TOUR: ACME Markets - Hamilton Square, Hamilton, NJ

ACME Markets
Opened: around 1993

Previous Tenants: none

Location: 953 NJ-33, Hamilton Square, Hamilton, NJ

Photographed: January 2021

I mentioned in yesterday's post that there were two supermarkets operating at Hamilton Square, an 82,000 square foot Saker ShopRite and this 60,000 square foot ACME. This store opened in the early 1990s as a replacement for an older location just west which we'll be seeing tomorrow. While it was built with the 1990s red white and blue decor, the Hamilton Square ACME was remodeled around 2000 to an unusual decor package only seen in a few other Albertsons-owned stores. It was then remodeled again sometime around 2019-2020 to Quality Built, and while it looks nice, it's not that exciting. Not that the very bland prior decor package was that exciting either, but at least it was unique.

This was my first 1990s-era "fortress" store, as they were referred to over on Acme Style, that I visited myself. I must say that they look much better in pictures than in person -- the exterior is quite nice in pictures, but it's a little strange in person since the store is so large but the doorways into the store are so small. You feel that they're weirdly cramped even though the building is so large. The layout is also more than a little strange, and not something I like at all. There's no grand aisle, but produce is in the front right corner with bakery on the right side in the first aisle. Meat, then seafood, then deli, and then dairy line the back wall with frozen foods running up the middle of the store and dairy extending down the last aisle. Pharmacy/floral are in the front left corner. Something about it doesn't flow very well, especially in the progression of produce-bakery-meat as you walk up the first aisle.

But the produce department is quite attractive, with new fixtures installed at the time of the QB remodel. The decor also works really well in this area, and the arched ceiling lining up with the windows is beautiful.

Looking out towards the main sales floor from the produce area. Notice that this area extends farther out to the right of the store than the rest of the sales floor, since bakery and produce prep are behind the wall we see to the right here. Notice that this lighting is the same as the newly-installed lighting in some of the Kings locations.

Here we move on to bakery in the first aisle. The aisles are split front to back, with the dividing aisle visible just a little bit to the left above. Notice also the wood-texture flooring, which is left over from when that front section was a Wild Harvest natural/organic department. It looks like this flooring was replaced in the QB remodel, with the darker tile we see in some of the remodels, although it's strange they didn't also replace the wood-texture flooring.

"This is your ACME" in the back corner with cold cuts on the right side wall. The rest of meat, and then the seafood and deli service counters, line the back wall...

Looking across the back. I am not a fan of deli and seafood being in this location, and the next ACME we'll see has them in locations that are much more natural to me.

The grocery aisles are very streamlined, and it felt like the selection was very extensive here. Not sure if that's true or just a result of the store feeling quite large, even when it's not.

At the very least, it's extremely clean and mostly well organized.

Interesting flooring here, which could stand to be replaced. The good news is that the colors match the QB colors well, and it's worth noting that the deli is more frequently blue than gray as seen here. I assume they didn't want to do this wall with half blue and half gray.

Frozen foods are right up the middle of the store in two aisles.

And at the far left side of the store we have HABA extending out from the pharmacy corner in the front.

Some updated fixtures in the dairy department. For those who need it, I am pleased to report that this store has a very clean public restroom just to the right here. I was one of those who needed it.

16 aisles in total. Notice the division between the darker and lighter flooring, and again, I believe the darker flooring was installed during the QB remodel but the truth is that you can't really see the flooring much in the Acme Style pictures.

Pharmacy in the front right corner with a few more short HABA aisles.  Now for something really interesting in the pharmacy department...

I couldn't get any closer without getting the pharmacist's attention, but zoom in to the RW&B prescriptions sign below the counter! It looks like that originally would've hung above the counter to indicate where you leave after getting your prescription, but was repurposed to be mounted directly on the counter. Cool that it survived through two remodels!

Floral and pharmacy in the front corner. There's an entrance/exit in this corner as well.

And for a look across the front-end. Looking at this here, it looks as though the darker gray flooring (if this is the same color) would've actually been installed at the time of the Awnings remodel, not QB. Either way, this store has managed to survive ShopRite's expansion and is looking pretty good, if a bit boring, with its new Quality Built remodel! Up next, we're headed west about 3/4 of a mile for the strip mall that contained the older ACME that this store replaced along with a SuperFresh that's now an independent grocery. Check those stores out on Grocery Archaeology and The Independent Edition, respectively, tomorrow!