Location: 75 Mayhill St, Saddle Brook, NJ
Checking in at the Saddle Brook ACME, which was one of the first converted A&P stores to get the Quality Built décor. While a few rounds of tweaks would follow, the store would finally get a proper remodel in 2024. It is looking fantastic these days! I stopped in a few weeks ago and was incredibly impressed with how spotlessly clean and well-stocked the store was.
All new black carts here. I don't follow carts closely, so I don't know who manufactures these but they are pretty deluxe.
So much to see when you walk in! New Lightting, new flooring, all new produce cases. The decor hasn't been touched in nearly 10 years but is still looking fresh. I am obsessed with Alberstonson new merchandising approach which you can see here. Cases and aisles are streamlined and linear, extra displays are carefully placed not to crowd the area, all items are easy to get to and see. This is the completely oppostite to A&P's fresh approach were the layout tried to mimic more of a market, zig zaggin customers around the deparmants. Nobody;s got time for that in 2026! Some photos are included below from the A&P days to help show the difference.
The Cafe was completely removed and replaced with a new floral department. The whole concept of us wanting to go to the grocery store and eat there is dead and gone. Even Wegmans, one of the great pioneers of the concept, has given up on it all. Among other things, they have canned their baristas and put in a Motel 6 coffee dispensing machines, accompanied by day-old, grab-and-go breakfast sandwiches.
Saddle Brook is lucky to have the Picadeli Salad Bar! These appear in numeraous ACMEs as well as Kings. In a post-C world where salad bars did not survive, I love seeing these in ACME. The Edgeatwer store had one for about 2 years and then pulled it due to a price point dispute with Picadeli. Check out the link above to read more about the company. They are super focused on cleanliness and freshness. Some of the premade salads they offer are absolute knock-outs!
One thing to notice about Saddle Brook...it's spacious! The store is huge and incredibly pleasant to shop throughout.
Here in the deli, A&P's yellow tile was painted. Not my favorite color. Pulls in from the bakery too much.
Could someone straighten up these displays, please??
Here's a bit of a before and after to see how ACME is visually streaminglinning their stores. Groundbreaking supermarket design? Not quite but I could not love it more.
Another before and after look where case and display sizes have been reduced to improve traffic and visual access.
Drive Up & Go is now in the former flower department.
Some tile has been replaced in the pharmacy and HABA departments. A&P's tile remains throughout but looks really great.
New lighting above the aisles. Like A&P, the lights hang down just above the aisle but are now significantly brighter. Also, with a "soft white" glow rather than surgical-room white.
All new upright frozen foods cases.
A&P's previous set-up.
This entire store was impeccably stocked.
I could not get a good picture showing the changes in the dairy department. The last aisle of the grocery was removed, creating a spacious concourse on the right side of the store. Allows shoppers a lovely, breathable space with carefully curated displays to wrap up their shopping trip.
Previous to remodel. What a difference some new lighting makes!
Image above is from the original Saddle Brook post, which you can visit by clicking here. Here we see where the original A&P and ACME were located, and today... just the ACME reigns supreme! A truly beautiful store and a great place to visit to see how ACME has evolved these acquired stores over the years.
