformed into a booming floral shop for Mother's Day weekend.  

Pathmark's flooring remains throughout most noticeably in the produce department. While nearly every ACME out there had received hardwood flooring. Edgewater continues to go without.

The last remodel also saw the removal of Pathmark's long abandoned "Live Bistro". (Photo down below) ACME added in an Asian food service counter which I was guessing would not go the distance and it has not. Around the right corner, ACME added cases for grab and go foods. Nice idea but the cases were placed too far into the concourse and has often made the self-checkout area a congested, confusing mess. 

ACME also shortened the first few asiles to allow for the addition of a mini seasonal asile that ran along the newly opened space. That shelving was all recently removed, hence the abundance of Hot Wheel displays. This tile patchwork was shown on the blog previously and still remains a mystery. Was it so difficult to get white tile? 

Seasonal shelving gone. 

The updated red signage has finally made it into all stores, at least that I've seen. The swap from the previous black signs with a handwritten type font seemed to drag on for years. 

If there's one thing ACME loves, its water! This aisle has been reconfigured so many times I couldn't begin to count. Just recently reset yet again, switching categories all around. 

I was told during the last significant remodel, that Pathmark's old milk cases would finally get replaced with refrigerators with doors. As you can see in the further off case, racks are filled with product and then rolled into place. Apparently the cost of the upgrade was out of the budget so the old cases remain to this day. 

Adding doors to the dairy cases is yet another popular ACME upgrade which never happened here. From the looks of it these cases cannot be retrofitted with doors. A look at the old Pathmark decor is shown below. 

So a few years back, ACME went on a rampage installing additional "card only" self checkouts in their stores. They were super helpful in reducing wait times but in the past year or two they have been taken out of commision in all ACME's I shop in. Here at the Edgewater store I've been told they didn't have enough staff to monitor the checkouts, yet they have recently been reopened and I never see more than one attendant overseeing all nine self-checkouts. 

VHS drop box remains on the outside of the store! Will it hold on as a new tenant takes over?

Back in 2015!

Will ShopRtie take over? It has also been reported, in all of one article online, that Sprout's Famers Market is coming to this very shopping center in 2027. At the time of the article, there were no vacancies here for the store to move into and it's highly doubtful Sprout's has the capital to swipe ACME's lease out from under them. I would gladly take a Sprouts over ShopRite but I doubt that will be the case. 

New Checkouts in Edgewater!

Location: 481 River Rd, Edgewater, NJ

Not the most exciting news in the world but this is MY Acme so I'm pretty excited about it. Confused as to why the checkouts weren't replaced when Quality Built went up on the walls last June. Better late than never I suppose. Hoping the floors are getting replaced next, at least around the permitter and in Produce. I still find it surprising this store did not get a floor to ceiling remodel like we've seen at some other locations. Business here still seems to be on the rise, which cannot be said for a lot of Acmes out there. I've been a regular shopper here for nearly 20 years and there are days that the Acme is far busier than the Pathmark ever was.




Acme checkouts are among the nicest in the grocery store industry.


As much as I love the new registers, I absolutely HATE to see the end of Pathmark's unique "bag your own" checkouts. I prefer to bag my own groceries so I often get in line at one of these registers. Even if the line is longer than other, it moves much faster since the cashier doesn't have to do the bagging.


It was hard getting a good picture here without being too obvious. The registers have two belts for bringing groceries back to the bagging area. The cashier sends the first customer's items down the one belt and then flips a divider to send the next customer's items down the other belt. It's genius. I've only ever seen these checkouts in Pathmarks.

Reset at Edgewater Acme!

Location: 481 River Rd, Edgewater, NJ

Opened as an Acme on October 9, 2015

So the reset was completed here months ago but I never got a chance to circle back. Nothing too Earth shattering happened but there are a few interesting changes to see. Overall, the reset turned out nicely. The household and HABA department resets turned out to be a little disappointing but the rest of the store was a solid success. Interesting to see that Acme restored paper products along the wall of aisle 1. A signature location in Pathmark for decades. A&P moved them to the back of the store a few years ago during one of the many resets this store endured over the last 10 years.




This is a huge fail. All that bug and roach spray right next to the napkins? I don't like it. The sprays should go to the end of the aisle with hardware with lightbulbs relocated to this spot.


A big change from the Pathamark days... bread, and PB&J now along the back wall leading to the Bakery.


Brand-new black shelving in the health food department. The shelves were made higher bringing in better selection throughout the department. Pathmark's signage still remains hanging from the ceiling.


Acme definitely stepped up the selection for the dry goods but left the dairy case in this department with even less selection than Pathmark.




Cerial, coffee and tea in aisle 1. It's gonna take some time getting used to this.


Seasonal was moved from Pathmark's double wide aisle 17 over to aisles 11 and 12. Here we now have a half double-wide aisle.


Greeting cards moved from the household side of the store over to grocery. Had to make room for all of that bread over there!


They tricked me! When I first reported on the reset, I thought Pathmark's doube wide aisle was being removed as they were installing new shelving down the center. Turns out, Acme shifted the double-wide aisle over one aisle. Water runs along the right and chips along the left. Pathmark used their double-wide aisle for seasonal and a revolving selection of featured items and deals.


We saw this same double-wide aisle set-up at the newly remodeled Audubon store. Check it out here.





The next step Acme needs to take here is to replace the tile around the perimeter of the store. The flooring in the aisles is in good shape but the perimeter, especially around the entrance, is a mess. Would also love to see the faux hardwood flooring go into Produce. I'm surprised Acme hasn't done this yet since they have been doing it in other stores and all signs are that Edgewater is a top performing A&P/Pathmark conversion.