Weavers Way Co-Op
Owner: cooperatively owned
Opened: 2017
Cooperative: none
Location: 217 E Butler Ave, Ambler, PA
Photographed: January 6, 2020
It's our third of the three Weavers Way Co-Op stores! We saw the
Chestnut Hill and
Mount Airy stores in Philadelphia, and now we're here to check out Weavers Way's largest and newest store. It opened in 2017 as a new-build store, and at roughly 17,000 square feet, it's the largest Weavers Way, not to mention the only grocery store in downtown Ambler which was previously home to an
ACME. That store, now a CVS, is directly across the street.
The grand aisle is on the right side of the store, with produce, deli, bakery, and meat/seafood.
As we see, the store is a very attractive combination of modern and rustic design elements. I like the choice here to go with wood laminate flooring in this part of the store rather than polished concrete, which I think warms up the space. I like all the wood around the interior.
As we see, the flooring does transition to polished concrete as we get out of the grand aisle. It's a nice store, though, because it's the only Weavers Way that was actually designed and built by the coop, rather than fitting into an existing space. They do quite well with that in their two Philadelphia stores, but there's nothing like a purpose-built supermarket.
The bulk department takes up most of the back wall. Interesting that this area is set up like this because if I didn't know this store was built with this purpose and layout, I'd assume this was an expansion into a former meat department backroom area. Doesn't it look like that?
Very nice grocery aisles with attractive aisle markers and nice shelving.
Dairy and frozen are on the left side of the store.
As we see, all of the fixtures were brand new when the store opened, and there were no secondhand fixtures used.
And unlike the Philadelphia stores, the HABA and nonfoods departments are located right inside the store, because of the larger size. The front-end then continues to the left on the front wall...
That's all for this Weavers Way, and up next we're headed about five miles southwest for a very interesting independent store right here on The Independent Edition!
This store was actually not a 'new build', it was a short-lived Bottom Dollar Foods (the smallest location they ever opened I believe) that opened in 2013, and quickly shuttered in late 2014 or maybe early 2015 when Delhaize decided not to continue with the chain. Like many others, Aldi acquired the lease, but decided not to open up a store here, and the store sat vacant for a few years until Weavers Way took it over (and extensively reconfigured it. As you hinted at, I don't think any of the fixtures were reused). Not sure if Aldi subleased it to Weavers or if Aldi technically is still the property owner.
ReplyDelete(You also missed out on the former Acme in Ambler almost across the street which closed a year or two before Bottom Dollar came to town, although there aren't really any remnants left there as it is now an absurdly large CVS (although part of the building is also used for their regional offices).
That's interesting -- thanks for the correction and additional information! I am in fact well aware of the ACME but just did not have time to visit it the day I was here. Of course, Acme Style did extensive coverage of it but that's not available anymore, so maybe I should've spent some time there!
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