Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant: ACME Address: 24-28 Fair Lawn Ave, Fair Lawn, NJ Opened: 1951 Closed: 1963 Later Tenants: Foodtown (??-??), The Food Showcase (??- ) Former Acme located all the way to the right of this mall. Based on the timeline here, I'd bet that it originally looked like this location in Fair Haven, which you can view on Acme Style here. In the early 50s, Acme was beginning to phase in strip-mall locations, while maintaining the style of the earlier 1940s street-front locations. As with many 1950s malls, limited parking in the front with a larger lot in back. It was also common to see the angled spaces, which have been kept here. Now for some historic aerials... 2012 Not much has changed since 2012. The Food Showcase, a Kosher supermarket, takes up the right half of the building. 2008 2002 1995 historic aerial is really low-quality, so we're skipping right from 2002 to 1987. Nothing to see in between anyway. 1987 1979 As usual, crazy sharp color aerials from 1979. Look at that…

Original Tenant: Unknown Address: 120 Clinton Ave, Newark, NJ Opened: ca. 1966 Closed: Unknown Later Tenants: CTown Supermarket (??- ) This is an extremely interesting supermarket in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Newark. I suspect that it was built as either a Supermarkets General-owned ShopRite or a Good Deal, both of which were quite active in Newark. However, it also bears some similarities to A&Ps of that era. The timing is somewhat confusing, though, as we'll see in the historic aerials. At first glance, it doesn't look too exciting. The store faces a small row of parking on the side street, although its address is on Clinton Ave (the major road in the foreground). Here we see the storefront along the side street. This part of Newark was hit very hard by the riots in 1967 and remains one of the least-redeveloped sections of the city. Large, and mostly unused, parking lot in the rear. It's obvious that the entrance and exit were previously located along the back wal…

Original Tenant: Kings Food Markets Address: 390 Main St, East Orange, NJ Opened: 1952 Closed: Unknown Later Tenants: Tropical Sun Supermarket (2001- ) One of the earlier Kings Food Markets opened here in East Orange in 1952. The chain had been founded in 1936 in nearby Summit. Kings has long been an upscale chain catering to an affluent suburban clientele, making this location in East Orange (one of the lowest-income and highest-crime cities in the state) a slightly strange choice. However, East Orange was once an extremely wealthy city. The construction of Interstate 280 through the city contributed to its decline in the 1950s. Kings apparently thought the location could support one of their supermarkets early in that decade.
The flat-roof sections to the right and in the back appear to be additions.
Today, the store's main entrance is in the back, which faces the parking lot. It appears that the original entrance faced the street, although the parking lot also appears to be origina…