Update to Abescon...

The Acme has been divided into smaller stores along with some changes to the facade. This photo taken in August 2011.

Jersey Shore Acme, Fair Haven, NJ

Classic postcard courtesy of Patrick Richardson

Guess this strip mall was a big deal in Fair Haven back in the 50's. Featured in it's very own postcard! Look closely and you can see the original Acme Markets there in white with blue logo painted across the front. The Acme is still open for business but at double the size you see here. Unusual seeing a "Main Street" model as part of a strip mall. Thanks to Patrick for sending in this image!

Modern day images courtesy of Rob Ascough

The Acme today. With a most unfortunate facade treatment. The store was expanded into the section with the yellow awnings in the old postcard. Judging from the old satellite photos, it appears that the expansion happened not too long after the original store opened.

Google street view with a broader shot of the shopping center as it is today. Would have been nice if Acme fashioned a facade more appropriate for this charming small town. The interior of the store is quite nice and is among Acme's smallest stores still open for business. Albertsons did this small store serious justice with it's early 2000's interior remodel. Can't say the same for the exterior.

Unlike most Acme's of this size, the aisles here run parallel to the front of the store with checkouts lining the right side. There is another entrance at the back of the store. Was the store always laid out this way? Not sure myself but I wonder if the aisles ever ran front to back, matching more closely with how Acmes were laid out back in those days. The Meat and Deli Departments remain along the back of the store. Traditionally the checkouts would then line the front of the store. At this location, Frozen Foods now line the front with the front windows mostly blacked out.

A view from the back. The current layout of the interior makes this the most logical entrance. The "Grand Aisle" runs along the back of the store just through the doors under the Acme sign. The two story section appears to have been added on during the expansion back in the late 50's/early 60's.

Inside we go...

This is a pretty spectacular smaller Acme. Scaled down Albertson's Marketplace decor. The decor is essentially miniaturized as we will see shortly.

The impressive Grand Aisle... very large produce department for such a small location. The addition of this huge department bought the grocery aisle count down to 7. There were probably more like 9 aisles back in the day.

Albertson's Markteplace wall treatment converted to a most attractive hanging plaque.

The "back" of the store, lined with grocery shelves and some frozen cases. Meat and Deli are along the far wall. Notice the how the lights run front to back... another indication that the aisles may have run the same way.

The Dairy alcove. Looking towards the front of the store here. The cases to the left here form an island... you could turn to your left and walk out into the rest of the store.

Frozen Food cases along the front of the store.

A substantial In-store Bakery department. It looks as though the Albertsons remodel focused on increasing fresh offerings and reducing grocery and general merchandise offerings.

Very rough floor plan here to give you an idea of the layout. Created from memory so I don't have many labels as to where items are located. The floor plan graphic looks a little sad but you get the idea.

This Acme is a must-see destination for serious Acme fans.

Aerial images of the shopping center as it is today...

Historical aerial images as the shopping center over the decades...

No Acme.

The original Acme now open. You can see how the two-story section to the rear doesn't exist at this point.

By 1963, the major expansion appears to be complete.

By 1979, new loading docks and backroom space have been added.

Probably around the time of the Albertson's remodel. I can't find any information online about the store's Grand Reopening.

Close to water, but still a good drive to the the beach.

Fair Haven isn't quite a beach town and the Acme probably doesn't see a huge increase in sales during the summer. A lack of competition in this area is a big reason for the Acme remaining successful all these years despite it's small size. There is a Foodtown over in Red Bank. Stop and Shop also had a store there. I believe it was a relatively new store that closed a few years ago. A Super Foodtown moved in but they only lasted a short time in the location. It now sits abandoned.

Jersey Shore Acme, Seaville NJ

Seaville pictures courtesy of Rob Ascough

The Seaville, NJ store looks to be a sister store of the former Elberon store of the last post. The front facades are very similar and both stores were built around the same time. Elberon was built in 1989. Not sure of the date of Seaville. The shopping center, however, was built around 1987 as we'll see down below in an old aerial image. Yet another late 80's store I was not aware of. Wished I had paid more attention to new construction back then when I had the opportunity. The mid to late 80's was an exciting era for Acme.

While the facade looks to be nearly identical to Elberon, it appears that this store was expanded out into the sidewalk space. A very common approach to increase the interior of older stores. Customer Service was often moved to these expanded areas in many Acmes. I haven't been to the Seaville store myself so I'm not sure what the addition is used for here. Time constraints and fuel funding prevent me from visiting every know Acme location on planet Earth. Thanks to Rob's contribution to Acme Style, we get to see lots of stores that I would not be able to bring you on my own.

Nice to see a large "Knocked Down Prices" sign. Most stores have such small versions of this sign it's hard to imagine if customers even notice them. Personally I think Acme needs some serious graphic design help to make this signage more effective. This particular sign looks more like it belongs on an independent store than a major chain backed by the almighty SuperValu.

Lots of added signage on this particular Acme. Let's take a tour of the interior...

Produce Department with the old 80's Checkerboard floor still in place. Odd though that the Produce tiles are not green. You'll also notice the Checkerboard floor was done at an angle which was common in newly built 80's stores. Look closely in the back there... mirrors where the Produce windows would have been. This store probably never had windows due to the fact that the building lines up with another. I also believe these Produce windows weren't rolled out until the early 90's mega-stores. I refer to these 80's stores as the "super-store" format. The mirrors were probably put up during one of the remodels.

The decor here is left-over Albertson's Marketplace which has been upgraded to the Premium Fresh and Healthy look. So we're looking at a mish-mash of the 3 different decor packages in this shot.

A massive Albertson's leaf up on the left. Some department signage appears to be a little too understated. The mix of the 2 decor packages here is not nearly as successful as in the Ocean City store... which isn't too far from this location. Check out the 80's Meat Department floor here. You can see more clearly how it was done at an angle as opposed to lining up with the back wall like in the 80's remodels.

Doesn't look like this place got a very deluxe Albertson's Marketplace package. No blue light boxes in the service departments. The 80's floor was replaced in this section.

You may find this old article at Supermarket News an interesting read. Seaville is mentioned as being remolded and among the stores receiving new Sushi Departments in 1989. Back then, there were 180 Acmes. Today... 125.

Pharmacy with interesting "lifestyle" photos on the wall and hanging from the ceiling. Brings some life to the otherwise dull decor here. Check out the different aisle markers. Perhaps 15 is a different design as it's part of the Health and Beauty aids department.

Full shot of the shopping center. The other large store is a Peebles.

The Acme is located at 2087 Shore Road in either Seaville or Ocean View. Either way... you're pretty close to salt water here.

The Elberon store for comparison. This facade is much larger and I do believe this store was built a year or two after Seaville.

UPDATE 08.15.10: I have seen an old picture of the Seaville store. The awning sections stretching out from the entrance areas were roofless like the awning in the Elberon picture above.

Looks like another very successful Jersey Shore Acme. Packed parking lot and lots of trailers in the back.

Now for some old aerial shots from HistoricAerials.com...

No major additions done to the store over the years.

The lot has been cleared for the Acme!

UPDATE 08.15.10: Several readers have sent word that the Peebles store was originally a Jamesway.

A bit of a drive to make to get to the beach from this Acme. The southern section of Ocean City can be seen in the upper right hand corner. The OC Acme is about 25 blocks north.

Former Jersey Shore Acme, Elberon NJ

This former store was one of the biggest Acme mysteries I had to crack... mostly due to my own confusion. Would you believe this Acme was built in 1989? I certainly didn't, especially considering the facade on this place. It looks more like the Acmes Albertsons was building in the early 2000's. (See West Chester and Freehold) When I began researching this store through statelite images, the store appeared to be under construction. At that time many satellite images I was looking up were taken in the early 2000's which lead me to believe that this store was an early 2000's "crash and burn" like the Freehold store.

Turns out the construction was taking place sometime after the Acme had closed in 2002 in preparation for the CVS to move into half the space. The entire building and parking lot were upgraded at that time. The property may have been in an abandoned state for several years before the CVS opened. After figuring all of this out, I still couldn't get over the facade of this place. I am familiar with many late 80's stores that were built and none of them looked anything like this building.

This story does get more interesting... this Acme was actually a replacement store for a 50's model that was located on this very site. The original store burned down in the late 80's paving the way for this gigantic replacement. Thanks to HistoricAerials.com, we'll get a very good look at the old store down below.

The brick and all the trim appear to be new on the building. I don't believe it was looking this deluxe back in the Acme days. Still... the bones of this facade are much more extravagant than Acme was known to have in their late 80's stores.

If memory serves me right, there were not alot of new stores built in the mid to late 80's. Acme instead focused on remodeling most of their existing stores, expanding some but keeping construction of brand new stores to a minimum. The next significant Acme building phase would take place in the early 90's when the "megastore" concept was rolled out. (See Quakertown for an example of this model)

Interesting roof-less awning on the right half of the store. Although the facade has clearly been made-over, old satellite photos do show the facade is virtually the same back in it's Acme days.

It does not appear that the CVS is a huge draw here. The is a "downtown" area a few blocks from here but that too seemed every quite on a Saturday afternoon.

The red oval logo was on this section. Not sure if the front walls and windows have been reconfigured. This is not like any late-80's Acme that I know of. Let's take a look inside...

A few remaining Acme clues to be seen! The orange Deli strip is still up. If you look closely at the back wall you can see how the Produce Department had a lower ceiling. The ceiling then sloped upward right at the Deli stripe to the higher section throughout the rest of the store. No signs of the Checkerboard floor.

And a bit of the "Quality Meats" stripe can still be seen. I'm a little confused by the layout here. There are no signs of Seafood which would have been to the left of the Deli. Most late 80's stores had the Deli along the Produce wall, essentially behind the Produce alcove. Not sure if this store had a Produce alcove or if Produce just lined the left wall. More mysteries would have been solved if I discovered this store in the early 2000's when it was still opened... or even abandoned. Those were the days before satelite images and GPS systems for the car. (Well, at least cheap GPS systems.) This store should have had the 80's superstore format but it's hard to tell now that it's gutted.

The CVS is behind the wall to the right.

Back in the Acme days, this are was known as Elberon. Today, it's more commonly referred to Oakhurst.

Limited beach areas up in the Northern sections of the Jersey Shore.

Serious upgrades taking place around the entire building. When I first discovered this store, every satellite angle showed it under construction. This is the only remaining image available now. All other angles now show construction completed and the CVS open for business...

Now for some HistoricAerials.com images. (Click on them to see bigger images)

The Acme closed in early 2002. It may still be open in this shot.

1995... about 1/2 way through it's life.

1979... showing the classic 50's model. Pretty typical of Acme's back then... small store with a huge parking lot. Did they ever think all of those spaces would get filled? Even of triple coupons days?

Nice clear shot from 1963. Not too busy that day.

In 1956 the Acme was officially under construction.

So why did the new Acme only last 13 years when the old one stood for 30? The old 50's model must have been pretty successful for Acme to go ahead with a huge new replacement. Did other competitors open nearby in the mid to late 90's stealing away Acme's business? Perhaps the new store was never the draw Acme hoped it would be. This does seem to be the case considering the 80's decor remained in the store until it's death in 2002. American Stores replaced most of the remaining 80's decor with the "Convenience Store" look in the late 90's. Hopefully someone familiar with the are can shed some light on this store's demise.