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Acme in New York

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 18:30
by Ephrata1966
Acme had stores in New York state, at least in western/central NY, but closed them all in 1979. Coincidentally that was the year Food Fair (and Penn Fruit with it) went out of business. I would not be surprised if Acme ever extended into New York City like Pathmark (especially the Bronx), upstate New York, or New England.

Re: Acme in Virginia

Posted: 14 Oct 2009 19:18
by maynesG
Hi,yes Acme had stores in Ny City on Staten Island, Upstate Ny, West Va, a few I believe in Virgina around Washington D.C , and on the Virgina portion of the Delmarva Peninsular.

Re: Acme in Virginia

Posted: 17 Oct 2009 16:26
by maynesG
Hi, Yes I knew that on the main land of Virgina, Acmes presence was not great. However the point is that they did have a handfull of stores around D.C. and at least six stores that I remember on the small area that makes up the Virgina portion of the Delmarva Penninsular.{ They had a much larger presence in the Maryland and Delaware portion of the Pennisular and inthe three counties of West Virgina)
Thanks!
Gerry

Re: Acme in Virginia

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 08:11
by sbtinme
Ephrata1966 wrote: Acme had stores in New York state, at least in western/central NY, but closed them all in 1979.
Actually, not quite so. Acme absolutely had stores along the Southern Tier of NY State through at least the mid 1990s. I was working for Kraft Foods back then and handled Acme stores in: Cornell, Bath, and Pen Yan, NY. Probably there were others, but those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. There was also a wonderful Acme store at that time in Wellsboro, PA ... the female manager there was excellent, the store was high volume, large and very well run.

Re: Acme in Virginia

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 12:57
by sbtinme
I found a link to a recent photo of the former Acme in Bath NY. (Looks like it converted for a short time to a P&C and was shuttered shortly thereafter.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9433667@N02/889861715

Re: Acme in Virginia

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 13:00
by sbtinme
And a link to a very old photo of the Acme in Wellsboro PA. (This is very close to the NY state line in north central PA -- and, honestly, in the middle of NO WHERE!!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsher/3879901210/

Re: Acme in Virginia

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 18:02
by maynesG
Hi, Just how do you define the lower tier of New York State ? As a former resident of places like Pearl River and Middletown new York i was always taugth that the lower tier of new york state was Orange , Rockland, Dutches, Putnam counties as well as Long Island, the five boroughs of New York City. Acme had stores in Middletown . and Port Jervis as well as several units in Staten Island. The rest were comsidered to be upstate. All of these stores pulled from the Kearny N/J, Warehouse. Bath is in Steuben county and only a few miles from Elmira
thuse stores you mentioned were what Acme refered to as upstate stores

Re: Acme in Virginia

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 19:13
by sbtinme
maynesG wrote:Hi, Just how do you define the lower tier of New York State ?
I didn't refer to it as the lower tier of NY state. I referred to it as the Southern Tier of NY State.

This area has forever been known as the Southern Tier of NY. So much so, that the SOUTHERN TIER EXPRESSWAY is the very name of the state route (hwy) 17, which just so happens to be the longest NY state highway. It's in the process of being converted into the new Interstate 86.

Also, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Tier

Acme in UP State N.Y.

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 20:05
by TW-Upstate NY
To try to get the Acme/NY State discussion back in the proper forum, I've got a question or two then. Acme had a presence where I live. I know for sure they had a store in Johnstown which closed in late '73. I don't know for certain if this was a replacement for a smaller store they had closer to downtown but the 1966-67 city directory lists an Acme market at another address. That one was gone by 1969 or so. I find it hard to believe they'd have two stores in such a small city. And if it was a replacement store, it ddn't last very long relatively speaking. I'm also told there was one in Gloversville right next door although I can't confirm that one for sure; it's just something one of my co-workers mentioned once. I do know they had two unit(s) in Utica further west which is getting into Central NY. I say units because one of them was an Acme (in a shopping plaza with a Loblaws of all things) and just down the road a mile or two there was a freestanding Super Saver. These were both still in operation in 1972 but were gone by 1982 and probably earlier because I didn't travel to that area for those ten years or so. I guess my question would be, given they had a presence in Utica, how far did they extend westward in Central NY? Also, Maynes mentions the DOWN state NY stores (which is how we natives refer to that area) being supplied out of Kearney, NJ. Where were the NY stores I've mentioned supplied from?

Re: Acme in UP State N.Y.

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 21:35
by BillyGr
There was an article in the Albany Times-Union a couple weeks ago on the 50th anniversary of Stuyvesant Plaza (located on Western Avenue, just off what is now the intersection of the NYS Thruway Exit 24 and the southern end of the Northway, along with a part of I-90 that connects the Thruway to the Mass Pike).

This article stated that Stuyvesant Plaza opened with an Acme, as seen in this sentence:

November 4, 1959: Stuyvesant Plaza officially opens for business with 18 stores in an L-shaped plaza, including Flah's, Howard Johnson's, Acme Supermarket and Hall's Drugs.

I am not sure where in the plaza it was, though there was a Grand Union in this plaza for many years until they opened a newer store up Western Ave in the, I think early 90's.

For more from the article:
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/st ... yID=846620

So there was at least one Acme in the Albany area to add to the others you have found.

Re: Acme in New York

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 23:59
by rich
Acme bought a chain in Western NY in the 50s, which had distribution centers in Buffalo & Syracuse, as did Loblaw. It's not surprising that the two chains would have overlapped or co-anchored a shopping center (a common kind of occurrence into the early 60s). Perhaps Acme extended as far East as Albany from this base. They extended as far West as Erie, PA (loblaw went as far West as Ashtabula, Ohio). This Western NY operation was one of the first to go when Acme began to downsize in the latter part of the 70s. Pittsburgh also was closed at the same time

Re: Acme in New York

Posted: 20 Oct 2009 07:14
by maynesG
Hi, I read some articlesabout six months ago or so in the Times Union covering the Albany area that Acme left The Albany Capital area due toa price war between Price Chopper and several area Players. Apparently Acme had a full District in that area and a fairly decent market share. I* believe that Acme had and upstate warehouseand buying office for these stores
since Acme had and office in Whipany N.J for the stores pulling out of Kearney, and office located in the Bakery in Philadelphia for the P.A. Division and one in Baltimore for the Baltimore Division at that time. Remember , computers were not what they are today, Inventories were taken by hand and raw data was broken down into trucks by company sales people.

Re: Acme in New York

Posted: 20 Oct 2009 15:41
by Transit Road
The chain that Acme bought in Western New York was "Nu-Way". There was a Acme/Nu-Way warehouse on Bailey Ave. and Broadway in Buffalo that also included a S&H Green Stamps redemption center.

The are many former Acme locations still standing in Buffalo and Western New York State including Bailey Ave. in South Buffalo and Maple Rd. & N. Forest in Williamsville. These locations have been redeveloped, but you can still see the Acme A-Frame underneath the modifications.

Re: Acme in New York

Posted: 21 Oct 2009 20:49
by TW-Upstate NY
Thanks for all the info. everyone. I had no idea they had that large a presence in NY State at one time. And here's the interesting part: I never set foot in one of them when they were Acmes. We never shopped at Acme until we moved to Pa. at the end of '66 and I was all of 4+ yrs. old. And the two I mentioned in Johnstown still stand to this day. One of them houses something called The Lexington Center which works with the developmentally disabled and the other one is now an outpatient clinic for the local hospital. I finally had the occasion to go into that clinic building a few times earlier this year and, while no remnants of its Acme past remain in the building itself, it still retains the same entry way it had back in the day as near as I can tell from looking at pictures of units from the '40's and '50's. I don't know why this chain fascinates me so but for some reason it does.

Re: Acme in UP State N.Y.

Posted: 22 Oct 2009 21:50
by Ephrata1966
TW-Upstate NY wrote:To try to get the Acme/NY State discussion back in the proper forum, I've got a question or two then. Acme had a presence where I live. I know for sure they had a store in Johnstown which closed in late '73. I don't know for certain if this was a replacement for a smaller store they had closer to downtown but the 1966-67 city directory lists an Acme market at another address. That one was gone by 1969 or so. I find it hard to believe they'd have two stores in such a small city. And if it was a replacement store, it ddn't last very long relatively speaking. I'm also told there was one in Gloversville right next door although I can't confirm that one for sure; it's just something one of my co-workers mentioned once. I do know they had two unit(s) in Utica further west which is getting into Central NY. I say units because one of them was an Acme (in a shopping plaza with a Loblaws of all things) and just down the road a mile or two there was a freestanding Super Saver. These were both still in operation in 1972 but were gone by 1982 and probably earlier because I didn't travel to that area for those ten years or so. I guess my question would be, given they had a presence in Utica, how far did they extend westward in Central NY? Also, Maynes mentions the DOWN state NY stores (which is how we natives refer to that area) being supplied out of Kearney, NJ. Where were the NY stores I've mentioned supplied from?
This link shows the two former Acmes in Bath, NY: http://www.amesfanclub.com/forum/viewth ... d=4&page=6

The first one was the Movie Gallery/Fashion Bug (it has the peaked roof). The second one is now the Salvation Army store, and was not a Super Saver. They are in the same shopping center. I would say the old one, which was small, was built in 1963 and relocated in 1973.

I heard Acme exited NY in 1979. At the time, they were still building stores like the second one. Lots of them were former Food Fair/Pantry Prides that were remodeled. A few Penn Fruits (bought by Food Fair) became Acme too. I know an Acme opened in 1978 that was a former ShopRite/Pathmark. Rising Sun Plaza in Philadelphia was built in 1979, and was the last of several small enclosed malls anchored by Acme. This mall had one of the last new Woolco stores too. Acme changed their logo around 1979, and built their last new Super Savers.