Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant: Pantry Pride Address: 2497 Brunswick Pk, Lawrenceville, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  1979 Later Tenants:  ACME Markets (1979-2018) > LIDL (2021- ) Photographed:  January 2021 Another store I visited with bad timing! I was here at the Lawrenceville ACME about two years after it closed, and just a few months before LIDL opened. I managed to capture the store with its facade torn off, showing what I assumed to be not much of anything -- just some structural brick. Well it turns out that this space was originally built as a Pantry Pride which ACME acquired in 1979, and the brick we're seeing was Pantry Pride's original facade. Here's a look at what Pantry Pride would've looked like. I won't go into too much detail on ACME's history here since Acme Style has already done multiple posts on this location, but I'll just add that LIDL takes up roughly 28,000 square feet of space which appears to be exactly the footprint of the ACME. LIDL is open ...

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 789 St. Georges Ave, Woodbridge, NJ Opened:  1990s Closed:  2011 Later Tenants:  Crunch Fitness / LIDL Photographed:  July 2020 We're just to the north of downtown Woodbridge to see a store that's either on St. George Ave or St. Georges Ave, depending on who you ask. The store seems to have been a combined replacement for closed stores at 1555 St Georges in Avenel and 3 Lafayette Rd in Fords, both smaller stores and both in different unincorporated communities within Woodbridge. Avenel was a former Stop & Shop acquired in the 1980s while Fords was a renovated centennial. This store closed in 2011 and sat vacant for several years before opening as a Crunch Fitness in 2015. Despite the time lags, the store still sports its original 1990s A&P facade although it's been repainted. Today, LIDL also occupies a portion of the store. We'll be seeing Fords but first we have to tour the (still-open) grocery store just across the high...