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Abandoned Former Acme – Brick, New Jersey

February 10, 2016, 5:10 am
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Classic photo courtesy of Patrick Richardson

Location: 1890 Route 88, Brick NJ


Jo-Ann fabrics has checked out of the former Acme in Brick Township. Pictures have been sent in of the empty interior which has remained largely intact since the Acme closed in the early 80's.


Sweeping view of the interior. New flooring and removal of the Meat and Deli back wall are the only major alterations to the interior.


The former Woodstown store was a virtual twin to this location. Below is a photo of the same portion of the store store, which was sporting the 80's Remodel when it closed.


For full coverage of the abandoned Woodstown store, click here.


The Dairy aisle would have run along this wall back in the Acme days. The boxes up on the back wall had been a mystery until I visited this store to cover it for the blog. Discovered that they were simply covers for the air intake vents. The vents were exposed in most 50's stores. You can see an example at the former store in Newton, NJ by clicking here.


A close-up of the air vents that rand along the sides of the store.


The future of the former Acme in Brick is unknown. For full coverage of the store, please click here.
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More Acme Trucks!

February 11, 2016, 3:58 am
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Photos courtesy of trex354


Some new. Some old.


The Acme Is Local logo on the back with a close-up below...

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Sign is up at the Jersey City Acme!

February 11, 2016, 4:00 am
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Location: 125 18th St, Jersey City, NJ 


The temporary banner has been replace with official signage. Labelscars covered over with some fresh paint.

For full coverage of the Jersey Ctiy store, please click here. 
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First tour of the Barnegat Acme!

February 12, 2016, 4:59 am
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Location: 912 West Bay Avenue, Barnegat, NJ


Interior photos courtesy of Lou

Word is Acme didn't make many changes to the former Genuardis' layout. The signature green ceiling  is still intact.




Plenty of big, bold signage for the organic section in Produce.










Since when are aisle markers used to tell customers to visit other departments rather than listing what's in the aisle? Very bizarre.


Single line leads to several express registers.




Not sure whats going on here. Perhaps a single line for all of the regular registers as well.








The lounge area will become a Starbucks by June.

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Acme is ready for the Polar Bear Plunge inSea Isle City!

February 13, 2016, 3:27 am
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BREAKING NEWS >>>

February 18, 2016, 3:11 am
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Kosher Supermarket
Taking Over Former Clifton Acme


Location: 467 Allwood Road, Clifton, NJ

Seasons, a New York based kosher supermarket chain, will be taking over the entire 55,000 square foot former Acme in Clifton. This will be the chain's fifth and largest location. It will also be the company's first New Jersey location. The new store should be open by May. It will be interesting to see if they keep any of Acme's equipment and decor which has been left behind. Acme Style will cover the store once it opens. For more details, click here for an article on northjersey.com. 
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From ProgressiveGrocer.com...

February 19, 2016, 9:26 am
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ACME'S DAN CROCE
TO BE HONORED BY
N.J. FOOD COUNCIL
Exec, team transitioned almost
40 former A&P stores 

For the full article at ProgressiveGrocer.com,
please click here. 
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Acme "Bell Ringer Award" Clock!

February 22, 2016, 3:47 am
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Photo courtesy of Will aka B-More Retail on flickr

Will discovered this very cool clock at an antique store in northern Baltimore County, Maryland. He posted a photo on flickr and asked if anyone knew the meaning behind "Bell Ringer Award". Ben Schumin tool a chance at passing the question along to Acme's facebook page and received a detailed explanation...

"Bell Ringers” was a marketing promotion from the early to mid 1980’s. It combined special weekly price reductions on selected items that were referred to in Acme Ads as “Bellringers” and part of an overall Advertising campaign “Acme Super Savings Time.” It was also tied into the fact that all Acme Markets were given uniform Hours of Operation daily from 7 AM to 11 PM and Sunday 9AM to 6 PM. The “Bellringer” Alarm Clock was an internal recognition award given to Acme associates for achieving various business goals tied to the ad campaign. We hope this is helpful! 
-Rebecca, Customer Support
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New Lighting in Lincroft!

February 23, 2016, 5:04 am
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Location: 616 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ

BEFORE...

A few weeks ago  I stopped in the Lincroft store to specifically check on the lighting situation. Had a feeling they had brightened the place up like they've been doing with the converted A&P fresh locations and sure enough they have!
AFTER...

Spot lights, hood lights, drum lights and lattice all removed in favor of these new lights... the likes of which haven't been seen before on the blog. The bulbs are typical fluorescent tubes but each fixture has two frosted panels that hang down and diffuse the light. I haven't seen anything like it before. It was hard to capture the details in these photos but they're very sharp looking in person.


Lights have been changed around the whole perimeter, in frozen foods and in all aisles that were previously lit with the hood lamps.

BEFORE...


AFTER...


BEFORE...


AFTER...

Ceiling fluorescent tubes now extend over the frozen food aisles.

BEFORE...


AFTER...

The new lighting is making a huge difference in Health and Beauty...





BEFORE...


AFTER...



Self-checkouts still going strong here. Not sure why they're surviving in some stores and have been long removed in others. With all the work that was done to the ceiling here, you'd think they would have pulled the self-checkouts too.

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Acme – Saddle Brook, New Jersey

February 26, 2016, 4:38 am
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ACME RETURNS TO 
SADDLE BROOK, NEW JERSEY!


Location: 75 Mayhill, Saddle Brook, New Jersey
Opening Date: October 18, 2015


After a 40 year absence, Acme has returned to Saddle Brook by taking over this former A&P fresh. This store is just a stone's throw from Acme's original location which we will take a look at down below. Back in the 60's and 70's, Acme and A&P were located right across the street from each other. I believe Acme closed in 1975 when the company closed several stores in Bergen County. A&P remained in it's original location until the mid to late 90's when it moved to this replacement store.


An abandoned Home Depot sits to the left side of the Acme. You can see it's a rather unusual design for the chain. This is due to the store opening as a Villager's Hardware store, a short-lived Home Depot concept. The store was eventually rebranded as a Home Depot but wound up closing altogether in 2008.


A nice big ACME sign fresh coat of paint along the front has this store looking like it's brand-new!


Inside we have A&P's fresh remodel version 2, which is looks fantastic. New lighting in Produce, of course.


This place is begging for a Starbucks. A spacious seating area is to the left of the café counter.


Grab and go area.


The department signs here are big and beautiful.




Free-standing cheese department across from the Deli.


Looking toward the front from the Bakery.




Huge selection in the Bakery!


Heading to the front of Produce...




Floral to the right of the entrance with the Pharmacy up next...




Acme removed A&P's spot lights that illuminated the department signs. They did replace them with fluorescent tubes which you can see above the Pharmacy and Customer Service signs. A&P's original flooring starts up at the edge of Produce.


The fresh remodels originally had a display in this area with "natural" and higher end beauty products. The displays were eventually removed but the "Nature Beauty" signage remained.


The Health and Beauty sign backs up to the sign in Produce.


First time I've seen this 3-sided signs hanging from the cieling.


Here you can clearly see the new lights above the department signage.






ACME sign along the front-end!




Very impressed with how bright and clean this store was.












Dairy runs along the back of the store and only half-way down the last aisle.


Peanut Butter and Jelly department!




Coffee and Tea department in the front corner.


Former self-checkout area.


Acme added a couple of new registers at this end. The rest are all left-over from A&P.


I was here a few weeks ago to take these photos and the A&P checkout lights were still in place. They may have since been replaced with Acme's "Quality Built" lights which are currently being put into stores.






We'll jump over to the original Acme which is now the Saddle Brook Post Office.


Location: 360 Market St, Saddle Brook, NJ
Opening Date: Jul 20, 1969
Closed in 1975


No Acme clues remain along the front.




Second floor along the back of the store with the compressor lifting beam still sticking out of the wall...











AERIAL VIEWS





THE ORIGINAL A&P...


Location: 419 Market Street, Saddle Brook, NJ





THE REPLACEMENT A&P...


A&P fresh with the abandoned Home Depot.



HISTORIC IMAGES


2010


2002


1995


1995
The original A&P up at the top with the Acme along the bottom just to the left of "1995".


1987


1979
Acme was gone by 1979. The front awning had been removed by this time. You can see it still intact in the photo below.


1970


1966


1955

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Former Acme – Lancaster, Pennsylvania

March 1, 2016, 3:21 am
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Photos courtesy of John from WISL1480.com

Location: 1207 Lititz Pike, Lancaster, PA
Opening date: unknown


Opening and closing dates for this store are unknown. Lancaster's other picthed-roof store over on Millersville Pike, which we'll have a look at down below, opened in August 1962. I've been told Acme left Lancaster and surrounding areas in the early 80's due to an impass with the district's unions. I've never been able to confirm that information 

The former Acme is now split between a CVS and a uniform store. A drop ceiling has been added and there are no Acme clues to be found inside. Plenty to be seen on the outside. 


The exterior of this strip has barely been altered since it was built. 


The former Produce delivery doors.






The compressor beam has been removed here. Acme's second floor rear windows still intact. 



AERIAL VIEWS






Acme faced competition from a Weis across Lititz Ave and a Pantry Pride just North on Litiz Avenue, which was located in the shopping center at the top of this image. Weis relocated to a replacement store North of here back in the 90s. The Pantry Pride became Giant which you can see at the left-end of the shopping center. This store was completely torn down and replaced in 2008. I've been dying to see pictures of the new store for years now. You can catch views of the new building in some of the aerial images when exploring the area. Just today, I stumbled across pictures of the store taken by our friend catnapped1972. Finally got a look at the new Giant! You can have a full tour by clicking on the photo below...

Giant: Lititz Pike-Lancaster, PA
HISTORIC AERIALS


1992


1969


1951

AN OVERVIEW OF LANCASTER'S 
OTHER ACME LOCATIONS

PITCHED-ROOF ON MILLERSVILLE PIKE...


Location: 1294 Millersville Pike
Opening date: August 15, 1962


Lancaster's other former pitched-roof Acme in the Manor Shopping Center. Back in the 90's this was an Ace Hardware store and at that time still looked very much like an Acme both inside and out. Since then, the shopping center added the blue awning across the store and sealed over the high windows. Interestingly, Acme had expanded into a small section on the right side. I believe the addition was torn down in order for Ruby Tuesdays to build their restaurant.


These photos are actually from Google Street View and we can even move around to the back of the store...





TOWER STORE ON SOUTH QUEEN...


222 South Queen Street
Opening date: March 16, 1952


You can see where the tower was once located above the entrance. This location has been a Save A Lot for as long as I can remember.



50's FLAT-ROOF ON COLUMBIA AVE...


Location: 1775 Columbia Avenue
Opening date: September 5, 1956


This used to be Rebman Brother's store. I see now that Rebman's is located in at the back of the building.  When they occupied the whole store, the interior was mostly intact from the Acme days. The former meat room and back rooms were used for a huge display of artificial Chirstmas trees and decorations.


Rebman's used to be famous for it's party supplies and holiday decorations. Now it looks like they just sell flags and bingo supplies.

POSSIBLE 30's STORE ON NORTH QUEEN...


532 North Queen Street
Opening date: November 10, 1938


A little confused by this one. The address I have for this Acme is 532 North Queen Street. As you can see, the address on this building is 530. Perhaps it was once divided into two sections with the half of the right being 532. The historic aerials don't offer any additional clues. This building and the houses next door date back to the first available image on historic aerials in 1951.

AND THE STORE THAT STILL HAS
ACME DÉCOR!


Location: 1649 Lincoln Highway East
Opening date: 1965


Acme's decorative Meat Department panels have survived to this very day! They've been painted over numerous times but have never been removed. This location was covered on the blog in May 2015. You can visit the full post by clicking here.


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Article 1

March 1, 2016, 3:22 am
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Discussions: 
Have an off-topic comment or question?
Post it here for all to see.
View previous monthly discussions by clicking here.
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Remodeled Lawrenceville!

March 3, 2016, 7:36 am
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Location: 2497 Brunswick Avenue/Route 1, Lawrenceville, NJ


When we last saw the Lawrenceville store on the blog back in September 2014, the self-checkouts were being removed and rearranging had been underway in some departments. This was around the same time news broke that Acme had signed a new long-term lease here. The news was accompained by word that the landlord was going to make a huge investment into the shopping center. There's absolutely no sign of that ever happening. In fact, the center seems to have more vacancies than ever with the Acme the only store drawing any significant business. As mentioned in previous posts, there is intense competition on Route 1 including Wegmans, ShopRite, Whole Foods and Trader Joes all within close proximity to each other. The Acme happens to be just far enough south to enjoy a comfortable distance from the competitors. This is a surprisingly busy store especially considering its relatively small size. 

Ever since my visit in 2014, I've been planning to check back in to see if a remodel was in fact underway. Turns out it was! Sort of. This is one of those situations that I would call a refresh more that a remodel. Not a whole lot has changed beside the décor. That said, the store does look really good....


The Premium Fresh & Healthy version 3.0 décor has replaced the Chalkboard Market signage and color scheme.

BEFORE...

The coffin cake case was replaced with upright refrigerators for the Bakery with enough room remaining for some additional cases for Produce. The Bakery sign here used to hang over the service counter but was moutned to this wall in recent years. Too bad they didn't give this perfectly good sign to the Lincroft store to replace their wacky Bakery sign.


The product images and fresh messages that normally accompany the department signs were not included here. Perhaps they were cut since they would be a bit overkill with all the new "Acme loves local" signage.



BEFORE...






BEFORE...








BEFORE...



The service departments would look a million times better if the back walls were tiled. Particularly with Seafood, it seems like we're looking into the back room.


The frozen food cases were updated years ago.


All of the former green sections of the ceiling have been painted white...

BEFORE...





No department signage in the back section of Dairy, just a stunted aisle sign.

BEFORE...



As mentioned in the last visit to Lawrenceville, the last aisle has been removed to give some much needed breathing room for Dairy. The grocery selection must have taken a pretty big hit since this wasn't a very large store to begin with.






The front-end didn't get much love during the remodel. The old register lights are still in place with some just about to fall over. The self-checkouts were located in this spot.
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New Lighting in Avondale!

March 7, 2016, 5:21 am
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Location: 851 Gap Newport Pike, Avondale, PA 


Photos courtesy of catnapped

Catnapped visited Avondale last week and sent in word of the lighting changes made in the store. Many of the changes are similar to what was done at the Lincroft store, including the lights you are seeing in the photo above. Avondale also had the drum lights in frozen removed but if you take a close look, you can see there are still some hanging in the vestibule. Catnapped also pointed out that the self-checkouts are still in place here.

A look at the store's original lighting is below...

For additional coverage of the Avondale Acme, click here (and scroll down past the Kennet Square photos). 
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Superfresh – Newark, Delaware

March 8, 2016, 2:14 am
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Photo courtesy of Will aka B-More Retail on flickr

Location: 407 New London Road, Newark, Delaware


An ancient SuperFresh/formmer A&P in Newark, Delaware, that Acme had bid on. The bid was withdrawn for reasons unknown. It has been speculated that the store may have been near the end of its lease and Acme could not secure a guarantee that it would be renewed. As you'll see, the store hasn't been updated since its last remodel in the 80's. 


The décor here is similar to what we saw at the Maplewood A&P.  


It is possible Acme withdrew its bid when they realized how much work was needed to get upgrade the store. 




The original Super*Fresh logo remained about the front-end until the bitter end. 

AERIAL VIEWS




You can see and expansion made to the left side of the origianl A&P. 




I was a huge fan of these green awnings when they were rolled out in the 80's. A&P's were branded with "SAV-A-CENTER" in big white letters. They actually won me over as a shopper with their nicely remodeled stores. Many of A&P's 80's remodels turned out nicer than Acme's.

HISTORIC IMAGES


2007


1992


1970
First siting was in 1968 but this is the first clear view that was available. 

Thanks to Will for the photos of this classic SuperFresh! 
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Econo Buy French Cut Green Beans!

March 10, 2016, 2:25 am
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Programming Note:

March 18, 2016, 2:21 am
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Apologies for no posts for over a week now. Too many projects going on at my day job to squeeze in any time for the blog. Posting will resume on Tuesday.
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Article 1

March 21, 2016, 2:01 pm
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Acme store closing:
The following stores will be closing on or before April 28, 2106.
Each store's lease is coming to an end and
Acme has decided not to renew.

 Bridgeton, NJ


29 Cornwell Drive, Bridgeton, NJ

The Bridgeton Acme has some tough competition including ShopRite, Walmart and Aldi all located nearby. You can view full coverage of the Bridgeton store by clicking here.

Shrewsbury, NJ



1080 Broad Street, Shrewsbury, NJ


The closing of Shrewsbury is somewhat of a non-event. This day was coming the minute Acme acquired the A&P Fresh across the street. It will be sad to see this classic location go but shoppers in the area now have a beautiful and much larger Acme to shop at. Below is an aerial image showing the proximity of the two stores. The new Acme will be coming to the blog this Friday. For full coverage of the Shrewsbury store, please click here. 



Oxford, PA


Photos courtesy of Gary A.

Location: 2176 Baltimore Pike, Oxford, PA

Another classic location closing is the Oxford store. While it's sad to see this one go too, it has remained open years longer than expected. This place has been rumored for closing since practically since the day Acme Style started. For full coverage of this store, please click here.

While Acme is about to lose 3 stores off its total count, it is soon gaining 2 new stores in Patterson, New York and Boonton, New Jersey.

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Today's store post got zapped!

March 22, 2016, 2:36 am
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Well folks, so much for today's post. I was putting the finishing touches on it last night and while I was attempting to add one last picture, blogger zapped all of the content. It was too late to try to recreate it so I'm moving on to Friday's post. The content for today's featured store will be recreated in the next week or two.
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Acme – Tinton Falls, New Jersey

March 25, 2016, 2:14 am
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Today's Tinton Falls post is
being brought to us  by
an Acme Style contributor. 

A final visit to the Shrewsbury storeis included as well.
The post was written prior to this week's announcement
that the Shrewsbury store will be closing.  


990 Shrewsbury Avenue, Tinton Falls, NJ
Opening Date: November 11, 2015

The new Tinton Falls Acme opened in early November 2015 – a mere three days after it closed as an A&P Fresh. I don’t have an opening date for the A&P but Historic Aerials leads me to believe it was constructed between 1995 and 2002 and the building definitely resembles stores that the company was opening at the time. This doesn’t seem to have been a replacement for another A&P such as a Centennial like the ones that were being replaced in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Due to this store’s proximity to the company’s former Little Silver location (also now an Acme) it stands to reason that A&P felt that was strong enough to survive the addition of this one to the Red Bank area.


Unlike some other “new” Acme stores the façade of this one looks great – the letters aren’t comically small like those in Montclair, enormous as in Manahawkin or mounted too low as found in Woodcliff Lake. One could question why the horizontal mounts for the old A&P Fresh sign weren’t removed while someone was in the air mounting these letters but that’s getting a little nitpicky because this is one of the more pleasing exteriors created by the company’s recent expansion.





Even the roadside sign looks good. Well, almost. The huge letters are hard to miss (which is good since the store can’t be accessed directly from Route 35 – the main road through the area) but the rusty supports and dented Sonic sign aren’t doing it any favors. Despite sharing a parking lot with an adjacent strip mall, it seems Acme and Sonic aren’t considered to be part of it. The strip mall (Tinton Falls Plaza) is older than both so perhaps it was easier just to build a new sign instead of adding the two new tenants to the existing one on the other side of the entrance to the parking lot.


With this new Acme even the old Pharmacy letters were replaced, which is something that didn’t happen at all new locations. The façade of the building wasn’t repainted (which would have been nice since the faded pinkish paint isn’t very visually appealing) so it’s easy to spot the covered holes and label scar from the old Pharmacy sign. But that’s enough of hanging around the parking lot, so let’s take a look inside.




I visited the store back in February and took some additional photos. 




It doesn’t appear that Acme replaced the produce department lights as it has done in so many other former A&P locations. This might be a result of the original lights hanging very low because of the pitched roof above (and therefore not rendering the section a dark cave). This looks like a good compromise – personally I liked A&P’s dimly lit produce sections because I thought the subdued lighting gave them an upscale look but can understand why they were deemed too dark for many shoppers. Every new Acme I’ve visited has featured beautiful produce sections – neatly organized, well-stocked and extremely clean.

On a side note, a few former A&P stores like this and the closed Woodland Park/Little Falls location featured a section of pitched roof like the one shown here. While a lot taller than those Acme was building in the 1960s, the general effect is remarkably similar. It’s likely that it was never A&P’s intention to pay homage to its competitor’s (now) iconic architecture but in spite of that it’s something noteworthy.


The A&P logos on the wall décor have been covered with the kind of white labels seen in coverage of many other new stores. Since there are many former A&P locations that are either relatively new or were remodeled within the last ten or fifteen years, I can imagine that future remodels of these might be limited to the repainting of walls and replacing of décor as there is likely nothing wrong with the actual equipment. If so, that would explain why Acme has implemented these kinds of temporary solutions to erasing traces of previous tenants.





In addition to Acme logos plastered all over the wall décor and aisle markers there are also hanging signs throughout the store reminding shoppers of where they are conducting their business. It makes the space above look a little cluttered, which is the opposite of the sales floor that features a minimum of floor displays. I’ll note that this is common to many new Acme stores and not just this Tinton Falls location.






Kitchen Shop still intact here and is still used for its original purpose! 



Upon their re-openings the new stores were immaculately stocked, almost to the point where someone might have felt a little guilty taking an item from a shelf (but hopefully not too guilty). It was also reasonable to wonder if they would continue looking so beautiful. More than a month after reopening it appears that a lot of attention is still put on making sure the shelves are stocked and organized. With the exception of a few missing cartons of organic milk everything looks nearly perfect- and this photo was taken in late afternoon about an hour into the “after work rush” (and the store was quite busy, despite the absence of people in most of these photos).


A&P stores of this style (and there are many) all had a relatively similar layout with produce and other departments in the first/”grand” aisle followed by a wellness section before groceries. The Tinton Falls location changed things up a bit with the wellness section near the far end of the building immediately before the dairy section. I happen to like A&P’s approach to health and beauty items as the sections often felt almost like separate stores-within-stores. I wouldn’t mind if Acme followed this blueprint in the future as well as the overall look with overhead décor panels and low shelves.




The front end features the changes we’ve now come to expect from these very light remodels including the removal of self-checkouts in lieu of additional express registers (some former A&Ps had their self-checkouts removed and are only now seeing the installation of the replacement registers). While it can’t be seen in this photo, the new registers don’t have numbers, suggesting that stores will receive new front ends (or at least more significant changes) sooner rather than late.  
A photo of the registers has been added below...


Also typical of these new Acme locations is the removal and subsequent lack of replacement of the former’s logo. An Acme logo following “Thank you for shopping…” needs to quickly appear because the company has every reason to be proud of stores such as this one. Welcome to Tinton Falls, Acme. Not that you haven’t really been here all along…


1080 Broad Street, Shrewsbury, NJ
Opening Date: Sometime in the 70's
Closing Date: Soon

The new Tinton Falls store is literally across the street from the longstanding Shrewsbury location, famously featured here on the blog a while back in a very sad state. After having relocated to the area, I now drive by this one at least a few times a month and at night the Acme letters with their many burned out bulbs have not been a welcoming sight. Around the time that the Tinton Falls Acme opened, the sign on the Shrewsbury one was completely fixed, shining bright at the back end of the shopping center’s parking lot. Not having been to the store since 2010, I figured a visit was in order when I would hopefully find a venue for a much-improved shopping experience. I was unfortunately let down (and for the record, the Acme letters are starting to revert back to their old, half-lit appearance).


The last time Shrewsbury was featured on the blog, the former Starbucks/café area looked to be used as a makeshift extension of the produce section. Now the corner is stocked with bottled water so while it doesn’t make much sense (this isn’t the first spot in a grocery store where I would find myself looking for bottled water), it at least looks like it was planned instead of being an afterthought (and Acme has been running some incredible sales on bottled water).


As I mentioned earlier, Acme has stepped up their game when it comes to its produce offerings in its stores. While having a small section compared to the Tinton Falls location, it looks very tidy and maintained, which should make a positive impression on everyone walking in the front doors. Few things set the tone for a shopping experience more than an appealing produce section- who wants to give business to a store when this department is a mess? Kudos to Acme’s powers-that-be for recognizing this.


While the produce section is almost classy, the same can’t be said for the dollar section that took the place of the long-closed seafood department. It’s now nearly impossible to see the dormant cases behind a visual assault of discounted items and with the Fisherman’s Net sign having been removed, one would be excused for thinking the store never had a seafood department in the first place.


Lack of maintenance probably stemming from lack of business is taking its toll on the Shrewsbury once-nice store. Neither of the cases in this photo appear to be very old but the trim is in desperate need of repair that is likely never to come. This is a shame as the damage is not only unsightly but borderline dangerous to a shopper’s bare ankles. In this particular instance a little bit of black electrical tape might go a long way towards rectifying the problem.


When the Morris Plains store was last remodeled around 2000, its relatively new Hussman upright frozen food cases received new black panels to replace the previous red ones that matched the outgoing “Checkerboard Arch” décor (as the new “Industrial Circus” décor called for black cases). This store, also having had the “Checkerboard Arch” décor, probably had the same cases. When it came time for the “Chalkboard Market” remodel it appears a new coat of latex paint was used to change their color and if you zoom in, you can see they now have many coats of paint and are starting to look very sloppy- more evidence that the absolute minimum is done around here to keep things serviceable.


The dropping “photo” sign featured in the last post covering the Shrewsbury Acme is now thankfully gone from the wall above the customer service department although it regrettably took some paint along with it (whether the letters were removed by hand or eventually just fell to the floor will likely remain a mystery). Curiously the ever-present Rug Doctor section that is usually out in the open somewhere on the sales floor of stores has taken up residence in the old one hour photo section- perhaps to fill the empty space?


Now it’s time to ponder what happens. Acme currently has this market (Red Bank?) covered- in addition to this and the Tinton Falls locations, there are great little stores in Fair Haven and Little Silver as well as the gorgeous Lincroft store all within an approximate ten minute drive. Competition is scarce: 
- Trader Joe’s within walking distance (almost right across Route 35) 
- A Stop & Shop in Middletown, a Foodtown and a super busy Whole Foods in Red Bank (although the latter is referred to by the company as being located in Middletown), all immediately to the north 
 -ShopRite to the east in West Long Branch 
- A very nice Foodtown that seems to survive despite a Wegmans probably a mile or so down the road, both to the south in Ocean (home to the former Seaview Square Acme) 

Crazy as it sounds, that’s not a lot of grocery stores in a populated part of suburban New Jersey, especially since few of these are very close to one of the aforementioned Acme stores. The company doesn’t need this location but in their “Getting Better Every Day!” blog a company representative clearly stated there is no plan to close this one when someone posed the question about having two stores in the same area. That being the case, what’s the deal? Is Acme not allowed to announce any closures right now? Does the company have a ridiculously good lease for this site? After all, the company was known for very long, very favorable leases on many of its older locations (in the area of 40 or 50 years), so maybe it still has a decade or so left on this one and doesn’t want to allow room for competition in the area? Or is there a plan to pour some money into this one? The latter is doubtful as it’s widely assumed that when Acme’s lease on this site expires, the store will close and the new Tinton Falls store will essentially take its place. It seems customers have already picked up on this. At a time of day when grocery stores normally see an influx of customers on their way home, the Tinton Falls Acme was quite busy while the Shrewsbury Acme had employees that outnumbered its customers- this despite the latter’s location in a strip mall with other stores that are often big draws. The Tinton Falls store is larger, newer and has a pharmacy- something Shrewsbury can likely never have because of it being adjacent to a CVS. So while we say hello to a new Acme, it might also be about time to say goodbye to another.

Well, the time to say goodbye to Shrewsbury is finally here. The classic store will close on or before April 28. For previous coverage of the store, please click here. 
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