Original Tenant: ACME Markets
Address: 125 Bound Brook Rd, Middlesex, NJ
Our second former ACME of the day (see Morris Plains here) is the most recently-closed ACME, and also one of the longest-running ones, having opened in 1955. It then closed in February 2022. We toured the store ourselves a while back, and now we're back to see how it's looking post-closure.
Not much going on here at Middlesex, although we will see the store has been cleared out.
I'm interested in whether this store will be seeing any new grocery tenants coming in. Middlesex is certainly an opportunity for another grocer, with little competition around. Our closest competitor is the Tropical Supermarket half a mile northeast in Dunellen with SuperFood Fresh a mile and a half southwest here in Middlesex. Tropical is a pleasant but small store, and SuperFood is excellent if a bit expensive. Middlesex is also home to a former Pathmark that was briefly an unsuccessful Price Saver and is now supposedly being prepared for a SuperFresh, though as of early March there was still no work on that store.
Worth noting that both Tropical and SuperFresh fall under the Key Food umbrella. Key Food seems to enjoy having stores in clumps that are geographically dense, so would Key Food want a third store here? They already have two Food Universes in New Jersey (Paterson and New Brunswick), so they could certainly add in a third, since they seem to be hesitant to bring in the Key Food banner to NJ.
Looking in through the entrance, we see that the space is fully empty, which may deter independents from opening up shop here (since it's not turn-key).
We do see that the customer service counter is still intact, though.
What a picture!
Love to see those old orange and wood panels in the back. I'm not familiar with the pink for dairy, was that part of the decor or something else?
We can see just a little bit of the ACME lettering on these street signs, although they've been painted over.
Address: 125 Bound Brook Rd, Middlesex, NJ
Opened: 1955
Closed: February 2022
Later Tenants: vacant
Photographed: March 2022
Don't forget to see what else we're seeing today here!
Maybe Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace?
ReplyDeleteIt's possible, as they definitely have been expanding lately and focused on New Jersey, but this building is only 25,000 square feet which is probably too small for a new store for them.
DeleteThere were low rise refrigerators where the pink wall is for yogurts and cheese. For decades it was the only supermarket for Middlesex-Dunellen-New Market area. Tropical is a dump. The ACME was dated but always clean. I always ran into people I knew. They had mechanical horses outside the exit I would ride when I was a kid. Unfortunately the area has gotten run down and depressed. My family did all their grocery shopping at that ACME for 60 years. Lots of memories. But time goes on.
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