Rural New Jersey Exists & Other Little-Known Facts

So I know we just got back to the home area last post, but today we're heading out on another trip- this time back to Dirty Jerz. We won't be heading to the shore again; instead, we're going on an abandoned supermarket hunt!

Max Magee's/Jack Cassidy's Irish Pub, Marcus Hook, PA

Like most of the Philly western suburbs, to get to south Jersey I usually take Conchester Highway, which is part of US-322. It's also our main connection to I-95, so it is usually a solid line of cars. To help speed things up, in 2017 PennDOT began a widening project that would turn this from a 2-lane road into a 4-lane divided highway. Since it's in a densely built area, there were quite a few buildings along it that needed to be sacrificed to make room. I made a point of going through and snapping pictures of anything that looked at-risk. 

This restaurant was one of them, it has been operating as an Irish pub since at least the 80's, but changed owners in the late 2000's. This part of town is inhabited predominantly by working-class people of Irish heritage, so it's got its fair share of pubs. Cassidy's closed in preparation for the widening in late 2016, and was ultimately knocked down by late 2019. While it would be quite a hike for the people who live around here, Cassidy's other location in Pottstown remains open.

AMF/Bowlero, Boothwyn, PA

Given how close this place was to the road, I was sure it would be coming down. Fortunately, that does not seem to be the case. It will be losing its semicircle driveway, but most of the widening here appears to be happening on the other side of the existing road. Last year, this location got remodeled into a Bowlero. They are the company that owns AMF, making me wonder if they are slowly beginning to phase out that name in favor of their own.

Southeast Auto Tag Service, Boothwyn, PA

This building is also still here and in operation, but it could be living on borrowed time. I did notice they've cleared out their front yard recently, so I'm thinking the building might have a shot at survival. Given its size and position on the lot, I'm inclined to believe this started out life as a 50's gas station and at some point more recently had a second story added. 

Sprint & John's Doggie Shop, Marcus Hook, PA

The building on the left, which had a Sprint store in it until 2016, still stands. The upper level houses a computer repair place, and a used car dealer currently has Sprint's old spot. I'm relatively certain it will be coming down, since everything next door already has. John's Doggie Shop was the last location left of a legendary Chester-area hot dog chain which was forced to close for the widening. The owner is considering reopening elsewhere, but it's been a few years and nothing has happened. The old building was demolished in 2019.

Wawa & Evergreen Car Wash, Marcus Hook, PA

This was store #32 for Wawa, putting it at a mid/late 60's opening. It relocated to a new store down the road in 2013. The old building was torn down in 2019. The car wash hung around a bit longer, they didn't close until earlier this year. I figure it will be down by the end of the summer.

Gulf/Emporium, Marcus Hook, PA

I've posted a few photos of this place in the past, but here's one final one for good measure. As I've mentioned before, I don't believe this building was built to be a gas station. It looks like it was originally something more professional. It did have a pretty big garage in back, but the front looks almost like an office. They've been closed for years, and finally got torn down in 2019.

7-Eleven, Aston, PA

Sorry for the awful picture, but it's the only one I got of it while they were open. It looks like an early 2000's build, but despite its young age will still get swallowed up in the new highway. The building still stands, but they closed last year and have already demolished the gas canopy area.

Sunoco/Speedy, Aston, PA

This station began life as a Sunoco in the 70's and changed to the independent Speedy brand in 2010. They have since closed, and their lot is being used by the used car dealer next door. I think there's a decent chance this will be coming down before too long.

Dance Fusion Performance Center, Aston, PA

This building looks like it started out as some sort of retail, but most recently it was home to a kids' dance studio. Dance Fusion appears to be closed, but I'm not 100% sure. It's still listed on Maps and the sign on the building is still up, but they took the roadside pylon down. I tried to find a website to see if there was anything, but only their Facebook page came up. It hasn't been updated since early last year, which isn't a good sign for them. Geez I felt creepy looking at that.

Sunoco/Namani/Zuppo's Auto, Aston, PA

This old station-turned-service center is still open. It's far enough from the road they might get to stay, but they'll be losing a significant portion of their parking lot which might not make the property viable. It changed names since I got this photo and it would seem they've stopped selling cars (now only servicing them), which they could feasibly do on a smaller lot.

Amoco/BP/Exxon/Sinclair, Woolwich, NJ

...well that wasn't a conversion I was expecting. Exxon has apparently become a Sinclair, indicating they're returning to the area after a 40-year hiatus. The station here was originally an Amoco-turned-BP, before converting to Exxon in 2009.

Wawa, Woolwich, NJ

This store opened in the mid-2000's and has not been remodeled yet.

Shell?, Swedesboro, NJ

This station dates back to the 20's or 30's and bears a resemblance to the ones Shell was building at the time. The one difference is the absence of an awning, which I don't believe rules out Shell but nonetheless could be used as an argument for somebody else.

Mobil/Coastal/Express, Swedesboro, NJ

Mobil originally built this location in the 60's. At some point it became a Coastal, which I'm assuming closed with the chain in 2002. It then operated independently as Express for a while (Keeping Coastal's canopy design), which too closed a few years back. 

Train Station?, Woodstown, NJ

So to be totally honest, I don't have any idea what this building was. It bears a strong resemblance to some of PRR's rural stations but this was never a rail line. I'm thinking maybe somebody bought an old station and moved it here to use as a store or something. That doesn't seem very likely but it's my best bet. I was also thinking it could be an old barn, but it's a little too small and a little too ornate for that.

Texaco?/Sunoco/Conoco, Woodstown, NJ

Given the amount of red this place had, I'm willing to bet it started out as a Texaco. It looks like Shell didn't get this, and instead passed it on to Sunoco. It converted to Conoco in 2018 when they evtered the region. Interestingly, it was redone to their old design.

This banner's clearly been up here for a while. It's funny I went like a decade without hearing the Cingular name, then finding it twice in the same month.

The black and red wall tile in the store sure looks like Texaco! I think Sunoco may have replaced the flooring, several A-Plus's have the same tile. This store was just a generic Food Mart, but they and A-Plus still share some design characteristics.

I could have gotten a fun drink, but I got Seltzer instead. After seeing they wound up with some Ameica's Choice-brand stuff (2 years after A&P went under!) I couldn't pass it by.

Heritage's, Woodstown, NJ

At first I was thinking this was an old Red Barn restaurant, but further research revealed this is just an older design heritage store. They've got a few other locations like this out there. Heritage basically New Jersey's equivalent of Turkey Hill, minus the gas station.

Mobil/Texaco/Shell, Woodstown, NJ

I've got a feeling Mobil pulled the plug on this one long before the Exxon merger. Instead of getting divested to Lukoil, it became a Texaco, which was picked up by Shell in 2004. They dropped the branding in 2015 and have been selling gas independently ever since.

First National Bank/Sun National, Woodstown, NJ

This building was put up in 1891 and originally housed the First National Bank of Woodstown. I'm not exactly sure of the merger history, but by the 80's it was doing business as the First National Bank of Toms River. It closed as Sun National Bank in 2007, and later housed law offices. Currently it sits vacant and for sale. Woodstown's got a lot of neat old buildings like this; if I didn't have a big list of places to see ahead of me that day I would have loved to wander around town a little more.

Arco/Amoco/BP, Woodstown, NJ

This appears to have become an Amoco sometime in the 80's; presumably after Arco left the region. It has been operating as a BP ever since the Amoco merger.

McDonald's and Eckerd/Dollar General, Woodstown, NJ

These both were built in the 70's as outparcels to the now-demolished ACME (more on that in a minute!) next door. Eckerd moved down the road in the late 90's alongside ACME. Their building was a little more fortunate, it became a Dollar General. McDonald's retained its original wood-paneled exterior up until a disappointing remodel in 2019.

Wendy's, Woodstown, NJ

They opened with the center in the late-90's, and were remodeled to the current prototype in early 2017. Not gonna lie, I actually really like Wendys' new look.

Harvest Community Bank, Woodstown, NJ

This was a local bank chain that got bought by First Citizen's in 2017. They decided not to convert this location, and closed it shortly after I was here.

ACME, Woodstown, NJ

This store opened in the late 90's, replacing a 50's store nearby. It originally had their Farmer's Market décor, but was given the middle version of their Fresh & Healthy décor around 2010.

Inside, there's still quite a few traces of the original look. The remodel was hardly more than a sign swap.

Normally, Farmer's Market stores had green open-truss ceilings around the whole perimeter, or at least a higher green drop ceiling. This one didn't around here...

...but over on the produce side, it had the full treatment! The lighting over here was replaced; originally they would have had metal shades. The acrylic ones do a better job of lighting up the ceiling too, so I'd call it an upgrade.

There would have originally been a huge lattice hanging from the ceiling here, but that got scrapped in the remodel. I like how the lattice looked, but it really opens up the space without it.

Wawa, Woodstown, NJ

This location appears to be a late 90's build. I didn't catch it in my photos, but the driveway Enter/Exit signs still have the old Sunset logo on them. The store itself has the modern goose, but with the old logo's lettering. I'm willing to bet the arch the goose sits on now was a window when this first opened, and was filled in during a 2000's remodel. That happened to most of the mid/late 90's stores, but in every other instance I know they had their enter/exit signs replaced. This location has not yet been remodeled to their current prototype.

ACME, Woodstown, NJ

While the long-abandoned 50's store (the only reason I came to Woodstown!) had sadly been torn down for townhomes not long before my visit, their roadside signs were still standing! If the scar over that plastic is any indication, this store closed with the 60's fish logo.

Gulf, Elmer, NJ

This Gulf either opened or got heavily remodeled in the 80's, and closed around 2010. Clearly it hasn't seen much action since.

Monroeville, NJ

Getting to and from Woodstown required quite a bit of driving through farmland, which is not something New Jersey is particularly known for having. This one stretch of road was really pretty, the farmer had planted sycamores along either side of the road.

Mobil/Lukoil, Franklin, NJ

Lukoil closed this location in 2008. I'm kind of amazed it's still vacant after all this time, let alone in such good shape. It sits at the village's main intersection, and it doesn't seem to be a struggling area by any means.

Amoco/BP/Valero/Sunoco, Folsom, NJ

This place has changed hands quite a few times. Valero took over from BP in the late 2000's, and lasted until they switched to Sunoco last year. Every Valero I know, and that includes ones in other regions too, has closed down or rebranded. My understanding was that the Valero name was being phased out of their retail operations, but I have recently heard reports of a couple new ones opening. 

Custard Cove, Folsom, NJ

This little ice cream place looks like its been closed forever, but surprisingly I actually caught it here the first season they didn't reopen. It's still vacant. This road has plenty of long-abandoned stores along it, so I'm not optimistic something new will be moving in.

Sunoco, Hammonton, NJ

This might be the most basic gas station I've ever seen. In addition to the pumps, it only has an attendant's office and bathrooms. I'm assuming this is an older one.

Royale Crown, Hammonton, NJ

This place has been here since the 50's. It appears they've added some stainless steel embellishments more recently, but otherwise it remains unaltered. Hammonton isn't quite a beach town, but its close enough that this place is only open seasonally.

Texaco?, Egg Harbor City, NJ

To be honest, just about everybody's stations back in the 20's and 30's looked more or less the same. It doesn't help that they've been given 90 years to change  aspects of it. Right now I'm thinking Texaco's the closest match, but it could just as easily have been a Gulf. It's now home to an independent auto shop.

Eckerd/AutoZone, Egg Harbor City, NJ

This store opened in the mid-90's and was divested after the Rite Aid merger, as they already had a store in town. It sat vacant until AutoZone opened up in 2015.

Harbor Diner, Egg Harbor City, NJ

While it's been heavily remodeled over the years, I believe this is at its core an original 50's Stainless steel diner. Ironically its current décor is a flashy attempt to look retro, which (hot take here) I kinda hate. Modern buildings designed to look like 50's diners look nothing like actual 50's diners and I feel like the architects have to understand that but choose to ignore it.

Wawa, Egg Harbor City, NJ

Wawa opened here in the 70's, and was remodeled in 2016. It's a close race, but I think this might be the smallest Wawa I've seen get the full version of the new decor.

McDonald's, Egg Harbor City, NJ

This location dates back to the 70's. It was given a pretty heavy remodel in the early 2000's, and again to the gray box design in late 2019.

Rite Aid/Walgreens, Egg Harbor City, NJ

Rite Aid opened this store in the mid 90's. Despite it still having the old lowercase logo, it was given a fairly major Wellness remodel in 2015. Sadly, it was downgraded to Walgreens alongside most of their shore-area stores in 2019. 

Hess/Sunoco, Egg Harbor City, NJ

While this has been a Sunoco for decades now, it looks like it began life as a Hess station in the 50's. Their old mini-store design was almost completely extinct by the time Hess went under as a result of an aggressive campaign to get full-size convenience stores at all their locations, so Sunoco's ownership may have actually helped preserve the original Hess traits here.

I was just thinking how underappreciated this song is. You know Hall & Oates is one of my favorite bands and has been for years, but somehow I didn't know this absolutely perfect song existed until last year.