TOUR: ACME Markets - Vernon, NJ

ACME Markets

Opened: 2015

Previous Tenants: A&P (1990s-2015), replacing an older store in the same strip mall

Location: 530 CR-515, Vernon, NJ

Photographed: December 2020 & December 2021

We arrive in the small town of Vernon, NJ for their 56,000 square foot ACME, which was built in the mid-90s including part of an older 70s store on the same property (see the comments here for more details). I photographed this store in December of 2020, and fortunately got to the store roughly a month before the Quality Built (also known as Heritage) renovation began. Acme Style caught the store in its first few days of operation here. We're going to check out the store still looking very much like an A&P, and then some post-renovation photos that I took a year later in December 2021...

"A&P Fresh" replaced with "ACME"  here in the foyer. As we move inside, we encounter a Starbucks (slightly unusual to see a Starbucks in a small-town ACME that's really out there, but it's also the only Starbucks around) to the right of the entrance and floral/pharmacy/courtesy to the left of the entrance. Deli and bakery lines the right side of the grand aisle, with produce on the left side and meat/seafood at the back.

ACME seems to enjoy having these really gigantic floral departments, which is interesting since many stores cut down the floral departments to use the space for other grocery items.

It looks like some of the deli signage had already been removed, although that likely comes from the initial takeover, not early signs of the remodel.

More A&P hanging signage in the produce department, which has all been removed. The fixtures and decor have all been updated in the grand aisle, as we'll see.

Cheese Shop in the back corner, with single-tier cases on the perimeter and a multi-tier island in the middle. Although I haven't been back, I would assume this has been replaced with upright multi-tier cases on the perimeter.

Very large bakery on the back of the grand aisle, although I do think A&P cut back the size of the bakery from what it originally had been.

Seafood and butcher, then packaged meats, on the back wall.

Health and beauty takes up the first few aisles, with pharmacy at the front. Fresh 1.0 was still looking pretty good and had been maintained nicely, just a little out of date.

Here's a look across the front end from the pharmacy/grand aisle side. Unlike what we've seen in some other stores, ACME didn't move the pharmacy across the front-end to the left corner. Instead, it remains next to the customer service counter here on this end.

Here we can see where the new and old stores meet. The old store also included what is now the post office and a liquor store next door, and was roughly 30,000 square feet. The expansion constructed in the 90s was an additional 44,000 square feet but included only 12,000 square feet of the old store, not the whole thing.

An aisle and a half of frozen food, whose cases seem to have been updated pretty recently (but likely by A&P, not ACME).

As we can see, there's a lot of space in the store that isn't always used to its full potential. Dairy begins on the back wall and continues down the last aisle.

ACME painted the dairy cases upon taking over from A&P, and they look very sharp now.

This frozen food alcove on the front wall seemed to be in the progress of thinning out, with clearance and sale items filling a lot of the space. The shelving in the middle has been removed in favor of moving some of those items over to the grocery aisles.

And here's a look at the front-end, which had received QB lane markers. Now for our post-renovation photos from 2021...

No changes outside, although I did observe a Safeway truck pulling up to deliver. Inside, we see pretty significant changes in the grand aisle...

New flooring, cases, and decor all around, and it's looking great! The grand aisle still feels a bit cramped compared to some other ACMEs, but it's still nice and streamlined. 

The deli, as we've seen elsewhere, has been cut back to a smaller counter with the prepared foods counters removed in favor of packaged deli items. I'm still on the fence about whether that's a good idea or not.

Foods to Go in the front corner here with Starbucks on the front wall. I must say that the upright cases they are using to display the packaged foods are quite attractive.

Looking up towards the front of the grand aisle from the back. It looks great!

And as we move into the back part of the store and the grocery aisles, I do appreciate the updates around the store but I still think QB is a little boring. I wish the wood-texture flooring was being put in the whole store, but I know that's expensive.

Note that, unlike most of the latest QB renovations we've seen, the meat and seafood counters aren't combined into one here. Instead, this is just seafood and there's no meat service counter.

HABA looking more streamlined, but more boring, without the hanging signage.

But the grocery aisles are pleasantly clear.

ACME painted the wooden slat case toppers that A&P loved to have in all their stores' refrigerators and freezers. Looks much better now. I also appreciate the new lighting in these aisles.

Note that the flooring has not been replaced in this part of the store.

Here we see frozen in the front corner, with the row of shelving removed in favor of sale displays.

And a look at the front-end. Here on the front wall, I believe the blank red part of the wall is for Drive Up & Go, with the logo just not installed yet. If not, honestly the red is very nice and adds some necessary color to this bland front-end.

This was a quick detour to the east into Vernon, but tomorrow we return to route 23 for a look at two small stores in Sussex on The Independent Edition!