A Trip to Paulsboro and Back

 ACME, Glen Mills, PA
This store opened in 2008. I believe it was the last new non-replacement store built under SuperValu's ownership. It's one of the chain's busiest stores, and was the first one to receive an alcohol license. Despite that, it still has its 2008 décor.
 Home Depot, Glen Mills, PA
This also opened in 2008. Despite being fairly new, it is actually one of their smaller stores. Also of note is that this has an entrance facing the parking lot, in addition to the usual ones under the awnings.
 Target, Glen Mills, PA
Like the rest of the center, this was built in 2008. It was remodeled in 2017, but strangely kept their old hanging department signs.
 Taco Bell, Conchester, PA
This was built as a Taco Bell in the mid-90's, and was paired up with KFC in the 2000's. There is a chance they will be forced to close in the near future, as the road in front is in the process of being widened into a 4-lane divided highway.
 McRogers, Conchester, PA
 This was built as a Roy Rogers in the 70's. It was turned into a McDonald's in the 90's, and given a fairly unusual-looking remodel. The outside hasn't been changed since then, although thye interior was redone around 2010.
 Arby's, Conchester, PA
This location opened in the mid-90's. So far, this has been the first and only Arby's I've eaten at. I have to say it wasn't bad, but probably nothing worth going out of my way for.
Wawa, Conchester, PA
This was store #32, meaning it was built in the mid-60's. It was redone in the 80's or 90's, adding the peak over the vestibule. It finished out its life with their current logo, which had only been put up a year or two prior. A larger location a little ways down the road replaced this in 2013. It probably won't ever see another business move in, as the stores on either side of it were both bought out by PennDOT in anticipation of doubling the size of the road.
ACME/Save-A-Lot, Paulsboro, NJ
Good news: The old Paulsboro ACME isn't vacant any longer, despite spending over half its life abandoned.
Bad News: In doing that, one of the last two surviving examples of ACME's 70's décor was destroyed.
Didn't get any good full-building pictures, but SAL kept the building's shape more or less the same, only removing the upper windows from the façade.
Most of the strip mall alongside it is also being restored, with the exception of the former Grant's at the other end.
This was most recently Dollar General, but was originally built as an Eckerd. This was one of the stores they sold to Thrift Drug. When the two chains finally merged in the 90's, Eckerd had already built a new freestanding store elsewhere in town, so this location was closed. DG opened up here not long afterwards, but closed when the center was condemned in 2013. It would appear they are in the process of splitting the space into two. Despite this already being well underway in early 2017, they haven't filled any of the smaller inline spaces yet. For safety reasons, the owner won't let anybody move in until he can tear down the old Grant's and bank-turned-Rita's in the parking lot.
Speaking of Grant's, let's walk down that way now.
Most of the Grant's was fenced off. The building didn't look to be in bad shape, but I'm guessing there must be something seriously wrong with it for them to go through all these extra safety measures.
So close but so far...
Looking at the front of the Grant's/Kmart/Ames building. Judging by the windows, I think something must have been in here after Ames closed.
PPI Tower, Paulsboro, NJ
I think PPI made cardboard boxes. The factory closed down back in the 90's and was taken over by Clorox, but the PPI logo was left up on their water tower. Clorox closed down and demolished this plant, then sold it to the Port of Paulsboro next door. I think plans are to preserve the tower, since it's become a sort of local landmark.
Wawa, Paulsboro, NJ
This is by far the ugliest Wawa I've ever been to. I believe it opened in 2011 as one of the first flat-roof ones. They did quite a bit different here. For starters, the gas canopy has a flat roof instead of their usual angled one. It was also the first location I'd seen with the yellow goose instead of their usual backlit white one. It also has four skylights inside, and lights that dim depending on how bright the sun is.
Caldor/Walmart, Conchester, PA
Caldor opened this location in the early 90's, and closed with the chain in 1999. Walmart moved in not long after. I'm pretty sure this isn't where Caldor's entrance was originally. This is at the side of the store like with a lot of non-supercenter Walmarts, but I'm pretty sure Caldor usually had them in the center.
SuperFresh/Pathmark/ACME, Conchester, PA
This opened in 1992 as one of the first "modern Centennial" stores, modeled heavily on A&P's iconic 60's store design. This is the only time in recent memory I've seen one of these with even partial neon still working. A&P turned off the neon at most locations. It was converted to a Pathmark in 2008 and given a quick remodel. When A&P liquidated in 2015, ACME picked up this location. It was a pretty instant success, and was among the first wave of A&P acquisitions to be remodeled by them. I imagine in the future, they'd want to kick out the PLCB store and expand into that space, adding their own wine department, similar to what they're planning for the Phoenixville location.
They did a beautiful job remodeling this store, even though it wasn't much more than a décor swap. It was very clean and well-stocked.
I believe this store would have had this décor originally.
One thing I've noticed about this décor is that the "Proudly Serving You Since 1891" signage is the year the company was founded, while many other chains (Safeway for example) use the year the store opened.
This store wasn't as dark as the pictures make it look. I'm gonna blame A&P's weird lighting for that. They used very few lights in the ceiling, but went overboard with hanging lights, spotlights, and shelf lighting. I think if the store gets redone again, they'll probably swap that stuff out for more conventional lighting.
"The House That Quality Built" was ACME's original name, which I don't think was used for more than a couple years. I'm pretty sure they were going by Acme Tea Co. by 1900. This is what gives the décor its name. It's a nice homage to the chain's history.


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