Acme – Ortley Beach, New Jersey

REMODELED INSIDE AND OUT!

Location: 5 Ortley Plaza, Seaside Heights, NJ

BEFORE >>>

Officially the most extensively upgraded store acquired from A&P. We have seen a few stores who received a more deluxe remodel to the inside but no store has received such an extensive facade and front-end make-over.


Entrance and exit on this side of the store not used often. Very few cars parked on this end of the parking lot. Shoppers prefer to cram themselves into the other half of the parking lot.


The new facade is beautiful, even more so in person The Acme looks alive and vibrant.




This happens to be one of the best reviewed Acmes on yelp and Google! I couldn't find a single complaint about long lines and lack of available registers. 4 and a half stars on Google.


The original A&P is now Spirits Unlimited. The Acme sits on the same spot it did back in the 50's!


Entrance to right which leads into Produce. Exit is through the doors to the left.


Quality Built has arrived in Ortley Beach! Wasn't sure if this was in the plans. The facade and front-end were completed with no change to the décor but maybe Acme could only do so much at once.

BEFORE >>>

The A&P was still looking great when Acme took over. The store was remodeled after Sandy hit back in 2012.


You'll also notice in the tour that the store is currently congested with tons of displays. Acme is clearly maximizing inventory during the busy summer months. The photos showing A&P's décor were taken off season when the store wasn't busting at the seems with inventory.


Oops... looks like they mounted the produce sign a little too high on the wall. It's kinda levitating above the cases.


The new lower prices are working out pretty well for this Acme shopper! After I complained about the ridiculous price of Rao's tomato sauce, Acme put it on sale and has kept it on sale for the past few weeks. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.


Quick look across the front-end. I was here early on a weekday morning and the store was extremely busy.


Someone came up with the idea to put kids beach toys on top of the light boxes. I get it... they look cool lit up but they kinda make the store look messy. And toys really need to be where kids can reach so they can get their hands on them and beg their parents to buy them.




Acme's Signature/Love Local signs are still up here. This store could use a major reduction in hanging signs.




Health department in aisle 2. At first I thought Acme put in the gray shelving. Turns out it's left over from A&P. Looks great and is still in good shape throughout the store. And there's the Rao's! Low low price for at least two weeks now.




Acme replaced the cases here. Not sure why. A&P's cases are actually the style that Acme has used in remodels in other stores.

BEFORE >>>

Acme also replaced the cases in the bakery. Seems strange since the ones left over from A&P seemed perfectly fine...

BEFORE >>>

Don't get me started on Acme's lack of "artisan" and "specialty" fresh baked breads despite the signs. When Stop & Shop has you beat by a mile in this department, it's time to head back to the drawing board. If Safeway can't come up with better options then Acme should bring back the Culinary Circle fresh baked breads and stick them in Signature Select bags!

The all new front-end. A&P's future store slanted windows are gone.


I should have taken a closer look at the tiling to find the line between A&P's front-end and Acme new front-end.


I thought Acme had put the darker tile in when the front-end was redone but it's been here since the A&P days.

BEFORE >>>

Former self-checkout area currently home to some of the short express registers. None of them were open on this particular morning. Some of the full registers are also express and were open.




The sign structure has a fresh coat of white paint. Still can't get over the fact that Acme reclaimed this sign and the location after being gone from the property for decades!

AERIAL VIEWS

The aerial portion of this post has been brought over from previous coverage of the store. We start of with a view of the Super A&P Food Market. The signage was not updated after the fresh remodel. 

Acme's original sign capped off with "A&P".

A look at the store's proximity to the shore.... 

HISTORIC AERIALS

2007

1995

1986

Acme looks closed and abandoned as of 1986 while the A&P has a decent crowd.  The two stores were nearly identical in size but the same cannot be said for the parking lots. Acme rules in that department, as expected. It's a mystery why Acme didn't expand since they had the space. A larger, more modern store could have knocked A&P right out of business. Check out the giant shadow of the street sign in the lower left corner.

1972

Both stores open in 1972. 

1963

Acme was irst on the site, opening June 17, 1959 . Even on a busy day the parking lot was barely a quarter full. 

1956

Former Acme – Old 2nd Street, Philadelphia

Photo courtesy of JoshAustin610's flickr photostream

Location: 5734 Old 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA

Josh happened to pass this building while work was being done to the exterior and spotted this remnants of the fish-eye sign! Strange that the wood used to mount the sign is in the actual shape of the fish-eye logo. We've only ever seen the sign as a plain old rectangle. There is an artistic rendition of a pitched-roof store on the blog which shows the sign in the shape of the logo itself which you can see below. I've also seen a photo of the fish-eye sign made of route iron mounted to the facade of a very old store in Maryland. I thought the photo had been emailed in by someone but I can't locate it.

For more pictures of this illustration, please click here.


This Acme opened October 20, 1948 and Josh reports that it closed in the 70's.

Acme Style's First Look >>>

THE BRAND NEW

SNYDER PLAZE ACME! 

Photos courtesy of Shad Owbat 

Location: Front and Snyder, Philadelphia, PA

Well not completely brand new. Acme is moving into the former ShopRite, that jumped over to the former Pathmark in Whitman Plaza, that just so happens to be next to the former Acme on Oregon and 3rd. This new Acme is expected to open in September.


The view from Google streetview after ShopRite had left the building. 

Starbucks is included!

THE RETURN OF

SELF-CHECKOUTS >>>

Has Acme finally realized what a disaster their stores have been without the self-checkouts? Will we see the self-checkouts return to other locations, especially in the North Jersey stores where the front-ends are chronically understaffed?? Time will tel. If Acme does reinstall them, let's hope it goes a little faster than the removal process which has stretched over the last few years.

Former Acme – Lansford, Pennsylvania

Photo courtesy of John from WISL1480.com

Location: 500 W Bertsch St, Lansford, PA

Another Boyer's/Former Acme has arrived on the blog! This location in Lansford opened February 6, 1957 and was among the 45 stores sold to Penn Traffic in 1995. The store still has plenty of Acme elements inside. As noted in previous posts, many of these stores were remolded with the Checkerboard Arch décor not long before they were sold off. I have wondered if Acme remodeled these stores in an effort to maximize they're value for a planned sale. Other stores in the chain in equal need of remodeling were passed by, keeping their 80 remodels and even 70's remodels well into the late 90's.


We'll see down below how this store is located in a rather isolated, out-of-the-way spot in town.




Boyer's carts look to be nearly identical to the ones Acme uses, minus the cup holders.


Magic carpets still going strong!


The Checkerboard Arch flooring is rarely found in any Acme. Store's that received the new décor retained their 80's checkerboard flooring. The old Beach Haven store is one of the few to have received it. Click here for a look.


Not sure if I've arranged John's pictures in the correct order as we tour the store. I used the classic Acme layout as a guide.








Gotta give the classic air vents a shout-out!




Tight aisles!




The cases look to be left over from the Acme days.




The lighted bread aisle! Acme used these gold panels often for first aisle, Health and Beuaty Aids aisles and the bread aisle. The lighting was kicking around in stores remodeled and built in the 70's and early 80's but became standard in the 80's remodels.

AERIAL VIEWS

Acme's philosophy with many of their 50's stores was "if we build it, they will come".




Arched roof for a portion of the building. The right side was most likely an addition that happened sometime in the 60's. The oldest available aerial is from 1969.

HISTORIC IMAGE

1969

Be sure to check out the Boyer's/Former Acmes in Tamaqua,  Ashland, and Pottsville.

Grand Reopening – 2nd St and Girard, Philly

Grand Re-opening today of our 2nd & Girard store & we're donating @Starbucks proceeds from here to the Philadelphia Fire & Police Districts pic.twitter.com/mxp4zYBhgh

— Acme Markets (@acmemarkets) June 10, 2017

Location: 180 West Girard Ave, Philadelphia, PA

This news is a little old. Exactly two months to the day old but I don't want to miss any official grand reopenings. They're so few and far between despite many stores getting significant makeovers. Not sure why Acme isn't making a bigger deal out of them.

This particular location opened as a Superfresh in August 2011 after many delays due to A&P's bankruptcy. The store was originally planned as a Pathmark but was switched to a Superfresh just months before opening. Google's street views let you see the store as a Superfresh AND an Acme! Just one click of the mouse and the sign changes. I would love to see this store in person but have no plans to get there in the near future. If there is anyone in the area who can get us interior pictures, please let me know! For a look at the store prior to the remodel, please click here.

Ideal Orange Extract!

 Photo courtesy of Will aka B-More Retial on flickr

 

News Break: 

365 BY WHOLE FOODS
COMING TO WEEHAWKEN! 

The hits keep coming to the Hudson County Acmes! First up, Trader Joe's opened a beautiful new store in Hoboken certainly drawing shoppers away from the Acme, as well as ShopRite. The map above shows the West New York Acme at the top, followed by the Weehawken store and Hoboken at the bottom. The store that will most likely take the biggest hit is the ridiculously overpriced Kings on Shipyard Lane (not pictured above). Trader Joe's has been a huge success. I'm often in the store when it first opens at 9:00 am. They always have 5 to 6 registers open with a line by 9:15! 

Coming to town next is 365 by Whole Foods! The store will open in Weehawken close to the border of Hoboken. 365 is a stripped down version of the company's namesake store. The focus is on prepackaged foods with a minimum of service departments all leading to... lower prices! The store is planned for a Fall 2018 opening. You can read more about it at NorthJersey.com.

In other news, the Jersey City Target is undergoing the company's latest remodel. That will certainly pull more shoppers away from the rapidly deteriorating Acme just next door. Target has also increased the amount of self-checkouts from 12 to 18! Meanwhile you can't get anything rung up at the Acme! I was shopping in the Jersey City store two Saturdays ago. 11:30 am. NO express registers open. 3 regular registers open with lines of full shopping carts. No one in Customer Service. Blows my mind how poorly run that store is. I was getting ready to walk out when I finally found someone who could ring me up at Customer Service. The next day I was in the Edgewater store. 9:30 am and NO express registers open. I really don't understand how Acme thinks they're going to survive in these parts with such terrible customer service. And the craziest thing about it all is that there's a really easy fix... bring back the self-checkouts!!!! 

83,000 SQUARE SHOPRITE

COMING TO SHREWSBURY!

Location: 990 Shrewsbury Avenue, Tinton Falls, NJ

This is not good news for the Tinton Falls Acme. ShopRite will be building a huge new store right behind the old Shrewsbury Acme in an abandoned office complex. The project has only been recently approved and no date has been set for the opening of the new store. Could the Tinton Falls Acme survive against a giant new ShopRite right across the street?

Signature Signage Bites the Dust!

Happened upon this shopping cart of signs at the West New York store. The Signature/Acme Loves Local signs have been hanging in Acmes for a little over two years. We first saw them on the blog back in June 2015 during coverage of the Grand Reopening of the Ocean City store. The signs marked the debut of Acme's "We Love Local" tagline and also marked the beginning of Acme's "Signature" fresh products, which at the time, were not directly related to Safeway's soon-to-be-rename private-label products. Safeway's Signature brands wouldn't officially hit Acme shelves until 10 months later and would arrive with a slightly different font used for the logo.