Milltown
Welcome back to the Milltown ACME, the store that's been closing since 2010 (which is when the pharmacy closed). I toured the store a while ago, and yes, the store is still open although it's closing --
this time for real. Or so they say. Yes, the facade has looked like that since 2010. I doubt anyone back then thought the store would make it this long. And yet the store continues to be mostly functional, even with a refrigerator of fresh sushi at the front.
Meanwhile, in the back corner, where refrigerated produce used to be in low cases, the section is now blocked off with chip displays in front of the low refrigerators.
A similar treatment has been applied in the meat and seafood service counter, where seafood fills the old meat counter while the old seafood counter is empty.
But the decor is still pretty much intact, if there are some signs of decline like the missing ceiling paneling on the left below.
Now on to another ACME that's not closing, but looks like it could be...
Saddle Brook
I've been to the Saddle Brook ACME a few times, and every time reminds me just how poorly-run the store is. There's been a complete lack of investment in most of the store, with the original A&P fixtures remaining across the grand aisle. Most other acquired A&Ps have seen these old fixtures replaced with newer ones, and the empty service prepared foods departments (visible behind this case) replaced with upright cases. This store even still has a cafe, although there's not a whole lot of food to actually eat there. I really miss good supermarket food courts. But speaking of prepared foods, the Picadeli salad bar has been installed here. This is the first store I've seen the salad bar in that wasn't part of the
pilot program.
The store also has not had any lighting replaced, as far as I can tell, again something that ACME did early on in many of the stores. You can see the store is dim and the lighting is in bad shape here, although I would say the whole store is in bad shape. This store seems to be very low-volume and neglected, but there's not a lot of competition right around here. There's a Walmart to the south and quite a lot in Paramus to the north, but Saddle Brook itself has no other supermarkets. A Food Bazaar affiliate was preparing to lease a property about a block south of here around 2021, but that deal fell through (and I suspect they were looking to use the space for warehouse more than retail).
The old A&P coffin freezer cases have been replaced with brand-new upright cases, which might be a sign that other fixtures are soon to be replaced.
But you can see just how dark the aisles get (and my phone tries to compensate for that a little bit) especially here in the cleaning aisle, where several bulbs were burnt out.
And one whole aisle was filled with nothing but sale paper towels. This is what we see in stores that are soon to close. Is this store preparing to close?
If you'll indulge me for a moment... this is the type of store, in my opinion, that would seriously benefit from being run by Kroger, if the Albertsons-Kroger merger goes through in some form. From what I see elsewhere, Kroger stores if nothing else seem to be well-maintained. I would bet they'd do a fair amount of maintenance work here, probably simple things like fixing light fixtures, painting, fixing beat-up floor areas, and replacing some of the very old refrigerator cases. I also think ACME would benefit from being run by Kroger, which in this competitive market would likely result in lower prices and a better product mix, along with probably more remodels and store replacements -- more like what we see at competitors like ShopRite. That said, I'm still against the merger (come to think of it, I'm not sure I've actually stated a position on the merger) because of the inevitable side effects on areas where the stores overlap. Closures, higher prices, poorer quality, and more competitive power concentrated in a much larger, more dominant company are all but guaranteed with a merger like this in areas where Kroger and Albertsons overlap. I'm also concerned about the effects on the food system of the US at a larger scale, with one much larger chain likely to further push out local and small producers. I'm sure I'll go into more detail at another time, but I think stores like this -- and maybe even most of ACME -- would benefit from being run by Kroger instead of Albertsons. Anyway, that's just my opinion and it might change in the future! In the meantime, here's some other posts from today and yesterday...
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