TOUR: Super Supermarket - Orange, NJ

The Orange, NJ Super Supermarket was built in the 1950s. From Acme Style:

"Acme opened here January 29, 1957. Closing date unknown. My guess would be sometime in the 80's. Acme pulled the plug on lots of North Jersey Acmes as the 80's Remodel was rolled out."

In the 1980s, Mayfair Foodtown would have taken over, closing ca. 2000. Super opened soon after. I'm going to do somewhat of a before-and-after with Acme Style's pictures from 2013 as Super has renovated the store since those pictures were taken. All pictures marked "2013" are from the Acme Style blog.

2013

2017

OK, not much has changed on the outside in four years. The main difference is that the awning and posts around the entrance have been painted. They've also added a stucco facing on the building under the awning and a stone wall-like feature on the bottom. Also all the carts are new. Heading inside is where we see the big difference. Produce is in the first aisle.

2013

2017

What a difference some new lighting and wall graphics can make! Notice that the produce cases now run parallel to the front of the store. The track lighting as well as the built-in light fixtures have all been replaced with new LED.

2017

Super had some great looking produce, and most of their prices were really cheap. The produce section was the best part of the store. In the back here, deli/meat/seafood used to be jammed up in the corner under the diagonal ceiling, with packaged meats along the back wall. Super has essentially switched them: now packaged meats are in the corner, with butcher, deli, and seafood taking up most of the back wall. That more closely represents how their target market shops -- fresh meat is important, and just as important is getting it cut to order.

2013

2017

The floor was in pretty awful condition in the back corner here. Service deli, meat, and seafood continue along the back wall.

2013

2017

An observant shopper (or reader, here) will notice that this store has a delicatesen as opposed to a delicatessen. I don't know if that's how it's spelled in Spanish or if that's just a mistake.

2017

Now that's an impressively-stocked cereal aisle.

The second-to-last aisle is the frozen foods aisle.

2013

2017

Obviously, the lack of a huge Capri Sun display helps matters here. But still it's a nice improvement over what it used to look like.

The last aisle is dairy, with very old cases.

2013

2017

It's hard to tell here in these pictures, but the wall graphics are actually 3-D. The lettering comes out slightly from the background. In the front corner is a small sale area with this time, a great wall of values.

2017

2013

2017

The front-end is largely the same, except where Acme Style shows the old Acme clock, there is now a customer service counter. I don't know where Super would have had its service counter before, if it had one. And as far as I could see, the clock is gone.

2013

2017

And boy, that's a lot of canned tuna. I never buy canned tuna, so is $1.25 a can a good price?

And of course, the huge sign...

2017

Super isn't a particularly wonderful store but it's certainly not bad. I think it's losing its history as an Acme by the minute, but that doesn't bother me so much because they're actually updating, not just painting the walls or shuffling around merchandise.

Super Supermarket
53 S Jefferson St, Orange, NJ
Open Mon-Sat 8AM-8PM; Sun 8AM-7PM
supersupermarkets.net

973-678-3200
My Rating: ★★★☆☆