TOUR: ACME Markets - Bordentown, NJ

ACME Markets
Opened: 2007

Previous Tenants: none

Location: 260 Dunns Mills Rd, Bordentown, NJ

Photographed: January 2021

In 2007, the 32,000 square foot ACME of Bordentown was replaced with this new-build, 54,000 square foot store. As Acme Style points out, it's unusual for ACME to, at that time, have even kept open one of their older stores, much less replace it with a brand-new one. But replace it they did, and even almost 15 years after the store opened, it's looking really great.

This very attractive exterior includes a set of entrance/exit doors at either end. The main entrance is to the right, with bakery and deli/prepared foods along the right side wall and produce facing in the grand aisle. Meat and seafood line the back wall, with frozen and dairy at the far left side. Pharmacy is in the front left corner, and notice that the sign on the front still advertises the Sav-On pharmacy. To my knowledge, this store has not received the Quality Built renovation but as we will see, there's some changes that have been made over time. The store is also in beautiful condition despite not receiving a renovation since its opening.

An overview of the grand aisle, with produce to the left and deli/bakery on the right side wall.

Looks like the b is slipping just a little bit here. I love the lighting in this store! It's very bright, since it's all newly replaced, but it doesn't feel overwhelming because of the dark floor and high ceiling.

Deli runs along the right side of the back part of the grand aisle. The skylights are also a nice touch here.

As for the hanging ceiling structure to the left, that's over what used to be the Wild Harvest department, with what used to be the Shop the World international department behind it. Both of these have been removed and integrated into the regular grocery aisles, as we'll see.

One of my complaints with this generation of store is that there is no signage for seafood. Instead, the combined meat and seafood counter is labeled only as "butcher block."

As we can see, the diagonal aisles that Acme Style disliked have been removed for straight aisles in what used to be the international and natural areas.

Notice the different colored flooring for what used to be Wild Harvest.

We see that while the first aisle used to have freezers for natural foods, it is now the breakfast aisle with frozen waffles and breakfast sandwiches opposite cereal and granola. Interesting (and pretty creative) reuse of the fixtures without having to move them all over the place. I'm sure you'd never design the store like this, but it certainly makes sense as a retrofit.

Here's a look across the front-end from the first grocery aisle. Note the updated Quality Built register signage.

Not a whole lot to see in the grocery aisles. The category markers remain from PF&H 1.0, which is what we see here on the walls.

This store, despite its size, did feel a bit more cramped than I'm used to seeing ACMEs, because of the various sale displays. I wish the store were just a little more streamlined.

Here we have the pharmacy in the front corner, with HABA in the aisles extending out of it.

We also have grass-less frozen cases (Acme Style pointed out the grass running along the top of the cases in their 2010 photos).

18 aisles in total, with dairy taking up the outside of the last aisle. I love the lighting and leaf designs on the wall here!

Sav-On, however, has been removed from the interior signage. We can also see the other entrance/exit here. Customer service faces the grocery aisles on the front-end...

That about wraps up our look at the Bordentown ACME! (It's just barely Bordentown, in fact. If you look at the exterior picture, there's a street running along the right side of the store, and on the other side of that street is Fieldsboro, whose border also runs directly behind the ACME.) Tomorrow we head about four miles to the southwest for our final store in this group, over on The Independent Edition!