Acme – Hoboken, New Jersey

Location: 614-632 Clinton St, Hoboken, NJ

Acme has arrived in Hoboken! I don't believe the company ever had a store in this town but they do now. This location opened on November 28, 2015.

While we're seeing a lot of stores getting stuck with banners, the Hoboken Acme got the real deal. Not sure why since this store opened later than others that haven't gotten proper signs. Jersey City, which is literally just blocks away, opened 2 weeks earlier and has only a banner. We'll never know how many stores are dealing with local sign ordinances and how much difficultly the sign manufacturer is having keeping up with all of the orders. A before photo is below...


I drove by the day they were putting up the new sign and once again was surprised to see they painted the facade after the sign was installed.

A&P spot lights out... Acme's fluorescent tubes in. They are covered and rather nice looking fixtures although they look like exposed tubes in these pictures. Acme worked a miracle in the Produce department which we will see in a moment.


Wine and Spirits out, health food, seasonal and deals are in. Acme was unable to keep the liquor license here or at any of the A&P's that had Wine and Spirits departments.


I'm puzzled by the ceiling being so uncomfortably low in this area of the store. There must be a second floor above this section of the store.


Acme cleaned up the Produce aisle! I was quite sure they were going to do something with the mess that A&P always had in this aisle. Just look below for the "before" shot...


Sorry but this aisle is way too narrow for all of these displays and baskets and boxes.


So here we have white stickers on the wall art and the black "Acme loves local" on the aisle markers. Notice how huge the artwork is in this store.


One thing that desperately needs to happen is fresh coat of paint for the ceiling tiles.They're all different shades of white and gray throughout the store.




This was the first time I have seen these white stickers in person. Didn't mind them one bit. They seem more out of place in pictures then they do in person.




Frozen Food aisle is clear! I remember this aisle being loaded with displays back when I shopped here in the early 2000's.


I think this store may have had a repaint recently. The colors, particularly the blue above Seafood on the far wall, are not typical to the "fresh" remodels.




Looking down the Dairy aisle toward the Bakery in the front corner.






Another Acme Bakery with a huge selection of products. I've seen much larger stores that aren't carrying the variety that this small store is.


The olive bar was filled with baked goods which seemed strange. The labels were still out for the olives but there were none to be found. Maybe the bar is on the fritz.




There used to be a full service cheese department in this corner.  You can see the leftover signage above. It's been removed to make room for rotisserie chicken and packaged deli meats.


Cashiers waiting for customers at the front of the registers. I do love this about Acme. It's been this way in all the stores I've visited so far.


Hoboken even got an interior sign! Why so many stores are missing this I'll never know. Can't be too hard to manufactor. Staples could do it.

A trailer with two different logos! 

AERIAL VIEWS

A look at the store's proximity to the Hudson River.


Very densely populated area. This used to be Hoboken's only major supermarket until ShopRite built a store a few blocks away in the mid-2000's.




As well as I know Hoboken, I had no idea these stores were so close to each other until I saw this aerial image.


The Acme is gonna love it when it rains. Doesn't take much to flood the area of town where the ShopRite is located. The place was heavily damaged by flood waters from Sandy. Closed for months. Have to say, ShopRite did an outstanding job remodeling the store during that time. It was kind of an awful store from the day it opened. ShopRite seemed clueless as to the clientele they would be serving here but clearly figured things out by the time they needed to remodel.

HISTORIC AERIALS

1987

Expanded sightly on the left side by 1987. Not sure if A&P was here in '87.

1979

I believe this store was a Foodtown in 1979.

1966

Nothing in 1966.

Future Acme Markets!

For the first post after Acme Style's summer break, we'll be taking a look at several of the A&P and Pathmarks that will be converted to Acme in the coming months. The focus is on the stores that line the Hudson River starting in Jersey City and heading north to Fort Lee. All are a stone's throw from the river and about half have great views of New York City right from the parking lot. This will be a whole new area for Acme. Each location currently does very good business even with all the troubles A&P has had over the past few years. We'll start with the most southern location in Jersey City on 18th street...

JERSEY CITY A&P 



Location: 125 18th St, Jersey City, NJ

Check out One World Trade tower off in the distance! This store is just a few blocks from the river. It started out as a Waldbaum's in the late 80's and was later converted to an A&P. It retained its original interior until the fresh remodel in the mid 2000's. This area has been exploding with residential towers since the early 2000's. Not sure why A&P  took as long as they did to remodel the place since the store was clearly not living up to its potential. There is a large, extremely unpleasant, ShopRite just a few blocks away at the Newport Mall. Once the extensive remodel was complete here, business exploded! The store was jam packed on the weekends to the point where they had to bring in additional portable registers. Things have died down since then but it is still are very successful store. You can find plenty of reviews on yelp where people say they prefer shopping here over the ShopRite even though A&P's prices are higher.

The store has the second version of the "fresh" remodel.

I think it's safe to say one of the first things Acme is going to do in these fresh stores is replace the lighting. The permitter of this store is particularly dark. 

Frozen Foods were relocated from the center of the store to the left side during the remodel. 

Acme is also acquiring the Stadium Plaza Pathmark which is on the western side of Jersey City. It's not a terribly unique location and also not one that's easy to travel to from where I live so it it not featured in this post. 

HOBOKEN A&P

Location: 614 Clinton St, Hoboken, NJ

The Hoboken A&P is one of the smallest of all the locations in this area. Prior to ShopRite coming to Hoboken, this place used to be pretty high volume. Tons of shoppers are within easy walking distance. 

Liquor department to the left of the entrance. As you'll see, this place is pretty cramped. 

I wonder if Acme will eventually remove and aisle to expand Produce. When this place is busy the Produce aisle is a nightmare. Seafood is back in the corner on the left. 

First version of the "fresh" remodel. 

Corner Bakery is up in the front of the store with the Deli to the right. 

WEEHAWKEN PATHMARK

Location: 4100 Park Ave, Weehawken, NJ

These exterior pictures were taken back in August 2012 when the store was having it's grand reopening. The interior shots are a mix of then and now. Even with the extensive remodel, this place never seemed to recover from the merger with A&P. Its days of being high-volume are well in the past.


Just inside the entrance here with stores along the left and the Pathmark entrance on the right. This store is open 24/7.


Pathmark's latest decor package. Bright, white and clean throughout! Acme will have a easy time converting this store although it will be interesting to see if they ultimately keep Pathmark's layout.






Every single case here is brand spanking new.


The Deli is in the far back corner.








I used to shop in the store back in the early 2000's. This front-end would be packed with customers. Nearly every register open with lines. Never see more than 3 registers open these days.

WEST NEW YORK A&P

Location: 55 Riverwalk Pl, West New York, NJ

A very unique A&P soon to be a very unique Acme! This one is located on the first floor of a residential building right on the river. Very nice store although I don't think it has reached its potential by a long shot.


Built with the second version of the "fresh" remodel. 

A&P has removed many of the fresh offerings that started out here. Salad bar is kaput and the hot foods bar is now just piles of fried foods.


Cafés days are probably numbered. Not sure what Acme has against offering coffee these days.




Two registers at the rear of the store by the exit that leads to the parking garage.










You can see the river and the city from the side of the store.

If you ever find yourself at this store, don't miss out on the views! 

EDGEWATER PATHMARK



Location: 481 River Rd, Edgewater, NJ

This is a huge Patmark with the "Go Fresh, Go Local" remodel. Target is right across the parking lot and stole a ton of business from this place when they did their PFresh remodel. Since A&P took over Pathmark, they have reset this store about once a year ever since. As a pretty frequent shopper here, I have found it to be maddening! Looking very forward to Acme taking over this location. The store does very big business on Sundays when the Target is closed. 

A double wide deal aisle was created just in the last year. As you can see, it's a huge draw. The latest reset happened here when the Bank of American branch closed opening up some space in the front of the store. 

The former bread alcove was expanded and switched over to soda when the bank closed. 

The Bistro was a flop. After the remodel they would have a live cook here doing demonstrations. Lasted a few months and then it was shut down. 

FORT LEE A&P

Location: 2160 Lemoine Ave, Fort Lee, NJ

A huge A&P fresh located in Fort Lee just blocks from the George Washington Bridge. I've only been to this store a few times and it seems to do excellent business. Has a Starbucks too! 

Looks like the Bakery lost its signage along the way. 

Very nice liquor and wind department. This is just a plain ol' aisle but there are very nice wine displays to the left. 

The original flooring remains in most of the store. 

Heading west of the Hudson River to check out some other interesting locations that I have photographed over the years...

DENVILLE A&P

Location: 125 West, Main St Denville, NJ

An expanded centennial store was torn down and replaced back in 2004 with A&P's very first "fresh" store. Some of the interior pictures here have been seen on the blog before. I covered the various "fresh" remodels on the Little Silver post which you can visit by clicking here.

NEW PROVIDENCE A&P

Location: 1260 Springfield Ave, New Providence, NJ

Well... well... well.. what do we have here? The A&P fresh that was built right on the spot where the New Providence Acme was located. Acme gets to return to a virtually brand-new store that they didn't have to bother building themselves!

This store has the 4th version of the "fresh" remodel which essentially reverted to the 1rst version due largely to the skyrocketing costs of the "fresh" remodels.


Acme will be able to update the decor in snap!








Judging from my one visit here, this is a very busy store!



And a look at the Acme that once stood here...




You can check out additional coverage of this store by clicking here.

Check out what I said back in 2010...


They sure are!


Some of the satellite views show the Acme still standing with work starting on the new A&P. You can see how they A&P expanded out of Acme's original footprint...



And a quick jump across town to see the old A&P which has been abandoned since the replacement store opened...

Location: 592 Central Ave, New Providence, NJ

This store had a basic version of the first "fresh" remodel but the exterior signage was never updated.

And soon, no more A&P for New Providence but welcome back Acme!