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.

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?