The Market Report

Original Grocery Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 400 S Main St, Wilkes-Barre, PA Opened:  1966 Closed:  1995 Later Tenants:  Insalaco's (1995-1999) > BiLo (1999-after 2003) Photographed:  December 22, 2018 Happy October! ACME had a presence in Wilkes-Barre going back at least as far as 1937 when they opened a store at 693-695 Hazle Street, now a parking lot for a neighboring funeral home. But in 1966, ACME constructed a 19,000 square foot pitched-roof store as part of a new mall on Main Street, later expanding that store to around 27,000 square feet. It became a Super Saver in the 1970s, then back to ACME, then Insalaco's in 1995 when Penn Traffic acquired ACME's northeastern PA stores, then BiLo in 1999 before closing at some point between 2003 and 2008. Following BiLo's closure, Volunteers of America moved in and turned the space into a thrift store. I visited the store in 2018 when Volunteers of America was still there. The thrift store closed in May 2020, and ...

Tops Friendly Markets Opened: unknown, ca. 2000 Previous Tenants:  ACME Markets (1960s-1995) > Bi-Lo (1995-ca. 2000) Location:  2758 PA-414, Canton, PA Photographed:  August 17, 2022 I don't have to say it, you all already know. Today's store tour is a former pitched-roof ACME! You can't miss that roofline. And we can tell that this one is an earlier model, too, because of the beams that slant outwards on the sides where they connect with the roof. Looks like ACME or a later tenant added some covers on some of the front windows on the right side, but mostly the original structure is intact! This store was built as a 14,000 square foot ACME in the 1960s before being sold to Penn Traffic in 1995. It became a Bilo , which because it was franchised remained until 2011 before being sold to Tops. It's been updated with the Tops decor I'm most familiar with, in an attractive but simple renovation. It does have these aisle markers which I don't recognize from any de...

Lingle's Neighborhood Market Owner: Bill and Marie Lingle Opened:  2003 Cooperative:  none Location:  15 W Brimmer Ave, Watsontown, PA Photographed:  August 19, 2022 There's quite a lot going on at this unassuming riverside Lingle's Neighborhood Market! From the front, this 16,000 square foot store looks like an average small-town independent supermarket. But actually the building has a long history as a grocery store, which some might be able to guess from this parking-lot sign... It's not the clearest clue, but it is a reminder that this store started out as an ACME. In fact, ACME started its time in Watsontown with a store at 122 Main St (now demolished) in 1939, which later moved to this pitched-roof building at 15 W Brimmer Ave in 1967 just a block away. Like so many other ACMEs in these northern Pennsylvania small towns, the store stayed around until 1995 when it was sold to Penn Traffic's Bi-Lo Foods chain. It appears there may have been some franchise agree...

Original Grocery Tenant:  ACME Markets Address: 7495 Westbranch Hwy, Lewisburg, PA Opened:  late 1970s Closed:  1995 Later Tenants:  Bi-Lo (1995-1998) > Save-A-Lot (1998-ca. 2014) Photographed:  August 19, 2022 Today's snapshot is a quick look at a former ACME, later Bi-Lo and then a Save-A-Lot owned by Weis, which has a store just south of here. Eventually Weis sold the store back to Save-A-Lot, and then it closed around 2014. Although the building was extensively renovated, the original structure is still standing. There's another new grocery store just north of here, which we'll be taking a look at tomorrow on The Market Report !

Weis Markets Opened: 2009 Previous Tenants:  Insalaco's (1994-1996) > Bi-Lo (1996-1999) > Mr. Z's (2000-2009) Location:  2836 PA-611, Tannersville, PA Photographed:  January 15, 2021 Tannersville is a small town, but it does have a large supermarket -- this Weis, which has been expanded to around 63,000 square feet, from an original 45,000 square foot or so store which opened in 1994 as an Insalaco's, later Bi-Lo and then Mr. Z's, which along with all of the other Mr. Z's was ultimately converted to Weis in 2009. More recently, the outside has been remodeled, but used to look much more like the 90s Insalaco's. The interior was renovated with a simple and early of the Fresh Market decor, likely when the store was switched from Mr. Z's to Weis. We can tell the store is older, partially by the low ceiling and the older fixtures, but it's been fixed up a bit. Although it is definitely an older Weis, it's in very good shape and looks clean and bri...