ACME Markets
Opened: 2015
Opened: 2015
Previous Tenants: A&P (ca. 2003-2015)
Location: 123 Main St, Denville, NJ
Photographed: July 2020
It's time for our final Parsippany/Great Piece Meadows store! We're just south of downtown Denville for a look at the ACME here in town, which is historically notable because it was the first A&P fresh market opening around 2003. It's also almost exactly 50,000 square feet, and replaced a centennial model store on the same property.
Acme Style has documented this store very well, both as an A&P and as an ACME, but there have been a few changes since their last post about the store. For one, the main facade has been repainted and while it looks a lot sharper I'm not convinced that's the right color. I think it might be the weird pinkish cinderblock that's throwing me off too, A&P liked that color.
It's still a pretty good looking store exterior. Let's head in to see how the store has changed since Acme Style's post...
Looking good in the grand aisle! Many new fixtures and new flooring in produce and a few other departments.
As Acme Style has mentioned, floral seems to be significantly upgraded in a lot of the stores. Produce looks like it's been slightly upgraded with modifications to the existing produce cases, which I believe were only installed when ACME moved in in 2015.
Looking at deli and the other prepared foods departments on the right side of the grand aisle.
This store doesn't seem to have gotten quite so many fixture upgrades as some others, notice that the deli cases haven't even been painted. We can also see the scaled-down decor here based on A&P's short walls.
Looking back up towards the front of the grand aisle. Now, I think this store is looking really good -- and I think it's looking better than Boonton -- but, as I've said before, ACME falls short (even of other Albertsons banners) in terms of design and decor. Their nicest stores are either nice because they contain the bones of an earlier, more deluxe decor package, or they're attractive but not overly impressive like this one. They've improved their operations in many ways, but the stores still come off feeling bland and unremarkable, even though I do enjoy the experience of shopping in an ACME.
Bakery at the back of the grand aisle. These glass cases have not been replaced, but the bread displays have...
Looking good. Meat and seafood, which Acme Style points out have not received the white rectangular background around the lettering, are along the back wall.
The flooring around the perimeter has been replaced, as has much of the lighting. The flooring in the aisles is left over from A&P, but has been refinished. HABA is in the first few aisles...
And you can see the pharmacy at the front. This store has a lot of similarities to Clark, but they're not identical.
Clean, bright, and boring grocery aisles. The open ceiling is the only real visual interest in the center store.
Meat takes up the middle of the back wall, with dairy in the back corner.
The side wall of the store is on an angle, making for a slightly strange front corner here. Frozen is in the second to last aisle and on the front wall...
17 aisles in total, with the last being one side of dairy and one side of frozen.
Note that since this is an exterior wall, it's actually painted cinderblock instead of plaster or drywall.
Looking up towards the front of the store in the last aisle. I actually think this wall looks pretty good although the signage could be improved. Great lighting on top of the refrigerators.
And here's a look at the front end. That's all for downtown Denville, and make sure to check out our other stops of the day here and here! Tomorrow, we have day 1 of 2 of updates and special reports before we move on. We have two here on The Market Report and three over on The Independent Edition. Come back to check it out!
An A&P advertisement in the September 22, 1960 edition of The Madison Eagle mentioned that its Denville Store was located at First Avenue, between Broadway and Diamond Spring Road. If I were to venture a guess, the building on First Avenue which I suspect was an A&P is now home to Grassroots Natural Market (and possibly Denville Hardware as well), though that building has since been expanded in (at least) two different directions.
ReplyDeleteAssuming HistoricAerials.com is correct, A&P had relocated to 125 Main Street no later than 1963. If you look at the 1963 aerial image, you'll see the letters "A&P" on the barrel roof portion of the building. (That lettering had pretty much faded by 1970.) That's something I've never seen on any other A&P, and I think it was really cool.
The Centennial was expanded sometime between 1970 and 1979. I unfortunately never saw this Centennial when it was in operation. Yet based on comments on read, most of the Centennial facade was still visible post-expansion, though a large green awning was placed along the front of the building.
Demolition on the old A&P (at 125 Main Street) and on five adjacent shops occurred in late November and early December 2003. The new A&P Fresh Market opened on August 19, 2004.
As to my opinion of this store, I think that A&P's decor was nicer than the decor Acme has, though I just don't care for this store in general due to its warehouse-like feel.
--A&P Fan
Thanks for the history!
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