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Update: ACME Markets!

Our first two updates of the day come to us courtesy of the Acme Style blogger! (Plus one store of my own at the end of the post.) Although the blog closed back in 2018, the blogger is still out and about periodically to check out what's going on at the area ACME stores, and we have two updates from them on Bergen County stores.

Edgewater (pictured above)

We saw Edgewater's remodel back in February as the reset was still in progress. Let's just say that it hasn't improved since.

Acme Style writes: "First aisle was removed to make room for an addition to the Pharmacy in the front corner. It now has a 'consultation room'. I'm sure it's used now for COVID vaccinations more than anything. Interesting that they installed it shortly before the pandemic hit." While this darker flooring is what we've seen in remodeled ACME stores, it is not attractive when it's used to patch a white floor.

"Back of the first aisle and gray tile in the forefront from the shortened second aisle. For some strange reason they shortened the first 4 aisles. Not sure why they wanted all the additional space in the back. Selection really took a hit. They no longer carry my laundry detergent or dish soap! HABA and baby has also been drastically downsized since the Pathmark days."
"Gray tile where all the former aisles used to be. Even the manager told me it looks like Tetris back here! Also kills me that they didn't move the aisle markers back to match up with the aisles."
"The two aisles with full gray tile look great! This is where the organic department used to be with hardwood floors."
"Here's another confusing change. Produce has been spread out into the main concourse along the front of the store. You can see the 'You WILL buy fresh cut fruit while you're here' display. There's also two new giant floral displays just inside the entrance that can take some navigating around when you come into the store with a cart." Similar to Edgewater, Kenilworth has been remodeled but still has the green flooring from the A&P Sav-A-Center days... time will tell if ACME brings in new flooring to these acquired stores that really need it, I guess. But as far as major remodels, here's our second ACME update of the day...

Fort Lee

This photo of Fort Lee, which is immediately next to the George Washington Bridge, comes from my original set back in 2016, but Acme Style has more extensive coverage -- including a look at the Quality Built remodel -- here. The store is again being remodeled, but it's unclear exactly what some of the changes are going to be, and how extensive they will be.
The former liquor department, at the back of the produce department, has been removed entirely and a wall is being constructed towards the back of the store. Acme Style says: "Can't figure out what the plan is here. The shelving with the soda end cap is not permanent. Hardly any space walking between that aisle and the new wall."
The other side of the wall, in the back near seafood and meat. "Guessing frozen seafood cases will go here. Similar to what they did with the Jersey City remodel." Want to see the Jersey City remodel? You're in luck! We'll be taking a look at that right after Fort Lee.
"Dairy cases used to line this aisle but have been moved over to the wall. Now dairy extends all the way to the pharmacy..." as we see here:
The HABA shelving which used to run in this area, in front of the pharmacy, has all been removed as HABA is moved into the grocery aisles. Those, in turn, have been extended into the front corner longer than they were.
The layout, with HABA in the grocery aisles and dairy on the outside wall extending all the way to pharmacy, is exactly what we see in Kenilworth -- although that was largely left over from A&P's layout.
"No idea what's happening behind this tarp. Perhaps the pharmacy is getting expanded."
"Something major going on in there! Not the first area they've used the Hot Wheels displays in areas being rearranged. Is there a bigger selection of Hot Wheels in any other store in the WORLD? I doubt it."

Jersey City - 18th St/Newport

Revisiting our Newport ACME following the completion of its remodel (kind of, as we'll see). The grand aisle was extensively redone, but the remodel kind of peters out towards the end of the store. Two things to notice here on the outside. First, the pharmacy in the nearby ShopRite closed recently, and ACME is welcoming the former customers from that pharmacy (despite the fact that ShopRite sold its pharmacy records to CVS). Second, although this had already been done in my first post of this store, I didn't notice it -- the pharmacy sign here has been moved from directly under the ACME logo, as it was in Acme Style's coverage, to the far left of the facade. Let's head in...
All new flooring and produce islands in the grand aisle. Most of the fixtures in this area have been replaced. Here's the problem: these grand aisles in this generation of A&Ps are just too wide. There's too much horizontal space, with not enough to fill it. Same problem as Montclair. So the grand aisle gets packed with junk just to fill the space. Here, another grocery aisle could easily have been added and the grand aisle would've felt more natural. I also am not typically a fan of placing the deli in an island, as it feels like it wastes sales floor space (although I am fully aware that it takes up exactly the same amount of space in an island or on a perimeter wall). Speaking of the deli island...
Here's the other side of the grand aisle. You can see what I mean about it being too wide -- there's too many islands when you could've pulled the deli in and had plenty of space for an additional aisle or two behind it.
As we've seen in other remodels, ACME has also tightened up the deli department by eliminating long-out-of-commission prepared foods cases and moving cheese from single-tiered cases into multi-tier shelving, seen here in place of the cafe.
As we saw in the previous post, the deli fixtures have all been replaced or painted.
Looking back up to the front wall of the store in produce. Bakery is on the right side wall behind produce...
Similarly, all of the fixtures have been replaced in bakery -- but again, there's too much space. I think it doesn't help that the store was completely empty when I visited on a Friday afternoon. Does this store ever get really crowded? It was quite busy the last time I was here, I guess.
Seafood and meat continue along the back wall of the store.
Here's the wall Acme Style was referring to in Fort Lee. Here we have packaged seafood and meat substitutes, and packaged meats continue along the back wall.
As I said, the remodel kind of peters out here. We do have new decor, but really nothing else. You can see the line between the new (darker) flooring and the older white flooring. The aisles are clean and streamlined but not exciting.
It does look like the flooring was resurfaced, since it looks nice and shiny.
Aisles 12 and 13 are frozen foods.
Dairy certainly looks a bit more spacious, but not all that exciting either. We see that the changeover has been very minimal in this area of the store, but it's about to get more minimal...
Almost no pharmacy signage here (it's on the section of wall above this area, which has a lower ceiling). Flooring remains from A&P, and we have another large A&P remnant that you can just catch at the far left corner of the above picture...
Natural Beauty signage remains, despite the fact that the actual department is long gone! More A&P leftovers on the front end...
So notice that ACME actually replaced the registers, but not the register lights! They have also installed self-checkouts at the far end of the front end. That's about all for now in Jersey City, but we'll keep an eye on the ongoing remodels since they're happening so fast.

Taking Stock

This is as good a time as any to reflect on where ACME is on the whole, which Acme Style used to do a fair amount of. This year we've had one store closure so far -- Morris Plains -- plus the announcement of the closure of Milltown. Both of those appear to be due to lost leases rather than underperformance, though of course those go together (and obviously, neither is being replaced or moved). ACME hasn't opened any new stores since Acme Style closed in 2018 except the Walnut Street location, featuring a totally new decor package that doesn't seem to be in any other stores, ACME or otherwise (nor the newly renovated stores that were completed after that store was done...). Other than the acquisition of the Kings stores, ACME hasn't been opening new stores. However, renovations are off the charts -- nearly three quarters of the ACME locations now have some variation on Quality Built (at least 114 of the 162 stores). In May of 2016, just 14 stores had received Quality Built -- meaning at least 100 stores (and likely more, since my list is just from looking at Google Maps photos which aren't always up-to-date) have been remodeled in the last 5 years. Some of those stores have actually received two remodels -- one with new fixtures, flooring, and reset, and one with new decor (typically decor seems to be done first). I assume that ACME will bring Quality Built into all the stores soon enough, and I would also assume that when ACME has remodeled its entire fleet of stores or close enough, they will start remodels on the Kings locations, which really need it. Now, we have a lot more to see today, so check out the full list of what we have here!

Comments

  1. Great to hear from Acme Style! But definitely yikes at that patched flooring in Edgewater... and some strange choices that you captured in Jersey City, too. (Although I can't complain about the remnants, you're right that they don't make much sense!)

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    1. Exactly -- I think lately Albertsons has been trying to renovate its entire fleet of stores (as I was saying, they are really close with ACME), so obviously the details will suffer. That's what I'm finding with my other visits too, a Quality Built remodel doesn't mean that there are no remnants of a previous decor package.

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    2. Thanks Retail Retell! Having fun participating on The Market Report!

      Yeah, Jersey City has some issues for sure. The Corner Deli wording is centered terribly on the wall! The "i" crashes right into the right edge. The words all needed to be centered better both vertically AND horizontally. Another tight fit for GUARANTEED above the frozen seafood cases.

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  2. I still don't understand Acme's endgame, especially in their once dominant home turf of Philadelphia and immediate outlying suburbs. Besides a few cherry-picked sale items, their prices are still sky high and they have done very little to change that perception. They don't really offer anything unique. Giant and Wegmans have eaten their lunch, and Giant continues to open stores into one of their last strongholds--Philadelphia itself. Besides the new Walnut store, remodels are (IMO) pretty dull and sloppy. Their latest last-ditch effort seems to be cramming wine and liquor into every PA location they can, further leading to the 'overpriced convenience store' image. (Example: The minuscule Dresher, PA location now has beer and wine despite their being a store that sells each in the same plaza!). Unless they make some drastic changes, I don't see them surviving in this market in another 10-20 years.

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    1. It's a good question, and it seems to me that ACME is striving to be what I like to call "best of the middle" -- like not special, high or low end, with not that large or that small stores, and so on -- but the best mainstream supermarket in any given market. Do they actually achieve that? No, probably not -- the execution leaves a lot to be desired, but there are some noticeable improvements. I would bet that ACME is also striving to get as much as they can in New Jersey where they seem to be stronger against Stop & Shop than they are against GIANT in PA.

      But I think you hit the nail on the head with the remodels -- we have a lot of pretty nice stores but none that really blow you away. And that's in comparison not only to ACME's competitors but to their sister stores. I live both in northern NJ and central MA, and the remodels (and operations) in our Shaw's/Star Market stores in MA are on a totally different level from ACME's. Can't quite figure that out, but I assume it has to do with the relative positioning against the competition.

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  3. Not Milltown... :(

    Funny story - I had been to the Walgreens just up the street (coming over from East Brunswick along 18 - and I believe that Walgreens is actually listed as East Brunswick, while the Acme isn't) several times before realizing this store was there (literally a block or two away) one time coming from the totally opposite direction off of 130? (I believe).

    Then realizing there was a shorter way by coming from 18 closer to the ShopRite rather than down by the mall to get to the area as a whole.

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    1. The Milltown ACME is a charming store but impossible to get to, as you well know! Sorry to see it go but at least there are a lot fewer store closures yearly than there used to be...

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    2. Not so bad to find once you knew to look for it. I think the issue I had was that I was looking at East Brunswick (as we were usually staying somewhere along Route 18) and never realized/thought to look at other town names for stores.
      Coming in from the other side that time, I didn't have the town name in mind, so I probably just did it as a search from some known point and saw it wasn't too far away.

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  4. I had no idea Milltown was closing! Not too surprised though. The place was never very busy when I was there and they shut down the pharmacy years ago. I imagine the Walmart out on Route 1 expanding to a super center took some business away. Lidl also opened recently in the former A&P. Looks like the Acme will be torn down to make way for affordable housing. Hard getting a clear picture of what the plans are since most of the articles about it are on subscription based sites.

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    1. Yep, exactly what you said. It's a combination of the fact that they lost the lease and that the volume was quite low.

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    2. When is Milltown closing? My mother is a regular shopper there, it's our closest supermarket, and she can't stand the crowds at ShopRite or Walmart. So she won't be too pleased with this news. Though she has said that the meat has been terrible there as of late.

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  5. >>>>BREAKING NEWS>>>>

    Fort Lee's "former liquor department" is a liquor department once again! Completely enclosed with just one entrance at the front of the aisles. The new department also has its own register and employee. Beautiful hardwood floors too.

    I don't understand this development at all since ACME is maxxed out on liquor licenses for the state of NJ. Something must have changed. Wonder if there are more liquor departments to come for NJ stores. It's not looking like Fort Lee is getting a remodel at this time. Everything that is being done is to accommodate the liquor dept. The tarps by the checkouts have come down to reveal a new customer service counter and office. The work being done next to the Pharmacy appears to be a slight expansion to house paper goods as they've all been displaced from the grocery aisles. A&P's two-tone blue tiles in the HABA dept have been replaced with gray tiles. No signs yet that other areas will receive new flooring.

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  6. Did Middlesex ever get a remodel? Or is it still having the checkerboard decor?

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  7. Acme seems to love half-assing it and these photos provide some proof. As someone else stated, the goal appears to be mediocrity.

    The chain grew when it acquired a lot of old A&P stores but the growth was short-lived and now we're back to the days of stores closing without any new ones on the horizon (or any attempts to remain competitive). The one in Morris Plains was one of the most profitable for years but Acme allowed it to become a relic- a combination of no investment in the property and sky-high prices throughout the chain- and now it's gone. Despite the Acme down the block from my house being a really nice store, I go there for Boar's Head deli cuts, but now even less and less because the Foodtown a mile down the road also has Boar's Head, not to mention lower prices on just about everything else I purchase. I really don't get it. I'm sure the company's debt is massive but still, a corporation with that kind of buying power should have much better everyday prices.

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