Classic Acme! West Long Branch, New Jersey

Photo courtesy of Patrick Richardson

Location: 100 Route 36, West Long Branch, NJ

An unbelievable photo sent in by Patrick. Dates back to 1964. The photographer was capturing the challenges of the snowy intersection. Lucky for us, the former West Long Branch Acme just so happened to get captured as well. Looks closely and you can see the cursive yellow logo running across the awning. Easier to see in the first photo which is zoomed on the Acme. The picture directly above is the original.

The West Long Branch Acme was featured on the blog back in August 2011. You can jump to that post by clicking here. An office building now stands in it's place...



Just a few of the historic aerial images from the original post...

2002

1979

This was the last year in the historic views showing the Acme. The next available image is in 1995 which shows the office building. Here we can see that the Super Saver awning had been added, although we do not have confirmation if this store was a Super Saver or was just upgraded to the fish-eye logo. 

1970

1963

Thanks to Patrick for sharing this photo with us! He apparently has gotten his hands on several classic photos. I'll be sharing another of his in a few weeks. In the meantime, be sure to check out Patrick's blog, Charlotte Eats, by clicking here.

Former Jersey Shore Acme West Long Branch NJ

Location: 100 Route 36, West Long Branch NJ

A few weeks ago we were treated to an old picture of the "Self Service" Acme Super Market in Red Bank. The post also include the ad seen below which listed stores in Red Bank, Fair Haven and West Long Branch. Thanks to Bill Haines' sharp eye, the Acme pictured in Red Bank post was not the one listed at the bottom of the ad. Pictures of that former Acme have been added to the Red Bank post. As for the West Long Branch location listed in the ad... you're looking at it! The Acme has been torn down and an office building now stands in possibly the same exact footprint. A tour of the exterior of this building showed no indications that any parts Acme building remain here. The Acme in opened in November 1959. Closing date is unknown. Satellite images reveal that it was long gone by 1995. ShopRite arrived on the scene back in the 70's and undoubtedly began stealing Acme's customers.

Ad courtesy of Patrick Richardson

Competition in the area...

ShopRite and Kmart through the years...

2002

ShopRite at it's current size having expanded out of both sides.

1995

Expansion out of the left side by 1995.

1979

ShopRite at it's original size.

Returning to the Acme...

2002

1995

1979

There it is! Clear as day. Had to dial back all the way to 1979. No historic images were available during the 80's which would have filled in a huge gap of the history here. With this store being gone by 1995, it was mostly likely not remodeled during the 80's. Could have been easily expanded. Comparing the number of cars at the Acme with those at the ShopRite in 1979, it's clear Acme was no longer the favored store in town. Check out the 3-sided sign in the front of the parking lot! (Another good view of it in the 1963 image).

1970

1968

1963

Very large store for 1959. I would guess it's around 25,000 square feet. In this clear image, you can really see the huge 3-sided sign in the front of the parking lot.