TOUR: Country Harvest Family Market - Palmerton, PA

Country Harvest Family Market

Owner: Richard Northstein

Opened: ca. 2000

Cooperative: Great Valu Markets
Location: 572 Delaware Ave, Palmerton, PA

Photographed: December 22, 2018

Welcome to Palmerton! Acme Style did a great post on this town's former ACMEs back when they were active, but unfortunately, those posts seem to be gone forever. However, the town's most recent former ACME is now the roughly 17,000 square foot Country Harvest Family Market, previously IGA affiliated and now a member of Great Valu Markets.

The very attractive exterior is a recent renovation and expansion of what we can't quite tell was a pitched-roof ACME of around 14,000 square feet. Before the renovation, the building's heritage was far more obvious.

During the renovation, the building was also expanded out the front for a larger produce department, which now lines the front wall of the building in front of the registers. Deli/bakery and meat are on the back wall, with frozen in the second-to-last aisle and dairy in the last aisle. In the front left corner (or right behind me in the above picture), is a Coffee Shop & Donuttery that was added in the renovation. Country Harvest has done a great job of modernizing the old supermarket building, while keeping the small-town charm of the store.

Great Valu Markets is supplied by UNFI (formerly Supervalu) and therefore has some elements of Premium Fresh & Healthy decor in the stores, such as this Salad Place sign. We've seen this sign in particular before at another Great Valu, the now-closed Ahart's in Phillipsburg.

Consequently, Great Valu uses Essential Everyday and Wild Harvest storebrand products. In the above picture, we're looking across the front wall of the store towards the entrance and exit, which are on the side wall of the store. The brown pole visible to the right above is roughly where the original front wall of the building would have been.

Here's a look down the first aisle of the store. Notice the paintings on the wall, a really nice touch.

Nice aisle markers, too. I do wish there were a bit more decor in this store, as many of the walls were a bit blank.

Deli-bakery at the back of the first aisle. I believe this is roughly where ACME would've had their deli, although of course Country Harvest's is much larger.

The grocery aisles are very attractive too, with nice new flooring and bright lighting.

I really liked this store and I think it's a good representation of what a well-run small town grocer can be like.

In the frozen foods department, we see a few different generations of freezer cases, or at least one side that's been painted. The cases on the left are almost definitely left over from ACME, and notice the air vents along the ceiling on the left which may or may not be ACME-era too.

More nice paintings in the last aisle with dairy.

And here's a look across the front-end with the coffee shop and donuttery (that's what they call it, and I really like that word) visible at the far end.

As we can see, it's pretty clear where the store originally ended, and where the expansion out the front would've happened. I don't believe there was any expansion out the side, but the poles visible here make me question that.

Anyhow, a very nice little supermarket in a very pleasant little town. Before we depart Palmerton, we have two former grocery stores to stop by. Our first is Monday on Grocery Archaeology!