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Hi, I can tell you that five years ago, Acme closed it!s oldest operating unit in Centreville Md.A four aisle four register store built in the late 49 early 1950, as a replacement unit. It had a small Delli, tiny frozen food casket case and a fourty car lot. Today it is a medical building and has a twin on Penny street in Middletown Delaware also a medical building.
In the case of Centreville a large replacement store was built and is doing fine. The unit in Middletown was replaced by a new unit in 1963 on Green Street thatwas torn down for a new Town hall and replaced by a new unit six years a go and is one of the highest volume stores in the state.
I have been told that the Acme on route 13 in Sharon P.A., is the oldest store in the chain. The two oldest stores operating in Delaware are Dupont Street in the City Of Wilmington, and Fairfax on Route 202 both built in the fifities.
Acme under Albertsons replaced most ofthe stores built prior to the mid sixties. The unit in CVhestertown a restorered A frame built in 1960 was renovated with alll the bells and whistles four years ago and is also one of the oldest units in the company.

Are you sure the one in Chestertown opened in the year 1960, since A Frames were introduced in 1963 I thought?

Hi, I can only tell you what I was told by the company at our grand reopening a few years back and what the local paper had to say on the subject. We also had as guests that day, five members of the original crew and several customers who were there at the stores original grand opening.
What else can I say!?I was a department manager at the second opening., but only 8 years old and living in North Jersey in 1960. You could be correct, but i guess that would mean that all those other folks were wrong! I guess It would be possible to check with town hall, to see if they have property records on the mall. perhaps this is a project for me to tackle on some future vacation day.
Hope this helps

What did the one in Centreville look like? Was it in a shopping center or downtown?

hI.
The old Centreville Acme ( Actually the second of Three Acmes on the same street} was adjacent to the down town area of the city. It was a small rounded roofed building with a wrap around parking lot. It was two blocks fromthe original Acme store and directly across from the Western Auto and the post Office.
As you entered the store there was an office and express register. The front end had four check stands. Shelving was placed behind the front windows and was the Soda Snack Aisle. The rigth hand wall was produce at the end of that aisle
was a small produce prep room. The back wall had a small Deli and a tiny meat case. The left hand wall was the Dairy. Two aisles over was a small coffin Frozen Case and one panel of stand up Freezers. I believe the store had four grocery aisles.
Before the Food Liom on Route 213 oppened this store was extremly busy and profitable a combination of cheap rent,
and product turn over. The new Centreville location is three blocks up in a Shopping center. If you should ever visit the store has on its service desk walll pictures of the original Acme and the store in Question.
Theis store is now a medical building as is its twin in Middletown on Penny Street {The second Acme in town replaced by the now demolised unit on Green Street,That wasreplaced by the new Acme on Route 299 where my son is the grocery manager at 24 Yes I am A proud popa}

The current Acme in Newtown Square, PA opened in 1960 with a pre-A Frame design, but relocated from a store built in 1951.

Hi, The original store was once pointed out to me by some one who worked in Newtown Square Acme, but for the love of pete I can!t think of where he told me it was located. Would you Know?
The Acme in Chestertown replaced a unit on High Street that was built in the 40!s and is now a social services building.

I heard the Acme in Bryn Mawr, PA opened in 1954 and is possibly the oldest store in the chain.

I had found an article about Flourtown history at one point (I think it was a book excerpt) that said the Acme in Dresher opened in 1952. Sure enough, I can't find the article on Google anymore; I wonder what random combination of keywords I typed to find it, haha. Regardless it's definitely pretty old, but in good shape.

maynesG wrote:Hi, I can only tell you what I was told by the company at our grand reopening a few years back and what the local paper had to say on the subject. We also had as guests that day, five members of the original crew and several customers who were there at the stores original grand opening.
What else can I say!?I was a department manager at the second opening., but only 8 years old and living in North Jersey in 1960. You could be correct, but i guess that would mean that all those other folks were wrong! I guess It would be possible to check with town hall, to see if they have property records on the mall. perhaps this is a project for me to tackle on some future vacation day.
Hope this helps

Perhaps this one was so profitable, they built new after just a few years? I can proudly say that sounds like Acme!

I don!t think so, But I can tell you that Acme closed Rock Hall and the Millington Acme!s ( both still used by independents) as well as the down town Chestertown location on the same day that this new store opened. So, it must have been a huge event in that area and according to the gent that I met that was the stores original Produce Manager The most moderen store on the shore.
Interestingly enough the Rock Hall store now known as the Bay Market and owned by a former Acme district manager does more in volume then the Chestertown Acme. The Millington store still chugs on a full service supermarket in a tiny building from the late 30!s
giving battle to a moderen Food Lion down the street ( great meat prices )

The Acme in Maple Shade, NJ has been operating as a Acme since 10/7/1953, and is probally the oldest Acme store in the state of New Jersey.
Acme Maple Shade NJ