Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

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Ephrata1966
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Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by Ephrata1966 »

Does anyone know if Cheltenham Square Mall on the edge of Philadelphia ever had either A&P, Acme, or Food Fair? Currently it has a ShopRite in the former Gimbels building. I believe the mall officially is in Cheltenham (Montgomery County, PA) but right over the line with Wyncote (Montgomery County, PA) and Philadelphia. Across the street on the Wyncote side is an ALDI which was a Centennial A&P, which probably predated the mall by a few years. The mall may have had a grocery store that coexisted with A&P. I know a cinema was added to the mall around 1988. This recently closed and was torn down for a Target. Since the mall opened in 1974 or something, I have to wonder what was on that spot originally. There also is a Home Depot attached to the mall which makes me wonder. A mile or two away was a Penn Fruit which is now a Save-a-Lot, and has a state Wine & Spirits store attached.
neil mcauliffe
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by neil mcauliffe »

There was no Food Fair. They had a Pantry Pride nearby at the Cedarbrook Mall. At one time it was the busiest store in the company's Philadelphia region. It was originally an E J Korvette supermarket. They had a store at 19th and Cheltenham Avenue that was a FF later converted to PP and a Best Market at Broad and Cheltenham that closed in the mid-60s.
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MikeRa
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by MikeRa »

Ephrata1966 wrote:Does anyone know if Cheltenham Square Mall on the edge of Philadelphia ever had either A&P, Acme, or Food Fair? Currently it has a ShopRite in the former Gimbels building. I believe the mall officially is in Cheltenham (Montgomery County, PA) but right over the line with Wyncote (Montgomery County, PA) and Philadelphia. Across the street on the Wyncote side is an ALDI which was a Centennial A&P, which probably predated the mall by a few years. The mall may have had a grocery store that coexisted with A&P. I know a cinema was added to the mall around 1988. This recently closed and was torn down for a Target. Since the mall opened in 1974 or something, I have to wonder what was on that spot originally. There also is a Home Depot attached to the mall which makes me wonder. A mile or two away was a Penn Fruit which is now a Save-a-Lot, and has a state Wine & Spirits store attached.
The former United Artists Cheltenham Square 8 Theatre was the 2nd theatre there. The firest was a stan-alone theatre, called RKO Stanley Warner's Cheltenham Theatre that has been torn down in the late 1980's.
werememberretail
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by werememberretail »

According to an archive dated sepember 6 1985 in the Montgomery County Record/Daily Intelligencer (presumably related to the Doylestown Intelligencer newspaper) A pitched roof Acme operated at the mall presumably as an outparcel from 1963-1984 then closed when Acme said that the lease was too costly and that the store would've needed extensive remodeling. In October 1985 a Thriftway, operated by the local Pickwell chain opened in the old Acme. I do not know when the store was closed but i'm certain that the store was gone before the Shoprite moved into the old Gimbels bulding
so the answer is yes there was a grocery store at the mall
werememberretail
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by werememberretail »

neil mcauliffe wrote:There was no Food Fair. They had a Pantry Pride nearby at the Cedarbrook Mall. At one time it was the busiest store in the company's Philadelphia region. It was originally an E J Korvette supermarket. They had a store at 19th and Cheltenham Avenue that was a FF later converted to PP and a Best Market at Broad and Cheltenham that closed in the mid-60s.
I believe that Pantry Pride in Cedarbrook eventually became a Shop N Bag market that lasted for much of the 1980s and into the 1990s. dunno when that store closed though
Ephrata1966
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by Ephrata1966 »

Yes, there was a rather large early 1950s Food Fair in Cheltenham, now a Korean market. This store had a bowling alley in it! Perhaps Thriftway had a ten-year lease, and closed in 1995? That was the year the ShopRite opened. And maybe the nearby A&P and Penn Fruit stores were at one point both IGA or something?
Last edited by Ephrata1966 on 12 Sep 2010 14:20, edited 2 times in total.
JoshAustin610
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by JoshAustin610 »

Looking on HistoricAerials.com, you can see the Acme at about where the Home Depot is now; it doesn't look like it opened into the mall (although in the 1971 picture the mall wasn't enclosed yet). A while back I found an article on the closing of the Stenton Ave Shop N Bag in 1996; in the article it said that neighborhood had also recently lost the Cheltenham Mall Thriftway a year earlier. That would put it as a Thriftway from about 1985 to 1995; it's possible they lost their lease to make way for the Home Depot, since they were new in the area at the time and eager to expand.
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by maynesG »

Hi, Its funny I was just up in that area last week and simply could not remember what
supermarket was in the mall back in the 80!s. It!s funny but I remember clearly the
Super Fresh / Aldi verry clearly. I assume the Pathmark that is in the Walmart shopping center up the road in Wyncote ( once a Korvete City) had something to due with the Super Fresh!s decline, Also does any one Kwow if Genuardis had a store in Glenside.
Ephrata1966
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by Ephrata1966 »

So the mall was not always enclosed? Perhaps that changed in 1974 when Granite Run Mall was built. Again many thanks Gerry for informing me about the old Granite Run Acme! Did that one look like this (standard 70's Acme)?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsher/3879901210/

The Home Depot here looks like a smaller and older one. That seems to indicate it was built a little bit earlier than 1995. I would go with 1989 or something. The old ones in King of Prussia and Willow Grove had the same design, and the current Fairless Hills one. Check out the Home Depot/Acme plaza in Clifton Heights. The current center was built from 1993 to 1995 and is really showing its age. This Acme was one of their first stores with a pharmacy and their new logo. There was a photo of its grand opening on the Acme website for many years. Before that it was the site of a 1950s Acme and a shopping village called Bazaar of All Nations. If you look closely, the current pylon sign for the whole center was once a vintage Acme sign!

The Claymont, DE Home Depot may have opened in 1995 and no later than 1998, but still looks brand new. And it was a Woolco and later Jamesway at one time. I have heard about an Acme here but I am not sure what has taken that spot.
Last edited by Ephrata1966 on 14 Sep 2010 18:54, edited 1 time in total.
maynesG
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by maynesG »

Hi, The Acme in Claymont on Namans Road is now the Liqour Store ( I can!t think of its name)
but it is a huge liqour store and their second location is on Limestone Road in the old Acme/ A&P Plus store A Frame in Miltown Shopping Center. Acme also had a second A frame store in Claymont across from the mcdonalds on the Philadelphia Pike and Harvey Road. They also had a 1930!s store across from the Post Office in Claymont, that was adjacent to and A&P also on the Pike ( Now a Hoagie Shop and the fish store the Acme)
Gerry
Ephrata1966
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by Ephrata1966 »

So that was the Milltown Plus? I have seen that Total Wine and I was not quite sure if it was an Acme. Wow, I guess Plus stores were ghosts of Food Fair, Acme, and A&P!

I am familiar with Total Wine in Claymont, but are you sure that particular building was Acme? And was the Acme an A Frame? Or a Super Saver?

And did the Granite Run Acme look like this?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsher/3879901210/

Or more like this?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42444189@N04/3959490208/
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by MikeRa »

Ephrata1966 wrote:So that was the Milltown Plus? I have seen that Total Wine and I was not quite sure if it was an Acme. Wow, I guess Plus stores were ghosts of Food Fair, Acme, and A&P!

I am familiar with Total Wine in Claymont, but are you sure that particular building was Acme? And was the Acme an A Frame? Or a Super Saver?

And did the Granite Run Acme look like this?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsher/3879901210/

Or more like this?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42444189@N04/3959490208/
Here is the link to what the Granite Run Acme looked like, at least back in the 1990's.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrambojr/4680664802
Image
Ephrata1966
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by Ephrata1966 »

That store is only from the 80's, and has been remodeled twice since. Gerry said the original store was attached to the mall.
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Re: Did Cheltenham Square ever have an A&P, Acme, Food Fair?

Post by maynesG »

Hi, Yes the total Wine store in Claymont on Namans Road was and Acme. I lived off Silver Side Road and called on it for many years. The Granite Run Acme original store was tuned side ways so that the front faced an entrance to the mall had large doors that opened side to side emptied into a short hall that had similar doors to the Parking lot. I have seen situations similar in malls in North Jersey, but this was unique for Acme.
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