TOUR: ACME Markets - Sussex, NJ

ACME Markets
Opened: 2015

Previous Tenants: A&P (1960s-2015), expanded around 2000

Location: 455 NJ-23 N, Sussex, NJ

Photographed: December 2020

We arrive in Sussex Township's only supermarket, the ACME (formerly A&P) in an unnamed strip mall at route 23 and Lower Unionville Road. The store was built in the 1960s as a centennial model A&P, the expanded out both sides to its current 46,000 square feet around 2000. I assume that, if it was not already closed by then, that expansion put the Foodtown down 23 out of business. Today, Farmer Joen and Sussex Meat Packing take up a combined 25,000 square feet of that strip mall.

The grand aisle and HABA department is located in the expansion, with prepared foods and deli lining the right side of the store. ACME had yet to renovate this store and I am fairly certain they are preparing to close, not renovate, when the ShopRite opens all of 900 feet away. (It's also possible that a more extensive renovation is planned in advance of ShopRite's opening.)

Produce faces the deli and prepared foods counters. Notice that there have been virtually no upgrades in produce, not even the cases that we've seen updated elsewhere.

Master Choice deli sign remains, but with a blacked-out Master Choice logo!

Seafood is on the back wall. Looks like we're missing quite a few department names here, although I think this one is missing because it would've said "The Great Atlantic & Pacific Seafood."

Here we see the division between the original store and the right-side expansion, with HABA in the first two grocery aisles.

Interesting that they opted for a full wall between this area and the main store. Pharmacy and customer service are on the front wall...

Was the expansion done with a remodel to this, Fresh 1.0? Or was it a remodel to Foodmarket? At least some of the store has the Foodmarket-era flooring.

Grocery aisles with lighting on the ceiling, not the shelving, in what was the original centennial store.

No service butcher here. It almost looks like this store's Fresh 1.0 remodel was done a bit on the cheap since it's missing some of those more deluxe features, and the signage is inconsistent (notice there's no text sign for the butcher window here either).

Another rather unappealing thing here, due to the store's older construction the ceiling is lower; therefore, the decor is scaled down but the ACME decal was not so it takes up way too much space on each sign.

Third-to-last aisle with frozen on one side, second-to-last has frozen on both sides, and last has frozen on one side and dairy on the other.

These cases look newer than the remodel/expansion. If Fresh 1.0 came in at some point after the expansion, that's likely when they were installed.

Dairy and frozen in the last aisle, with bakery in the front corner.

This area is quite nice, but again, we see no upgrades done by ACME.

Looks like what A&P would've had as packaged bread is now sale items, and ACME moved bread to the grocery aisles. By the way, if you want to see the store back in 2015, check out Acme Style's coverage here. Now, we are about 12 miles from the northern tip of the state, where we're going to see our next store (what was the farthest-north supermarket in the state) tomorrow here on The Market Report!