Acme – Runnemede, New Jersey

Location: 501 E Evesham Road, Runnemede, NJ

Our tour of the remaining New Jersey stores continues with a stop in Runnemede. Not one of the more exciting Acmes out there, this standard 90's model has the basic Albertsons Marketplace remodel inside. We have been seeing a lot of that decor package lately and will continue to as the last of the Jersey stores make their way to the blog. Hoping to stumble across a store with the Industrial Circus sooner rather than later!


Opening date of this store unknown. Historic satellite images are showing the store arriving after 1995. The images also reveal that this 90's model was built on the site of a pitched-roof model. I don't have an opening date for that store either.


We're headed inside, although we're going to start at the far and make our way back to this entrance...




Rummenede is an impeccably clean and well stocked store. It's hard to know though if this store has always looked this good or if recent changes by the new owners has helped. What I can say for sure, the changes in store conditions from my road trips in 2012 compared to those in the second half of 2013 are dramatic. It's nice to see Acme being set up for success rather than continually being sabotaged by the former owners.






You'll notice a lack of customers throughout the store. I was here very early in the morning. I also strive to take people-free pictures which helps to explain the lack of shoppers in the photos.




Unusual to find the 90's panels above the Bakery, and over in Seafood, no longer here. The new letters were usually just stuck on them as you can see in the Glasboro Bakery by clicking here. Could the panels have never been here in the first place? They were often removed in these remodels. Some stores got more significant signage which you can see at the Mount Holly store by clicking here.






Looks as though the Wild Harvest Department got the boot leaving the hardwood floor behind. Health food gone in favor of deals, deals, deals. We saw a similar situation in the Sicklerville store.




The flooring gets even more odd at the back of the aisle.


No 90's panel above Seafood & Meats which used to be just Seafood back in the 90's.




Coffin cases in frozen not seen a lot these days. It's usual they have been removed and replaced with the upright freezers like in most stores.




Seasonal at the back of the store.




Center aisle...




Sad Dairy sign. They really should have made these signs standard issue!






Walk-in Floral department right near the entrance. Similar set up here as in the former Glassboro store.

Aerial Views...

I wasn't able to track down any nearby competitors when touring the satellite images. Hopefully someone can let us know. There certainly aren't any significant shopping centers close to this Acme.

Historic Views...

2007

2002

1995

Pitch-roofed model standing back in 1995! The place looks closed here, perhaps ready to be torn down.

1970

No store back in 1970 which makes the pitch-roof model above among the last to be built. 

Update: 10.12.13:

Runnemede Gets More Interesting!

We had some commenters fill in the blanks here. Turns out, the Runnemede Acme did begin as a pitched-roof store at this very location. It was eventually closed and used as a storage facility for the company. At some point, a new store opened over in Deptford, about 2 miles west of the Evesham Road location. In 1995, Acme returned to this site, tearing down the old pitched-roof store and building this 90's model as a replacement to the Deptford store, which is now a Babies R Us... 

Location: 1120 Hurffville Road, Deptford Township, NJ

I had no idea this was a former Acme location. Drove right by this shopping center on the way to Runnemede. At the time, the Kmart here was having its liquidation sale. There are several shopping centers in this area, including a Walmart Supercenter. Somehow missed all of this when I was searching the satellite images. I was looking closer to the Runnemeed Acme for competition. It seems in the last decade or so, ShopRite has favored opening stores as close to an Acme as they can get.



Here are some comments explaining the history...

Zach: I’m not 100% sure but this might have been a replacement store for an Acme that was located at Clements Bridge Road and Hurffville Road (Route 41) in Deptford. The former Acme is currently a Babies R Us and is about 2 miles west from where the Runnemede store is now.

DaileyFit: Zach, you are correct. This store opened in 1995 and was one of the most successful stores in the district until it plunged in the mid 2000's. The original Runnemede Acme sat at this site as storage until torn down and built as the current store. Most Deptford personnel came to work here as the replacement store. I believe Acme owns this property.

"...until it plunged in the mid 2000's"
Love this comment! Can't this be said by absolutely EVERY Acme?

Abandoned Acme — Stevensville, MD

Photos courtesy of Andy B.

Location: 1169 Shopping Center Road, Stevensville MD

Some great pictures of the abandoned Stevensville Acme. The store has yet to be cleared out despite having been closed since November 2012. It was among 4 stores shuttered by SuperValu at that time. The others included Glassboro, Morrisville and Sharon Hill. You can jump over to the original Stevensville post by clicking here. 

Plenty of lights left on inside give us a good look around. One of the register monitors is sill on too with an Essential Everyday ad. Another curved ceiling to be seen! Up above Customer Service. This store had the 33M format until the end with a few a differences. Produce was in an alcove in the front corner with Dairy running down aisle 1. Frozen Food cases lined the very last aisle. Jersey City had a nearly identical layout. This store was built in 1979 replacing a 50's model that I believe was in the same location. Historic aerial images are unfortunately not available for this area.






The Centerville Acme, along with its unusual decor, has been featured on the blog. You can check it out by clicking here. The Easton Acme has yet to be featured in the blog.

News Break:

Weis CEO OUT!

Weis CEO, David Hepfinger. has resigned from the company. An article over at SupermarketNews.com details the financial package he will receive. CEO's make more money failing at their job than most of us make succeeding at ours for a lifetime! While the company says Hapfinger left to pursue other interests, recent troubles at the grocer may have hastened his exit. Sources told Supermarket News that Weis has had disappointing results with it's acquired Genuardi's stores in the Philly area as well as recent remodels in it's established markets. The new Hillsborough Weis may be one of the stores falling below expectations. I stopped by again last week and the store was completely dead. There were far more employees than customer. Picked up a few items that were all priced higher than I would have paid elsewhere. Can't say I will be back anytime soon.

Tour the Brand New Kings

Kings has opened its first new store in a decade in Gillette, New Jersey. The new store has set up shop in about half the space formally occupied by Pathmark. Progressive Grocer has a video tour of the store which you can view by clicking here. Former Acme President, Judy Spires, makes several appearances throughout the video. While the store does look very nice, it doesn't seem quite as cutting-edge as the video would like us to believe. 

New ShopRite in Vineland, New Jersey

ShopRite opened a replacement store in Vineland back in June. I just discovered the news this week over on ProgressiveGrocer.com. The new store is located just a short distance from the former Vineland ShopRite and is now located directly across from an updated Walmart SuperCenter. You can take a look at the new $25 million store in a video on youtube by clicking here. The Vineland Acme must certainly be feeling the pinch. You can visit that store on the blog by clicking here. For more details, pictures and a floorplan of the new ShopRite, check out an article in SuperMarketNews.com by clicking here. 

Fresh and Easy Declares Bankruptcy

Fresh and Easy burst onto the scene on the West Coast back in 2007. The chain was Britian-based Tesco's first venture into the American market. The small-format stores arrived with much fanfare and speculation that they would deal a devastating blow to traditional supermarkets. That didn't happen. In fact, Fresh and Easy was a loser since day one. After opening 220 stores over the past six years, Tesco is calling it quits. Yucaipa is acquiring 150 locations which may be used to relaunch the Wild Oats banner. Tesco is taking the easy way out by declaring banruptcy for the chain despite their ability to absorb the debts that Fresh and Easy currnetly has. You can read more about it at LATimes.com by clicking here.

Programming Note:

Friday store posts will be resume their regular schedule of going up every other week. 

Former Acme – Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania

Photos courtesy of John from WISL1480.com

Opened on November 11, 1966. Closing date unknown. The building is now occupied by Skyes Enterprise which provides outsourced customer and technical support services. In other words, there's no getting into the building to have a look around.


The rear of the building is intact with the classic pitched-roof set-up.


Could be the original pavement in the parking lot.


Former Kmart next door.







The original Bloomsburg Acme opened in May 1949. It closed on November 12, 1966, one day after the pitched-roof store opened. The store is now a Salvation Army...

Photo from JoshAustin610's flickr collection

Location: 47 Main Street, Bloomsburg, PA

All 80's Former Acme! Cambridge, Maryland

Photo courtesy of Dwayne Groton

An Acme Style All-Time Favorite!

Location: 630 Shoal Creek Mall, Cambridge, Maryland

Another Friday, another all-time favorite! This one came by surprise. Dwayne sent these photos in just days ago and I've been stunned by them ever since. The pictures you are about to see are the exact reason why I started Acme Style. Back in the early 2000's, I was relentlessly searching the web trying to find all sorts of pictures of Acmes and not coming up with much of anything. I desperately wanted to create a site where pictures just like these could be shared. Now what's even more remarkable about this post is that a picture of the abandoned Cambridge Acme did come up in my searches all those years ago. Ten years later I am now able to share pictures of both the exterior and extraordinary interior. A big thanks to Dwayne for sending them in!

This store opened in the 70's and closed in 2003. Dwayne was the grocery manager here. He provided some details about the history of the store...

When the store opened in the Seventies it had little competition, Safeway came and after that the store averaged in the 170k range. They closed in 1987 and the store did in the high 200k and made good money for a short time. Super Fresh opened in the Safeway and then Food Lion came along, after that Metro Food Market and a Wal-Mart (not a super center though). The store did a little over 100k after that and was losing alot of money. A little hope came along as Metro closed in the late 90's. The store didn't benefit as the business only increased around 10k. Corporate was threatening to close the store for years but we kept it alive as we started to shrink the deficit, actually making money the last quarter before the store closed. Albertsons also sent us remodel plans at one point but slowly pulled the plug on that after a year.The town never supported anything there as all the stores were cherry picked. Even a brand new Super Kmart closed in the 90's and the Wal-Mart never was busy as a typical Wal-Mart usually is, that is why I believe it stayed as a conventional store for as long as it did. In 2003 the lease did expire and the company finally gave up and we closed. The store was always a nice clean store and if the company tried they could have made it there. Super Fresh and Metro now gone, Food Lion is still there as well as Wal-Mart, I'm not sure if they are a super center now. 

A satellite image with all the surrounding competition Dwayne mentions is down below. For now, let's get ready to head inside...

The 80's remodel completely intact right down the layout! All of the changes and adjustments made at other 80's remolded stores were never made here. The Customer Service area seen may have been revamped after the CSR stand was killed off. Everything else is remarkably the same since grand reopening back in the late 80's.

As you can see, the store has been totally cleared out but remains in an very clean and orderly state. Aisle markers still hung, department names on the walls, and cases and shelving all still in place. It's like all the merchandise was raptured outta here! This is the absolute best look we've had so far at the 80's remodel. Could I be more excited about it? No. Let's take a look around...


The official 33M format Produce aisle! I've mentioned this before but we have never seen a picture of this area still intact. I talked it about last Friday in the Westmont post. We could see the drop ceiling in the Produce Department but the area had been opened up by removing the first aisle or two. Here we finally see the produce cases lining the right side of the department! Below is a shot from the former Fallston store where the cases have been removed and Produce expanded creating a much more open area. This was done at many 33M formats with or without a major remodel accompanying it.



Back to Cambridge...


Incredible shot here! We see Floral all the way in the front. Down at this end, we have the Cheese From Around the World case on the right and the Salad Bar on the left. Both cases remain from the 80's remodel. They didn't last this long in a lot of stores. The Salad Bar got the ax in the 90's in many locations.


The aisle markers remain since day one. They were not changed out during the 80's remodels.


Looks closely... Seafood has the ship streering wheels at each end of the blue stripe! They weren't always included. Sharon Hill and Secaucus didn't have them. We have seen them at the abandoned Newtown store and the former Adams Avenue store in Philly. Check out those Deli cases! Still kickin' from the 80's. Not sure if the Seafood cases are the same. It is remarkable that service seafood made it all the way to the end. This department was switched to self-serve cases at many locations as the 90's wore on.


The frozen cases look to be newer. Can't tell if the right side matches the left side. You can see more of those curved ceilings up in Bakery that I mentioned last week in the Westmont post.


The dairy cases look unchanged since the 80's. Great shot of the Dairy wall too. First time we're seeing those blue an yellow columns on the blog. This store had high ceilings and a lot of wall space unlike Sharon Hill and Secaucus. Dwayne is making an appearance in our last few pictures...


I believe this store had a Bakery before the 80's remodel. The 33M stores built in the late 70's and early 80's usually had them included. They were expanded in the remodel. This whole area looks completely unchanged since the 80's. Nice little "Cake Decorating" sign about above the service counter.


Great look at the front-end! Staggered registers. Not something I've seen before. The checkout stands remain from the 80's remodel. My store had the same exact ones but we didn't get the remodel, dammit. And the famous Acme clock on the right side in an unusual spot. They're hung over the exit in most stores.


Now for a look at some of the back room areas...






I believe this is the break room. The orange floor remains intact from day one! These were the same tiles used in the Deli and Meat Department for the 70's Colonial decor package.


A look at the competition and former competition in the area. Satellite views are very limited with no up close views available. Kmart and Metro Food (not sure if that's the correct logo) both appear to be abandoned in this image.


The correct Metro logo above sent in by Will. This is an old plastic bag from the store.

Update 9.26.13: Additional photos from Ben of Delaware. These were taken about a year ago...

Abandonded Kmart.

fresh & green's has taken over the former Super Fresh which closed back in 2011...





Back to the former Acme...

A screen grab from google maps. The Acme is still abandoned as of today. Not sure what the condition of the interior is at this point. If anyone is in the area and can get us some pictures, I'd love to add them to this post.


A more up-to-date view on Bing Maps shows a Walgreen's having been built on the site of the Acme. Ross K informed us in the comments that the Acme was torn down in 2009.

Thanks again to Dwayne for a trip back to the 80's!

News Break:

"Acme Markets on the comeback trail"

MAINLINEMediaNews

An interesting article by Gary Puleo at MAINLINEMediaNews details the changes underway at the King of Prussia Acme. While the store is not receiving a full remodel, several departments have been rearranged and the store has been thoroughly cleaned and refreshed. Gary talks with Acme President Jim Perkins about the changes at the store and the company's new focus on low prices. No details on how the changes are impacting overall sales but Perkins does mention Acme being up 8 points in an industry rating system. You can read the full article by clicking here. Thanks to AbercrombieMike for sending in a link to the article.

Location: 320 West Dekalb Pike, King of Prussia PA

Acme Commercial from 1988

Courtesy of classicretailads on youtube