TOUR: ACME Markets - Montclair, NJ

ACME Markets

Opened: 2015

Previous Tenants: A&P

Location: 510 Valley Rd, Montclair, NJ

Photographed: July 2016, May 2019, and December 2020

Our first Essex County store is this 35,000 square foot former A&P in the Upper Montclair section. It's just a matter of blocks from a 1950s-era ACME that's now a CVS, and across town (2 miles) from another ACME-turned-CVS. I first visited the store back in the summer of 2016, which we'll see first, with a few updates from May of 2019 and then a complete post-renovation tour in December 2020.

Like the ShopRite of Fishkill, my earlier tour is rather one-sided, featuring almost exclusively the grand aisle. I will offer a bit of an update here, though. In 2019, I was surprised to find that the pharmacy had closed. Usually that's the first sign of a failing store, but in this case it's the first sign of a large renovation.

This 2019 photo shows the pharmacy sign on the outside removed.

New black carts less than four years after the store opened with a fleet of all brand new gray and red carts.

Heading in, we find an extremely attractive store that's been beautifully maintained by ACME. The Fresh 2.0 decor looked great here and always did, though the store was far dingier and dirtier as an A&P.

Produce takes up the front left corner of the store to the left of the entrance, with bakery behind it. Dairy lines the rest of the first aisle. Meanwhile, deli and prepared foods line the right side of the grand aisle, backing up to the grocery aisles, customer service, and pharmacy. Seafood and meat line the back wall of the store, with frozen at the far right side of the store.

Bakery towards the back. I've always liked this store's bakery selection.

As we'll see, the renovation didn't really involve changing the layout much, which was designed for this store back in the 80s as a Futurestore. It's a little awkward but it works.

Floral immediately inside the entrance to the right.

Prepared foods and deli lining the right side of the grand aisle. This is an island with the former pharmacy on the other side to the right. This section is the only one that's been extensively re-worked, and the customer service counter just out of frame to the right in the above picture has been moved to a more standard location on the front wall.

The grand aisle has always been very wide, and this middle section has always been a little random. It's been rearranged a little.

Service deli, complete with a deluxe Boar's Head feature, and cheese shop at the back of the grand aisle. Grocery aisles continue behind this section.

Dairy lines both sides of the first aisle.

This blurry shot shows how the grocery aisles in the front are lower, allowing for a sightline across the whole front half of the store. The pharmacy, shown here in operation in 2016, lines the back of the deli department.

Frozen foods line the right-side wall of the store in the last aisle.

Wrapping up the pre-renovation coverage with this 2019 shot of the pharmacy closed and covered with health and beauty shelving, with the sign still intact but covered in white. Now let's see the store post-renovation in 2020...

We head in on the left for produce looking very good...

The fixtures on the perimeter were not updated, but the produce cases in the middle are new. The flooring throughout the store has been replaced.

Floral in the front corner looking just as deluxe as ever. The former pharmacy-customer service counter to the left above has been pushed back for a cheese case.

The rest of the deli and prepared foods counter lines this island.

As we see here, the middle of the grand aisle has fewer random sale displays and more of these new black refrigerator cases. Also notice that the Boar's Head awning remains from A&P's Fresh 2.0. I will say though... I'm not sold on this Quality Built signage. It's too cramped and has no personality. Other departments look much better.

A few short grocery aisles with bread and condiments take up the back of the produce department, something that's been here since the A&P days. The last aisle has fresh bread which then transitions into service bakery...

And as we can see in the far right part of the above picture, dairy then takes up the rest of aisle 1.

All of these cases are left over from A&P. And we see what looks like two generations of category markers, although they work well together. The brownish-grayish flooring that we'll see throughout the rest of the store was installed by ACME, as A&P had white tiles.

Looking back up to the front wall of the store, where you can see the produce signage on the front wall.

The back wall of the store features seafood and butcher, with packaged meat lining the rest of the wall. I don't believe A&P had a service butcher counter here, and the two counters are combined into one here.

Aisle 2, the first grocery aisle, cuts off about halfway because of the deli counter on the other side of the wall we see straight ahead. There's a dividing aisle through the middle of the rest of the store, with the first several aisles having only their back half due to the deli island...

I'm pretty sure the tube lighting we see along the ceiling was installed by ACME during the Quality Built renovation. That's probably a big factor in why the store feels so much less dingy.

Space is maximized in the relatively small store with the merchandise hanging above grocery shelving. (I recently visited an even smaller ACME and was thoroughly impressed with the selection of general merchandise hanging above the shelving.)

Nonfoods towards the end of the store. I think there are 11 aisles total, including the grand aisle as aisle 1.

Frozen foods looking very good with new signage, lighting, and flooring. I don't believe the cases were replaced. I'm pretty sure this store does a good business, because there's a lot of merchandise, especially fresh foods, and it was extremely well-staffed. This made photography difficult, so this is all I could get of the front end...

Just three service registers, though. I think there are six self checkouts, plus customer service in an island under the balloons. This store is looking very good after its remodel! Tomorrow we'll be checking out the other supermarket in Upper Montclair here on The Market Report.