Acme – Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey

Location: 500 Chestnut Ridge Rd, Woodcliff Lake, NJ
Opened as an Acme on October 16, 2015

Acme definitely took a chance on this one! Less than two months to go until the opening of the Montvale Wegmans just a short drive away. Acme must be feeling pretty confident. The store has been beautifully transformed with the Quality Built décor.

Interesting covered walkway extending through the parking lot...




What a mess. Can't Acme spring for enough paint to cover the entire paneled section? The whole exterior could use a fresh coat. Such a contrast to the beautiful interior...






Starbucks has been located here since the A&P days.


Could someone confirm what décor package A&P left behind at this store? No clues remaining of any of the A&P's fresh remodels.

Update 8.8.17: The previous décor package looks to have been a combo of A&P's fresh remodel version 1 and version 4. At the very least, the aisle markers were upgraded to version 4. The interior here was similar to that of New Providence. For a look at this store prior to Quality Built, please click here.








Large organic grocery section between Produce and the Bakery.


Acme got lucky with the white tile in the Deli. A&P's yellow tile from the first round or fresh remodels is not as good of a match to Quality Built.








All new tables and shelves in the Bakery. These were recently put into all of the Acmes in my area.












Similar funky ceiling that we saw at the Fort Lee store.




Woodcliff Lake did not get the "This is your Acme" sign. Wonder why. There is plenty of wall space throughout the store.






Acme's double-wide refreshment aisle! These photo were taken back in the Spring which is why you may see some Monopoly signage.










This store actually had enough registers open!


The shelf-checkout grave yard. I believe Customer Service was located to the left originally. A&P moved it to the middle of the front-end...

AERIAL VIEWS

Wegmans is opening a 108,000 square foot store just across the Parkway from the Acme. A&P sued the town of Montvale, home of their corporate offices, to stop construction of the store. They failed and now it will be Acme's problem. For a glimpse of the Wegmans under construciton, please click here.


This map shows the various Acme locations that will be sure to take a hit with the opening of Wegmans.

Location: 106 Chestnut Ridge Rd Montvale, NJ 

Update 8.8.17: The Woodcliff Lake A&P was a replacement store for a Centennial A&P, which was later rebranded a Food Emporium, two miles north in Montvale. Thanks to Stephen for sending in the tip!

HISTORIC AERIALS

2002

1995

1987

Do you think the Woodcliff Acme will be able to survive Wegmans? 

Abandoned Kmart and Pathmark – Hazlet, NJ

Location: 3010 NJ-35, Hazlet, NJ

Two retail giants now decimated and abandoned. It's a bizarre site to see for this life-long New Jersyan. The photos you're seeing here today were taken back in March of this year. At the time, the Pathmark had yet to be cleared out after shutting down in November 2015. Kmart bailed in October 2016. 

I've been in the Hazlet Kmart a handful of times over the past few years. Always found it be fairly busy. I wonder if the closing had more to do with an expiring lease than declining business. In 2013, ShopRite opened a new store in the shopping center next door which certainly impacted both the Kmart and Pathmark. 

The Hazlet Pathmark survived until the bitter end. The employees were laid off on Thanksgiving Day 2015. 

The interior is completely intact. Just need some food to reopen the joint! 

Why didn't A&P try to sell any of this equipment? Didn't they do that at other locations? Is the landlord now responsible for cleaning all this out? So many questions. I guess when a company goes bankrupt, they can just up and walk away from everything. 

Looks like the self-checkout attendant didn't get to finish their lunch before the store shut down! The place must absolutely stink inside. 

Always loved Pathmark's shelf-checkouts! In and out in a flash. Something that never happens at Acme. 

The shopping center has been bought by Onyx Equities. No information online as to the planned redevelopment. The stores shown on this sign are Home Plus and Go Fresh. Totally fake. 

AERIAL VIEWS

Business was going strong when this aerial image was taken! I don't know the last time I saw a crowd like that at a Kmart. Maybe in the 70's? The Kmart does have an updated sign so it couldn't have been too long ago. 

ShopRite took over the former space of a short-lived Foodtown and Children's Wear store. This new location was a replacement for their old-school store a couple miles away on Route 36. 

Location: 1030 State Route 36 Hazlet, NJ

The former Hazlet ShopRite. Remember the days when nearly every ShopRite was an absolute dump? Pretty amazing how they turned things around. The relocation of this store dealt a devastaing blow to both the Hazlet Pathmark and Holmdel A&P Fresh. 

HISTORIC AERIALS

2012

2006

2002

1995

1979

1972

1970

Store Count

The following Acme closed in June 2017:

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

Location: 295 Ferry St, Newark, NJ

UPDATE 8.3.17: The store count for this post has been changed from 178 to 177. When calculating the new count, I missed the recent closing of the Burlington store. 

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