Return to the Former Acmes of Millville, NJ

Location: 101 Bluebird Lane, Millville, NJ

Albertsons Era Acme openend on March 18, 2005 as a replacement to a 40 year old Colonial Cottage model about a mile South of here. At the time, Acme's main competitors were Pathmark and Walmart directly across the street. That would all change in August 2007 when ShopRite opened a brand new store in the shopping center right next to the Acme. Target had also opened in this shopping center giving Millville residents plenty of options for low priced groceries. Pathmark was first to throw in the towel checking out in October 2011. Acme followed just a few months later in February 2012.

"Acme strives to ensure the success of all its stores" was the statement released by the company regarding the round of closings which included Millville. A little less striving and a little more lowering of prices may should have been the plan to save these stores, not to mention the chain as a whole. I've been hearing from several sources that Acme's new owners plan on lowering prices and making Acme more competitive. We've heard that many times before. The one glimmer of hope is that Acme is now free of SuperValu's massive debt load and their complete inability to drive sales at locally based grocery store chains.


On Fameco's website, the Acme is listed as 53,963 square feet. The neighboring ShopRite comes in at 65,000 square feet. I find it interesting that many Acmes built in the Alberstons era were on the smaller side, even when compared to the Acmes built in the 90's. An exception to this was the Moorestown store which was Acme's largest store in New Jersey. Size, however, didn't help that one survive competition from a new Wegmans and Target. In addition to Millville and Moorestown, Acme struck out with other new 2000's stores West Chester, Freehold, and Marlboro.

In the window to the left of the Space Available sign, you can see the scars left of the "Welcome to your..." Better views below...






"FOOD" label scar here on the right.


You can see an exterior shot of the Millville Acme still open here.

A look inside...


Alberstons Marketplace decor package. At some point I stumbled across a picture of the interior of this store. The only sign of decor in the photo was an aisle marker... which was red! I wondered if this store had a decor package not yet seen on the blog. It wasn't until I got here for myself to see that it was just the standard Albertsons package that we've seen a million times before.




Milk cases were in that dark section along the back wall.







Acme was paired with a Lowe's...




A look at the surrounding competition. The Pathmark has since become a Hobby Lobby...

Now to the other former Millville Acme...

Classic images courtesy of trex354

Classic photos of the old Millville Acme were shown on the blog back in February 2011. At that time I hadn't been to the area to photograph either store. Classic photos from trex354 and street views from google were all I had to share at the time. You can visit that post by clicking here. Head down to see pictures of this former Acme as it is today...

Location: 1600 N. High Street, Millville, NJ

Opened in April 1965. An additional former store, dating back to 1950, was located on Main Street. Exact location unknown.


The former Acme is now split between a Burger King and an Anytime Fitness Gym. The rest of the strip mall was extended out a bit further to line up with the former Acme building. You can see some renderings of the interior of the Anytime Fitness gym, which show the second floor of the former Acme, by clicking here.


Former Acme sign along the backside of the parking lot.




This is a shot from trex's collection of the parking lot sign along North High Street.


Acme's second floor located in the rear where the roof line extends taller than the rest of the building.


Former break room and bathroom windows now and then...




Acme's loading docks remain. Very little has changed at this corner of the building.


Huge parking lot to the left of the Acme.







Historic aerials brought over from the original post...

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Acme's 60 plus year run in Millville is done.

Former Acmes, Millville NJ

Classic images courtesy of trex354

Location: 1601 North High Street, Millville NJ

The old Millvile Acme seen here closed back in 2005 when a new replacement store opened about a mile away. That new store, which we will take a brief look at down below, is now a former Acme as well... the last of the 6 stores closing this February to be featured on the blog. 

I have been referring to this model of Acme as the "Colonial Cottage" mainly due to the stylings of the front windows, the door frames and other details used around the store. I imagine too that the deluxe version of the 70's Colonial Decor was developed for these stores which included the slate tile floor in the produce department. This particular model was rolled out as the pitched-roof era was coming to an end in the late 60's. A nearly identical store to this one is still open in Manaquan NJ. The abandoned location in Belmar NJ is similar as well. 

The delivery doors had significant details not seen in previous models. You can see close up details on the Belmar's doors. The door seen here was lead to the small storage room used for bread deliveries.

The Belmar store was had a similar set up with with a strip mall extending out of the right side. 

Zooming in for a closer look...

A close-up of the windows which gives us a look at the inside. If you click on the picture for the larger view you'll be able to see a hint of checkerboard pattern in the middle window and the blue light boxes above the checkouts.

The famous beam sticking out of the roof for lifting compressors to the second floor. 

2006

The Acme is the building at the top of the strip. Massive parking lot to the side of the building. 

The store has been converted to an "Anytime Fitness" 24-hour gym. Wanna go inside and check it out? Click here. 

Some Google street view images to show the back of the store. Google didn't have street level views of the front. The road seen here seems to have developed into more of a main street through town than North High Street which the shopping center faces. 

And now about a mile up the road to the replacement store...

Image courtesy of AcmeFan85

Location: 101 Bluebird Lane, Millville NJ

As mentioned above, the new Acme opened back in March 2005 next door to Lowes. Acme set up shop in the part of town which already had an established Pathmark and Walmart. A ShopRite opened on theo other side of the Acme in August 2007. The Pathmark was the first to give up and closed back in October 2010 as part of A&P's closing of 25 stores.

The image of the new store comes to us courtesy of AcmeFan85. I was hoping someone would be able to get us some additional photos, especially of the interior, but none have come in. The interior was undoubtedly the Alberstons Marketplace decor. 

Above is a look at the nearby compeition. The old Acme is in the lower portion of the image. Target, Kohls and ShopRite are newer addtions to town. The Cumberland Mall sits just North of the Walmart/Pathmark shopping center.

The ShopRite under construction in the upper left.

A close-up view on Bing Maps reveals the store completed and open for business.

The Pathmark located across the street. 

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The Millville Acme closed for good on Wednesday February 23.  Thanks to trex354 and AcmeFan85 for making this post possible.