438 Blue Valley Dr, Bangor, PA

Original Grocery Tenant: ACME Markets

Address: 438 Blue Valley Dr, Bangor, PA

Opened: ca. 1960s/70s

Closed: 1996

Later Tenants: Ace Hardware (2006- )
Photographed: December 22, 2018

Welcome to Bangor, PA! We're just across the street from what's considered Pen Argyl, but very close. You've probably already figured out why we're checking out this store; the Capitol Ace Hardware is housed in a 15,000 square foot, former pitched-roof ACME.

According to JoshAustin610, ACME closed in 1996 and the space was vacant until Ace opened up about 10 years later. I assume the Mr. Z's across the street (later Weis, linked above) was the final nail in this store's coffin. But it seems to do quite well these days as a hardware store. Oh, and while I'd never write a blog about them, I do love independent small town hardware stores.

Ace Hardware's entrance and exit are definitely left over from ACME, and we can see the remnants of the so-called "magic carpets" that would open the doors when you stepped on them. Let's head inside the hardware store, though...

Just for a place to start, we're looking out of the original ACME in the above photo into an expansion out the side. The hardware store is around 1.5x the size of the ACME. But inside the hardware store, we can definitely tell the place used to be an ACME...

...that's right, the pitched roof is exposed inside and the glass wall at the front is in beautiful condition. Note the large sign frame where the Ace logo is on the outside -- I wouldn't be surprised if the interior tiles are still there under this frame.

That was a fun stop, because of the obvious ACME history still so well preserved in this building, even almost 30 years after ACME closed. Not to mention that the people working in the hardware store seemed very nice! Up next we're headed into the little downtown area of Bangor (a small town of around 5000) for a grocery store that closed shortly after I visited. Check it out on The Independent Edition tomorrow!