Acme Style

Friday, November 6, 2015

Acme – New Providence, New Jersey

Acme has returned to
its rightful spot in
New Providence, New Jersey!

Location: 1260 Springfield Ave, New Providence, NJ

Acme through the years...

Acme opened here on October 12, 1966.
This photo was taken in 1998.

The classic Acme was torn down in the summer of 2009.

A&P builds a brand-new store where Acme once stood.

The new store opens on September 24, 2010.

Acme takes the store BACK in October 2015!

Acme reopens on November 6, 2015!

(sans a proper sign)

Let's head inside...

New lighting in Produce!

New stickers on the wall art for this store! I would have to say they look better than the white stickers we've seen previously. These seem to blend in a little bit more.

This store has the 4th-ish round of the fresh decor. A sort of mash up of rounds 1 and 3.

Seating area with flat screen TVs remain in place.

First thing this morning so the chickens were't out of the rotisserie just yet.

Beautiful bakery in the round...

Truth be told... I'm finding the bakeries to be extremely inconsistent from store to store. This place has a great selection, as does Weehawken from what I saw this morning. Edgewater and West New York have been very disappointing. Selection of fresh baked breads have been minimal to none.

Seafood to the left of the Bakery.

Health food aisle with no signage indicating as such. A&P did have signage here when I was here a few years ago.

Looks like the A&P logo was painted over bore the stickers were put on.

I was beginning to think they weren't using the "Something More For Less" shelf tags in these conversions. They certainly have them here!

I'm surprised Acme to beef up the lighting in the Dairy aisle and in the frozen food section in the front of the store. It's a little dreary.

No Acme sign at the front-end. Looks like they tried to make up for it by hanging a My Mixx cell phone sign.

4 express registers were installed where the self-checkouts were located.

AERAIL IMAGES

These images were included in the recent "Future Acme Markets" post and have been added to this post as well. Some of the satellite views show the Acme still standing with work starting on the new A&P. You can see how they A&P expanded out of Acme's original footprint...

And a quick jump across town to see the old A&P which has been abandoned since the replacement store opened...

Location: 592 Central Ave, New Providence, NJ

This store had a basic version of the first "fresh" remodel but the exterior signage was never updated.

You can see additional photos of this former A&P at the very bottom of the "Future Acme Markets" by clicking here.

HISTORIC AERIALS

2013

Back in the day when I did the first New Providence post, I wasn't yet utilizing historic aerial images. They are included here...

2010

2008

2007

2002

1991

1987

1979

1970

1966

1963

49 years and 25 days later, Acme once again OPENS in New Providence, New Jersey!

WOW Weehawken!

Location: 4100 Park Ave, Weehawken, NJ

The sign went up yesterday. Stopped by twice but failed to get my visits timed for when the letters were getting mounted to the store.

One more letter to go! For as much work that has been done to this store, burned out lights remain along the awning. There's many more to the right. Perhaps that's getting taken care of today.

Open for business! The interior is... spectacular! Huge difference from the Pathmark days. This is hands down the best conversion I've seen so far. Pathmark attempted to bring the "WOW" here a few years ago but it took Acme to really do it! What a difference a fully stocked store can make. Pathmark has been stingy with product inventory here for the past few years. As nice as the store was, it was always a little said with half-stocked shelves. The product selection seems to be much better as well. I'll confirm that after I do some shopping here this weekend. Full tour coming in the next few days. This is also the first store I've seen with the holiday signage hanging along the front-end. Looks really good.

The street sign didn't make it up for opening morning. Hopefully it's coming soon.

Store Count...

The following Acme locations have opened:

A&P Fresh at 1260 Springfield Avenue, New Providence, NJ
A&P at 177 Washington Valley Road, Warrenville, NJ
A&P at 2007 Route 35, Wall Township, NJ
Pathmark at 4100 Park Avenue, Weehawken, NJ

November 6th marks Acme's triumphant return to New Providence!
(Pictures coming soon)

Acme – Sussex, New Jersey

Location: 455 State Rt 23, Sussex, NJ

Another quick tour of a converted A&P Fresh brought to us by an anonymous contributor. This store is very similar to Vernon and the upcoming Jefferson location, particularly with the exteriors. All three stores have produce and most departments on the right and continue in a counterclockwise direction, and all have the first round of the "fresh" remodels. This store is much brighter than a typical A&P since the lighting is hung from the ceiling as opposed to running just above the aisle shelves. The ceiling here is relatively low since this store began as a small Centennial model.

A lot of these acquired stores are so beautiful you have to wonder if Acme will even bother remodeling many of them. I keep finding myself surprised at the condition of these stores as more and more pictures are sent in.

I actually like A&P's aisle markers better than what Acme is currently putting in remodeled stores.

The Bakery looks to be in the front corner which is an unusual spot for A&P. This store also has the frozen food section in the center of the store rather than along the Dairy side.

3D letters on the parking lot sign! Looks so much better than a flat piece of plastic.

AERIAL VIEWS

Very little competition in this area which seems to be a common factor for many of the A&P's that Acme acquired. The surrounding town is big enough to keep this store doing brisk business but not big enough to draw more competition into the area.

You can see this store started out as a Centennial Mode, which is still sitting right there in the middle.
You can see the store evolve in the historic aerials below.

HISTORIC AERIALS

2013

2002

1995

1971

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Store Count...

The following Acme locations have opened:

A&P Fresh at 5 Ortely Plaza, Seaside Heights/Ortely Beach, NJ
A&P Fresh at 125 18th Street, Jersey City, NJ
A&P Fresh at 507 Prospect Street, Little Silver, NJ
Pathmark at 321 Route 440, Jersey City, NJ

November 3rd marks the triumphant return of Acme Markets to Jersey City and Ortely Beach!

Acme – Vernon, New Jersey

Location: 530 County Route 515, Vernon, NJ

A quick look at the Vernon Acme which opened on October 30. The store has the first version of the "Fresh" remodel. Looks like a beautiful store! Bright new lighting has been added to Produce.

Acme hires cleaning companies to come in and clean these stores from floor to ceiling. It's something to see. I got a glimpse of it at the Weehawken store yesterday. The company being used there is Belfor Property Restoration. Tons of people scrubbing everything in the store. There must have been 10 people on ladders along the front-end alone scrubbing light fixtures, painting ceiling tiles, dusting security cameras and... cleaning every single rung on the massive security gate that extends along the front of the store.

Same sticker treatment that we saw at the 2nd and Girad Ave location in Phlliy.

So this photo answers a question I had... what was Acme going to do with the borders along the top of the cases? These were covered with historic A&P images all done in a green tone. Acme took care of those by painting them black!