TOUR: ACME Markets - Warren, NJ

ACME Markets
Opened: 2015

Previous Tenants: A&P (1990s-2015)

Location: 177 Washington Valley Rd, Warren, NJ

Photographed: July 2020 and July 2021

No time to waste, so let's jump into the Plainfield area! We are starting with two stores across the street from each other in Warren, also known as Warrenville, with our second store tour being the now-closed Kings across the street. I visited the Warrenville ACME over the summer of 2020, with the store having received its Quality Built remodel in 2017. The store was lightly remodeled again, by the way, in late 2020 or early 2021.

Heading in, we find that the A&P layout is intact with some nice upgrades. Produce is in the front left corner, with deli on the left side of the first aisle and seafood at the back of the first aisle. Meat lines the back wall with bakery in the back right corner, then frozen in aisle 13 and 14 and continuing on the front wall, and dairy lining the last aisle. At just over 30,000 square feet, it's still a relatively small store, but plenty spacious.

Notice that prior to the remodel, seen above, the fixtures were just the A&P fixtures but repainted. Now, all the cases seem to have been replaced. The flooring was replaced in the 2020-21 remodel, and the lighting would've been installed when ACME moved in. By the way, the wall we see straight ahead is not the back wall of the store as you might expect, but the left-side wall of the building. So the front wall is to the left. Here's how the produce department looks now...

As we can see, the perimeter cases have not been replaced but the islands have with the same standard fixtures we see in all the ACMEs. The produce department is looking very good now.

Floral is in an island across from the produce department.

I really like the coloring on this department and it looks fantastic with the upwards lighting left over from the A&P decor package.

The rest of the first aisle contains deli and seafood. Unfortunately, the corner deli isn't exactly on a corner here. These deli islands have also been replaced...

Now back to my earlier pictures...

We can tell these seafood cases were pretty old, almost definitely original to the store. They've been replaced.

Back wall looking very good, although I wish the colors in the decor were a little bolder. The cases are looking very sharp with a fresh coat of black paint.

ACME moved the lighting from the bars above the shelving to the ceiling, brightening up the space. It looks like this shelving may have been replaced more recently than some of the others -- it's possible that, before a reset, this was a natural and organic food aisle.

This shelving looks older.

This store is in Warren Township, which ACME refers to as Warrenville. I used Google Maps to navigate to the store, using Warrenville Road to come up from route 22. Now, my Google Maps navigation voice doesn't seem to recognize the vowels in "Warrenville," saying every time "Wrrnvll."

Plenty of branding of Lancaster and The House that Quality Built.

It's very clear the staff and management at the Warrenville store take a lot of pride in it. I've only been to this store twice, but both times it was absolutely spotless!

Frozen foods are in aisle 13 and one side of aisle 14.

Bakery is in the back right corner, a standard spot in many A&Ps but kind of strange to me since it's tucked away in the back.

And post-remodel, we have the bread moving to the left side of the department and the service case moving to the right side.

These are looking very good, a bit more deluxe than the earlier remodels.

Dairy lines both sides of the last aisle. I believe the dairy cases here were installed by ACME, but I'm not entirely sure (they would have been, at least, repainted when ACME came in).

Additional frozen foods in the front corner, with customer service up next on the front wall...

And for a look across the front-end back towards produce before we head out...

That's all for the ACME, but also check out the Kings across the street here! Tomorrow, we're going to head south to the other side of US-22 for our final Middlesex store here on The Market Report. Stay tuned!