Acme Style

Friday, October 6, 2017

Acme – Midland Park, New Jersey

Location: 136 Lake St, Midland Park, NJ

The stunningly beautiful Midland Park A&P was built sometime in the mid to late 90's. The store replaced a smaller location on Goodwin Avenue. The exterior design was "one and done" for A&P which is unfortunate considering how unique it is. The store was remodeled to an A&P fresh in the 2000's with the second version of the "fresh" décor. Acme opened here on October 14, 2015.

Tiny sign is due to local ordinances. A&P's sign was small as well, which you can see here.

Covered walkway similar to the one at the Woodcliff Lake store. Even more helpful here as this is a second parking lot behind where I'm standing.

The columns along the front were a common element for A&Ps built in the 90's. Nothing else about the exterior design was. Several of the windows along the front allow natural light to flow into the store...

I would image Acme isn't in a big hurry to update the décor here as A&P left the store in pristine condition. It's one of the nicest "fresh" remodels I've seen.

Pharmacy is to the left of the entrance and faces the café which you can see by clicking here. (I didn't get a picture of it!)

All new lighting in Produce thanks to Acme! The store is absolutely beautiful inside and out. After being to a bunch of Acmes on this road trip that had very few customers, I was really hoping to see some good crowds at this location. There wasn't.

The Cheese Shop sign is the one element brought over from the first round of the "fresh" remodels. Funny how A&P decided that the Cheese Shop needed a title while all the other food department merely have product murals.

Liquor and Wine is now a huge organic and health food department. For a photo of the previous department and article on the loss of the liquor license, please click here.

In my opinion, the second version of A&P's fresh remodels is among the nicest décor packages ever to be seen in a supermarket. A&P executed it flawlessly for their Midland Park store!

Huge Bakery!

Mix and match freezers.

Dramatic Frozen Food alcove!

The Pharmacy and Customer Service departments here are in opposite spots compared to most of A&P's layouts for their 90's stores.

Crickets along the front-end on a Saturday afternoon. These photos were take a while ago. Hope Acme's "New Lower Prices" campaign is helping to increase business. The prices overall have improved significantly.

Location: 80 Godwin Avenue, Midland Park, NJ

The former A&P is now a Sears Hardware. The store was expanded after A&P left.

AERIAL VIEWS

The original Midland Park A&P.

Two parking lots! Looks like they were necessary in A&P's early days at this location. Not so much anymore.

The unique exterior design is carried through all four sides of the building.

HISTORIC IMAGES

2002

The front parking lot nearly filled to capacity in 2002. This image was taken prior to the fresh remodel. Does anyone know what the previous décor package was?

1995

1987

The original A&P stayed relatively small to the bitter end. Further expansion would have killed off far too much parking.

1979

Some nice detail here! You can see the updated 70's awning after the store was stripped of it's Centennial elements.

1966

Thursday, October 5, 2017

News coverage of St. Michaels closing

Image courtesy of WBOC

WBOC16 "Delmarva's News Leader" posted coverage the closing of the St. Michaels Acme on their website. A video is inclused with interviews of local reaction. Unfortunately the coding they provide for embedding videos is not workiung with blogger. Please click here to view the video.

Thanks to Steven W. for sending in the link!

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Kmart – West Long Branch, New Jersey

News Break:

Location: 108 Monmouth Rd, West Long Branch, NJ

Check this out... a Kmart that isn't closing! I've driven by this place a million times but never stopped in to take a look. One evening this past summer, I was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on Route 36 and decided to pull in the entrance and have a look Turned out to be one of the most bizarre shopping experiences I've ever had. The store was completely dead. I was just about the only person in the whole place. No shoppers and no employees. Judging from satellite images, the store still seems to attract a decent amount of customers. Perhaps they come on the weekends.

Big Kmart sign looking pretty weathered these days.

The store is big and bright. Surprisingly clean and well stocked from one end to the other. That's not to say it doesn't feel painfully outdated.

One of the things that drives me crazy about Kmart these days, is the complete lack of consistency with their store signage. Here we have a mix of the orange and brown signage with newer signage in the clothing departments with some completely random signs in other areas.

Books! Tons of seasonal merchandise remaining on shelves in late August. For a company that isn't doing well, they are pouring money into inventory that is not moving off of shelves.

The garden department straight ahead.

Looking along the back of the store. Gotta give this place crops for not having a single burned out light bulb!

Literally not one single shopper along the entire rear of the store. Can't remember the last thing I was in a store this huge without another human being in site.

Always fun to check out Kmart's mishmash floors. So common in Kmarts for the original tile patterns to no longer make any sense with their current layouts.

Hello? Anyone here?

Fitting Room signage remains from the early 90's remodel.

Not all the signage got updated in clothing.

Former spot of the kcafé. Not sure if the café was added in the early 90's or during the the Big Kmart conversion.

Enticing mattress department.

Another odd-ball sign for Home Furnishings. Looks like the amount of registers were reduced to make space for this department.

The front-end looks pretty good! And there's a shopper!!

It appears there is a single line for the checkouts. The only explanation I could fine for the wall of snack cakes. I left without buying anything. Would have left a lot sooner if I wasn't taking pictures of the joint.

The Big Kmart era Customer Service desk with the accompanying giant monitor long gone.

Like with any Kmart these days, you have to wonder.... how much longer before the "Store Closing" signs go up?

Massive parking lot.

Found this area to be very curious. Clearly a former grocery store, looking like a smaller version of some Acmes we've seen paired up with Kmart. Did a little digging on flickr for more information and discovered this from catnapped retail central...
"...found that this originated as an A&P WEO location. Spent some time as a garden supply store then as a grocery chain called Rex-Gene from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. The chain's locations were acquired by NY-based Western Beef but apparently this location was never reopened."