An Opening and a Closing

 ...Okay, so maybe calling it an opening is a bit of a stretch. It had been open for over 2 years by the time I took these photos, but it's still new in my book. As for the closing we'll be seeing, liquidation is in full swing so at least that part of the title is accurate.

Pathmark/SuperFresh/ACME, Northern Liberties

This center was built in 2011 on the northern end of the long-vacant Schmidt's Brewery site. Schmidt's went bankrupt in 1987. Following its closure, Philadelphia was without a brewery for the first time in over 300 years. The decaying complex was razed in 2001. With the exception of the ACME building, the rest of the lot sat vacant until a huge new development kicked off last year. This center was originally supposed to be anchored by Pathmark, who was all but ready to open (and even had signs up on the building) when A&P filed for bankruptcy for the first time. Those plans were shelved until they emerged later that year. They rebranded it to a SuperFresh when it finally opened that November, which was weird to see after years of A&P rebranding stores the other way. This was the only new store A&P opened between their final two bankruptcies. ACME won the bid to take over this location after A&P went under.

A&P had three versions of their "Fresh" decor, which prior to the 2011 bankruptcy were not used concurrently. Afterwards, the latest version ("Funky Fresh") was discontinued, and most remodels were to the second version. This store was the exception, for whatever reason. It opened as a SuperFresh with the first version. They would have had to remodel the inside, as if it were scheduled to open as a Pathmark it would have had the white and blue version of Funky Fresh.

ACME kept SF's décor for a little while, but remodeled to their own look when they added a beer section in 2017.

Since it was still a pretty new store, the remodel only really changed the décor on the walls. Other A&P conversions have required some more intense renovations (The Yonkers NY one actually closed for a few months while the interior was gutted! A&P was not known for taking great care of their stores)

The track light strips are left over from the old look, but they seem to fit well with ACME's décor. You can tell from the positioning where on the walls the old signage used to be.

This store is about the same size as an average suburban supermarket, but for a downtown store this is massive.

A lot of later A&P stores had angled corners like this, which is a feature I don't see often in other chains. It's a little less space-efficient, but it eliminates the awkwardness of two people at the corner trying to get stuff off of different shelves.

I say this every time I cover a store with this décor, but the colors don't come across well through pictures. It doesn't look nearly this drab in person.

ACME's slowly been phasing out the Sav-On branding for their pharmacies. This was the first one I'd seen to make no reference to it whatsoever, not even a small sign off to the side. I'm assuming the same thing is happening with Albertsons Osco pharmacies, but probably not with Jewel-Osco.

The main entrance to the store actually faces away from the street towards the rear parking deck. It's also worth mentioning that this store is on the second floor of the center; the first is all smaller stores that do open out to the street.

The logo on it is faded to the point you can hardly see it, but the cart with the gray handle is left over from SuperFresh. I thought it was neat this was still kicking around.

Here's a look under the ACME. These stores all open out to the street, but they have rear entrances as well to serve those who would rather drive.

There was a closed store under it, which I believe was last a dog daycare called Zoom Room. I think I remember this being filled last time I passed by here but I don't remember by what.

Johnny Brenda's, Fishtown

In recent years, Fishtown has undergone some pretty drastic change. It was formerly a lower-middle class industrial area, but is now the kind of neighborhood with gastropubs on every corner. Johnny Brenda's is one of the few longtime businesses left, when though it too has seen considerable change. It was opened by Brenda, a professional boxer, in 1967. The building likely dates back to the mid-1800's. For the next few decades it was the neighborhood dive bar. Brenda retired in 2003, selling it to the current owners. They kept the bar feel, but made it quite a bit more upscale. Additionally, they started bringing in bands to preform here live five days a week. Many point to this bar as what kicked off the change in the neighborhood.

Old Garage, Fishtown

Here, we've got some change in progress. This garage was ripped down not long after I got this photo, as evidenced by the orange sticker of doom on the window. A funky 4-store apartment building has replaced this.

Tommy's Pizza, Fishtown

Here's another one of the last blue-collar restaurants in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, this one's not around any longer. Allegedly the fridge's compressor exploded overnight last fall and burned out the inside of the building. No word on whether or not they will be reopening. So far the only permit filed since the fire was a make-safe building permit. 

CVS, Olde Richmond

Aramingo Avenue used to be lined with factories, all of which have been replaced with big-box retail over the years. CVS opened in the late 90's on the site of an old engine factory. Olde Richmond, and particularly the eastern end of it, is still very much what Fishtown was twenty years ago. Gentrification is pushing this way, so I don't know how much longer it will be like that. The Fishtown name is coming with it apparently, as evidenced by a few local businesses rebranding. 

Beneficial/WSFS, Olde Richmond

Benerficial opened in 2005 on the site of a lead processing plant (so don't eat the dirt here). They have since rebranded to WSFS, who has been swallowing up most of our remaining local bank chains lately.

Wawa, Olde Richmond

We're a ways out from Center City at this point, but this is still the closest suburban-style Wawa to it. This location opened in the mid-2000's. It's unusual for Wawa to do partial remodels, but this is one of two examples I know of with one. They added the current look's stone facing to the bottom part of the building and updated the signage in 2016. The other location I know of is in Feasterville (but right on the Philly line), which had the same work done in 2016 and then had the stucco portion repainted to the current standard mustard color a few years later.

AutoZone, Olde Richmond

AutoZone opened this store in 2007, alongside the small strip mall next door. Like Beneficial and Wawa, it opened on the lead factory site.

Eckerd/Rite Aid, Olde Richmond

This was one of Eckerd's later stores, which was absorbed by Rite Aid in 2007. It was pretty quickly remodeled to the Customer World look. The "Photo" and "Food Mart" signage was replaced with "Open 24 Hours" not long after my walk by. That new signage won't be up for long though, as permits have been issued (but not yet completed) to update the logo here.

Restaurant Strip, Olde Richmond

I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume everything in here is owned by the same franchise. I'm also gonna assume this place has a very thick foundation, as it sounds a little dangerous putting food where lead used to be made. Pizza Hut is a dying breed in Philly. One franchise owned almost all of the locations in town, and made the decision to shut them all in favor of a new brand- HNT Chicken. Evidently that didn't work out, as only a few ever opened and most of them appear to have closed pretty quickly. The same guy bought Boston Market- not just a franchise, but the entire company. He has since been hard at work converting several of the old Pizza Huts to Boston Markets, though he has reopened three PH's in town, this being one of them. Pizza Hut is left with a total of 6 in Philly; the other three are in Targets.

Aramingo Diner ad, Olde Richmond

Port Richmond staple Aramingo Diner operated from 1957 to 2014, and has since become an urgent care center. Disappointing, I know. Thankfully, this awesome ad painted on the Lehigh Viaduct held on for a few more years. It was finally painted over black due to graffiti in 2019, so I'm glad I caught it when I did. Conrail has been selling off unused portions of the viaduct in recent years, Keeping only the active stretch of tracks towards the middle. So far they haven't done anything with the unused parts seen here, but I have a feeling it will be pulled down sooner or later for new apartments.

Sunoco, Port Richmond

This was one of the earliest parts of the Viaduct that Conrail sold off. It was built as a Sunoco sometime in the mid/late 70's. While it has the more modern 90's trim around the outside of the building, the shingle façade is still intact underneath! Being an easy style for them to remodel, this is by far the rarest of the designs Sunoco has used over the past 70 years. Late last year, Conrail sold the portion of the viaduct surrounding this to the Riverwards Group, who are planning a huge project here. Sunoco looks comically out-of-place in the renderings.

Kmart/AutoZone, Port Richmond

This was an unexpected surprise on my adventure. I hadn't really scoped out the area to see if there was anything interesting up here before I set out (aside from my destination Polish market- Port Richmond is the city's main Polish neighborhood and the best place in town for perogies or kielbasa). Little did I realize I would be heading right past a victim of the Klosings du jour. It was a weird store, by far the smallest Kmart I had ever set foot in. For scale, AutoZone has since moved in, taking up the majority of it. It wasn't a particularly old one either; it opened in 1980.

Obviously I went inside, even though it wasn't my intended destination. A lot of the shelves were empty, but the store still felt pretty cluttered. They had not started taking any of them down yet.

Sales were up to 70%, but there was still a considerable amount of merchandise left including a large number of lawn chairs. Even though nobody around here has lawns, just about everyone has porches. In nicer weather, the entire neighborhood sits out on them.

In typical Klosing fashion, some merchandise is scattered around the floor. The only difference here is how close together the shelves are, making it feel messier than it actually was.

There's no way you'd be able to get two carts through here. 

The store had been remodeled in the 2000's, but kept the 90's layaway sign. Interestingly, thye didn't bother even painting over the triangle.

The main actionway had a little more room to breathe. This store had the 2000's aisle markers from the light version of the orange décor, which I liked since it was the only look they used that had markers made of something more substantial than paper.

I'm not sure if the light orange came before or after the dark one, or if they were used concurrently. Personally, I prefer the dark one but the light one's kinda refreshing.

The restrooms were tucked away in the back corner. Some more 90's signage was kept here, but unlike with layaway they repainted it.

Small clothing section for a small store! With both a Walmart and a Target within a mile of this place, it's a wonder it held on as long as it did.

If I recall correctly, there were only four checkout lanes. Of those, only one was open when I was here. It took me 45 minutes to get out of here. 

Kmart's moving on, but so are Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings!