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Abandoned Kmart and Pathmark – Hazlet, NJ

August 3, 2017, 5:45 am
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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

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Acme – Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey

August 4, 2017, 5:26 am
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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.








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.

HISTORIC AERIALS


2002


1995


1987

Do you think the Woodcliff Acme will be able to survive Wegmans? 
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Signature Signage Bites the Dust!

August 7, 2017, 5:42 am
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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.
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August 8, 2017, 5:19 am
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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?



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Ideal Orange Extract!

August 9, 2017, 4:14 am
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Grand Reopening – 2nd St and Girard, Philly

August 10, 2017, 4:52 am
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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.







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Former Acme – Lansford, Pennsylvania

August 11, 2017, 4:41 am
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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.
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Acme Style's First Look >>>

August 14, 2017, 4:16 am
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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.
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Former Acme – Old 2nd Street, Philadelphia

August 17, 2017, 4:21 am
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Acme/ Rite Aid - Philadelphia, PA (North)
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.
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Acme – Ortley Beach, New Jersey

August 18, 2017, 5:29 am
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REMODELED INSIDE AND OUT!



Location: 5 Ortley Plaza, Seaside Heights, NJ

BEFORE >>>

Acme/Former A&P Ortley Beach, NJ


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




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Update on Front and Snyder!

August 21, 2017, 5:32 am
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Location: Front and Snyder, Philadelphia, PA

The sign is up! Wonder if there will be another one along the front. It would be cool if the letters  were free-standing along the awning like they were on some 50's and 60's stores. That red rectangle is a bit of a mystery. Looks like something is being covered over. Perhaps a Pharmacy sign. According to a comment left on the precious post for this store, employees who have been training at 10th and Reed report this location today! 
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Former Acme – Paulsboro, New Jersey

August 23, 2017, 5:55 am
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Photos courtesy of Erica R

Location: 545 W Broad St, Paulsboro, NJ

BEFORE >>>


This former Acme has been stuck in a time warp since opening in October 1968. Acme didn't change a thing all the decades that it operated the store and absolutely nothing has been done to the property since it closed down in the mid 90's. The store has finally been reborn as a Sav a lot. The long awaited opening day was July 26. Erica will be taking us on a tour of the interior so we can see all of the changes that have been made to the building...




The pitched-roof is still fully intact!

BEFORE >>>









BEFORE >>>













BEFORE >>>








For additional coverage of the former Paulsboro Acme, please click here.
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What the heck?

August 24, 2017, 2:08 am
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Saw this on an Acme shopping cart this past weekend. Just found one but I only had a few seconds to look around. I'm assuming the store received the sign(s) by accident and it never should have made its way to a cart. "it's just better" in blue is used in Alberstons stores while a red version of the signage is used by Safeway. 
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Welcome to Jersey City's...

August 28, 2017, 5:16 am
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NEVER ENDING
FRONT-END DISASTER!!!



DIFFERENT SATURDAY, 
SAME STORY...  
ZERO EXPRESS REGISTERS!

A&P had FOUR "Express Yourself" self-checouts available morning, noon and night. Acme has two express registers and flat out REFUSES to operate either register. There were only two regular registers operating with lines of visibly frustrated shoppers. NO ONE in Customer Service. This is the same exact scene I experienced about a month ago. In fact, there are NEVER any express registers open when I am in this store.

As I've mentioned before, I have shopped regularly at this location since the early 2000's. In all the years that it was a drab former Waldbaums/A&P then beautifully remodeled to an A&P Fresh, never once was it so poorly managed as it consistently by Acme.

Not wanting to put down the two items I had and walk out, as I often do when I encounter these front-end-disasters, I tracked down a long-time employee to ask some questions about the chronic issues at this store. The employee was very nice and offered several times to go up front and ring me up. I wouldn't take her offer as she was busy doing other things and is not normally a cashier. I specifically brought up the self-checktouts and how A&P always had four available and Acme only ever has two to three registers open. She said Acme is exploring the possibility of bringing the self-checkouts back! Corporate has already been to this location to review the situation and the store is waiting to hear what changes will be made. So that's something. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that Acme spent a fortune acquiring A&P and they refuse to spend any money on cashiers.

When I finally got checked out by someone in Customer Service, I asked yet again, why there are never any express registers open here. I was basically told their labor hours were cut so no more cashiers. Well that's gotta be good for business. The employee then said "Everyone shops at ShopRite anyway" to which I said "yeah, 'cause no one can get checked out at Acme".

Just in case you think I overreact a bit to the horrendous customer service I experience at far too many Acmes, let's have a look at some of the yelp reviews for this very location to see how others feel about it...

Vincent B: "Place was packed and only 2 lanes had cashiers. No self checkout anymore. Just awful."

Ariel J: "How do they not have an express check out?! I came in for 1 item and waited on line for a good 15 minutes before my turn was up. Ugh."

Hank C. : "No self-checkout? Guess they want to be slower?"

Willima C. : "At what point do you say it's time to have more cashiers working when lines are as long as Six Flags? I don't think I've ever seen more than 3 lanes open ever at this place. Only come here if you absolutely need to."

Christy W: "...and only two cashiers which create long lines."

Paul K: "There are never carts available, they have very few cashiers working (long lines to check out), and they're crowding the aisles with crap making it hard to maneuver around the store when it's busy"

Liz T: "Prices are fine, produce seems ok, meat is ok, but why on earth would there only be three registers open at 5:30pm on Sunday? Have the owners never been to a grocery store before?"

Arielle B: "Waiting on the check out line for an hour+ is unacceptable and telling a customer "no one wants to worry so uh sorry..." is not appreciated. I will not be back."

Cody S: "Sometimes only ONE check out line is open & there are 6 carts in line before somebody complains & they finally open up something."

Dan P: "The lines are horrific especially for a Sunday only had 3 lines open! I loved the a and p that was here. Looks like I'm back to shop rite which is the lesser of three evils. Never coming back here again!"

Moinca R: "The return of self-checkout lanes would do a lot to change my review to 3 stars." (Up from two stars)

Same here, Monica! It's pretty sad to see Acme completely blowing their comeback, which did not come with a cheap price tag. I keep shopping at their stores simply because I love Acme but I'm sure other shoppers are going elsewhere since the service is so terrible. Earlier in the week I popped in the Weehawken store to buy PowerBall tickets. I was going to grab a few items... until I saw the lines. Five registers were open but that still was not enough to handle the amount of shoppers waiting to check out. To make it worse, the evening manager was standing at Customer Service without a care in the world. I got my ticket and left. Funny thing... as I was walking out, I passed two customers who had entered the store. One looked across the front-end and said to the other "Oh my God, look at the lines". I turned and said "There's always a long line at Acme!"
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"Fall into Savings" Flyer!

September 1, 2017, 5:22 am
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Well look what showed up in my mail yesterday! Very classy mailer from Acme!! (Apologies for the terrible pictures). I wonder if this is being used at other banners or if it is an Acme exclusive. The flyer features organic and higher end items. The prices are impressively low! Acme continues to have Talenti gelato on sale for lowest prices you could find anywhere. All of their ice cream prices have been insanely low for nearly two months now. The flyer almost seems to be in response to Amazon slashing prices at Whole Foods but that would be impossible as that news is  just broke a week ago.

One comment about the overall design... whoever chose that font for the "Fall into Savings" logo should never be allowed to touch a computer again. This is a perfect example of why you shouldn't get fonts from sites like 1001 Free Fonts! That "F" is a complete and total disaster.





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Article 0

September 1, 2017, 5:25 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.

There will be no posts next week.
Squeezing in one last week of summer!
Posting will resume on Tuesday, September 12th. 
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First look at the interior of Front and Snyder!

September 11, 2017, 6:19 am
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Photos courtesy of John P

Location: Front and Snyder, Philadelphia, PA 



The mysterious red panel that we saw here a few weeks ago turned out to be nothing interesting. Not to say the front of the store isn't absolutely beautiful!






John reports..."Beer/wine and Starbucks are through the door on the right"









"Looking down frozen at the opposite side and along the front end. A set of registers, followed by self checkouts, then two express registers and customer service. I'm pleased to report that all the registers were open here!"

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Article 0

September 12, 2017, 2:23 am
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Acme store closing:
CLASSIC ACME, 
ST. MICHAELS, MD



Location: 114 S Talbot St, St Michaels, MD

Devastating news here... the classic St. Michaels store will close on October 8, 2017. 

 FORMER PATHMARK,
BERGENFIELD,  NJ


Locaiton: 80 New Bridge Rd, Bergenfield, NJ

Another a acquired store goes bust! Bergenfield will close on November 7, 2017. 

Thanks to D Groton and Supermarket Fan for the news! 
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The return of Jewel brand!

September 19, 2017, 4:43 am
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Jewel branded milk, eggs and bread are back! Is Acme next? We can only hope. The packaging design is similar to what was used prior to SuperValu replacing banner specific brands with Essential Everyday. The design of the packaging makes it easy for each banner's logo to be popped into the white box. It would be very nice to see "ACME" branded items back on shelves! 

Thanks to Aidan Chism for letting us know! 
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Article 0

September 21, 2017, 2:59 am
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News Break: 
ALBERSTONS GETS PLATED! 



I have honestly been keeping my eyes pealed for news that Alberstons would be offering some sort of meal-kit options in their stores. These relatively new on-line companies like Blue Apron, Home Chef and Hello Fresh, are the latest entities impacting business at traditional supermarkets. Other chains have begun offering meal-kits and I had a feeling Alberstons would be jumping on the band wagon sooner than later. Last night I jumped over to ProgressiveGrocer.com and there it was... Albertsons Acquires Meal-Kit Service Plated. 

Plated offers delivery of ingredients and recipes for complete meal preparation. The company was founded in 2012 and was later featured on episodes of Shark Tank and Beyond the Tank. I believe Alberstons is the first grocer to acquire a meal-kit company outright. Plated meal-kits are sure to be hitting store shelve in Acme in the very near future. 

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