supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...
chain operating 161 stores throughout
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
,
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
, the
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...
of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and, as of 1999, is a subsidiary of
Albertsons
Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-larg ...
, and part of its presence in the Northeast. It is headquartered in
East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania
East Whiteland Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 10,650 at the 2010 census. Mailing addresses associated with East Whiteland include Malvern, Frazer, and a small area of Exton.
History ...
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
suburb.
Acme was established in 1891, when Irish immigrants Samuel Robinson and Robert Crawford opened a store in
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.supermarkets
A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more l ...
under the Acme name in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.
After many decades of being the largest grocery retailer in the
Delaware Valley
The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...
, Acme fell to #2 behind ShopRite in 2011. As of 2013, Acme was #3 behind #1 ShopRite and #2
Giant Food Stores
The Giant Company (formerly known as Giant Food Stores) is an American regional supermarket chain that operates stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia and provides online shopping and delivery to New Jersey through G ...
in the region.
History
Irish immigrants, Robinson and Crawford, founded what is now Acme in south Philadelphia in 1891, according to some sources, with other sources suggesting that it was founded in 1887 or 1872. In 1917, Robinson and Crawford merged Acme Markets with four other Philadelphia-area grocery stores, including English immigrant S. Canning Childs New Jersey-based ''American'' grocery chain; the new company was named American Stores. In 1927, smaller rival Penn Fruit began operating in Philadelphia's Center City. In the late 1920s, supermarkets under the ''American Stores'' banner rapidly sprouted throughout the Philadelphia region, rivaling New Jersey-based A&P, which then featured downtown stores throughout the East Coast, and as far west as
. American Stores first introduced self-service stores in shopping centers in the early 1950s.
Identity
In 1961, American Stores created a new logo (known as the "teardrop" or "fish eye"), in an attempt to eliminate the inconsistent use of the Acme Markets or Acme Super Markets
script
Script may refer to:
Writing systems
* Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire
* Script (styles of handwriting)
** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of ha ...
logos of the 1950s; however, its implementation was not carried out throughout the chain. American Stores' distribution center, on U.S. 30 in
West Philadelphia
West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...
, retained the gold script "Acme Super Markets" signage until its closure in 1993. The complex remained abandoned, complete with sign, as the last Acme store in West Philadelphia had been sold in 1980.
The new Acme logo coincided with a building style known as "A-Frame". These stores were meant to compete with A&P,
Food Fair
Food Fair, also known by its successor name Pantry Pride, was a large supermarket chain in the United States. It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, who opened the first store (as Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in ...
, and Penn Fruit, all of which had trademarked architecture of their own. (Larger chains
Safeway
Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...
,
Kroger
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinci ...
, and
Grand Union
A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway or tramway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in rarer instal ...
competed with ACME as well, but on a smaller scale.) Most Acmes built in the 1960s were a variant of this design. These could be adapted to major streets and shopping centers alike, and averaged . Trademark features included a full peaked roof and signage that resembled the then-popular
lava lamp
A lava lamp is a decorative lamp, invented in 1963 by British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker, the founder of the lighting company Mathmos. It consists of a bolus of a special coloured wax mixture inside a glass vessel, the remainder of which ...
, along with a standardized emergency exit. The latter two elements were retained in Acme's 1970s prototype which succeeded many A-Frame units. In turn, the A-Frame's footprint was very similar to Acme's first standardized building model, which had been rolled out in 1955.
Expansion and acquisition
In 1961, the American Stores company acquired
southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...
's
Alpha Beta
Alpha Beta was a chain of supermarkets in the Southwestern United States. Stores under this brand existed between 1917 and 1995. Former Alpha Beta stores have all been purchased by other grocery chains and rebranded.
History
Before Alpha Beta ...
chain of supermarkets. Many of Acme's stores in the 1960s and 1970s were paired with a regional drugstore chain, a PLCB liquor store (in Pennsylvania), a
Kmart
Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States.
The company was inc ...
, or
Woolco
Woolco was an American-based discount retail chain. It was founded in 1962 in Columbus, Ohio, by the F. W. Woolworth Company. It was a full-line discount department store unlike the five-and-dime Woolworth stores which operated at the time. At i ...
(earlier centers had a Woolworth), and in rarer cases a department store such as
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
or
JCPenney
Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...
. American Stores also bought the Philadelphia franchise rights to the then fast-growing restaurant chain
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert a ...
in 1968. Acme would also acquire a number of stores from Kmart Foods (as did A&P, Safeway, and Kroger); however, in the late 1970s, many recently closed 1950s-era supermarkets in Philadelphia and close suburbs were reopened as independents IGA or Thriftway/Shop 'n Bag. Starting in the 1980s, these independents were overtaken by family chains
Genuardi's
Genuardi's Family Markets Limited partnership, L.P. was a chain of supermarkets located in the Northeastern United States. Family-owned until purchased by Safeway Inc., Safeway in 2000, Genuardi's had its headquarters in the Bentwood Executive ...
(later acquired by
Safeway
Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...
and now defunct) and
Clemens Clemens is both a Late Latin masculine given name and a surname meaning "merciful". Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Adelaide Clemens (born 1989), Australian actress.
* Andrew Clemens (b. 1852 or 1857–1894), American folk artist
* ...
(also defunct) along with
Giant-Carlisle
The Giant Company (formerly known as Giant Food Stores) is an American regional supermarket chain that operates stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia and provides online shopping and delivery to New Jersey through G ...
and
Giant-Landover
Giant Food of Maryland, LLC, also known as Giant, is an American supermarket chain with 169 stores and 159 full service pharmacies located in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.https://stores.giantfood.com/ , giantfoo ...
in newer suburbs, and modernized Acme, Super Fresh, and Pathmark stores in the city and older suburbs not long after.
From 1978 to 1982, Acme acquired many stores during Food Fair's bankruptcy, including both ex-Food Fair (by then known as discount grocer Pantry Pride) and Penn Fruit units. The bulk of these dated to the 1950s. The former Food Fair/Pantry Pride stores were replaced by or remodeled into stores with the standard Acme prototype of the 1970s, as were many expanded A-Frame buildings and a few former
Pathmark
Pathmark is a supermarket brand owned by Allegiance Retail Services, a retailers’ cooperative based in Iselin, New Jersey, USA. Pathmark currently has one location in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, which it has operated since 2019.
From ...
(these were former ShopRite) stores. Former Penn Fruit buildings, with their trademark barrel roof, could not be adapted to this model. Even many A-Frames were replaced by the often older but larger acquired stores.
In the late 1960s into the 1970s, Acme introduced a new brand of stores, Super Saver that were high volume, but were in high-crime and low-income areas. Both chains had the slogan "Acme and Super Saver - you're going to like it here!" The brand Super Saver was retired in the 1980s, only to be resurrected in the 1990s in the
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
. Some isolated stores retained the signage into the early 1990s, however.
American Stores were sold in 1979 to the
Skaggs Companies
Skaggs Companies was the predecessor to many famous United States retailing chains, including Safeway, Albertsons, Osco Drug, and Longs Drugs. The company owned several drugstore chains, but all of them were sold. Skaggs Cos. became American S ...
which took the American Stores name, moving its headquarters to
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
. Also in 1979, American Stores announced that it would be closing most of its stores in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
state. In the 1980s, American Stores undertook various acquisitions (including
Chicago metropolitan area
The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and h ...
chain
Jewel Food Stores
Jewel-Osco is a regional supermarket chain in the Chicago metropolitan area, headquartered in Itasca, a western suburb. In 2007, the company had 188 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois; eastern Iowa; and portions of northwes ...
) which ran the Jewel-T chain; it operated in many former urban Acme buildings. In 1995, Acme sold 45 stores in
northeastern Pennsylvania
Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) is a geographic region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton, Nanticoke, and Car ...
to
Penn Traffic
The Penn Traffic Company was founded in 1854 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, as a food service company for stagecoaches. It eventually became a general-merchandise department store but by the early 1960s had also returned to the food business through ...
. American Stores was acquired by major Western and Southern chain
Albertsons
Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-larg ...
in November 1999.
In 2006, Albertsons' supermarket holdings were bought by
Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is an American private equity firm,Leaders Magazine"Providing Economic Opportunity: An Interview with The Honorable Dan Quayle, Chairman, Cerberus Global Investments, LLC". specializing in distressed investing. ...
and SuperValu and divided between the two companies, with Acme going to SuperValu. In 2013 Cerberus, which was operating the Albertsons stores it owned under the name Albertsons LLC, agreed to purchase Acme from SuperValu.
In July 2016, it was announced that Albertsons had entered into a purchase agreement with
Ahold
Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam, Netherlands. It merged with Belgium-based Delhaize Group in 2016 to form Ahold Delhaize.
History
Growth in the Netherlands
The company started in 1887, when A ...
and
Delhaize Group
Delhaize Group SA (, ) was a Belgian multinational retail company headquartered in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Brussels, Belgium, and operated in seven countries and on three continents. The principal activity of Delhaize Group was the operation of f ...
to replace a
Giant
In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...
store in
Salisbury, Maryland
Salisbury () is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 33,050 at the 2020 census. Salisbury is the principal city of the Salisbury ...
as part of the divestiture of stores to gain clearance from the Federal Trade Commission for the impending Ahold/Delhaize merger. The store was rebranded under the Acme banner in September 2016.
Current and future operations
Acme is the third-largest food and drug retailer in the Delaware Valley, where it competes with such chains as
Ahold
Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam, Netherlands. It merged with Belgium-based Delhaize Group in 2016 to form Ahold Delhaize.
History
Growth in the Netherlands
The company started in 1887, when A ...
's
Giant-Carlisle
The Giant Company (formerly known as Giant Food Stores) is an American regional supermarket chain that operates stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia and provides online shopping and delivery to New Jersey through G ...
,
Giant-Landover
Giant Food of Maryland, LLC, also known as Giant, is an American supermarket chain with 169 stores and 159 full service pharmacies located in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.https://stores.giantfood.com/ , giantfoo ...
,
Food Lion
Food Lion is an American regional grocery store chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1100 supermarkets in 10 states of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States (Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North ...
, and
Stop & Shop
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide.
Sto ...
;
Wakefern Food Corporation
Wakefern Food Corporation is an American company that was founded in 1946 and is based in Keasbey, New Jersey. It is the largest retailers' cooperative group of supermarkets and the fourth-largest cooperative of any kind in the United State ...
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
and its warehouse club subsidiary
Sam's Club
Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's C ...
Costco
Costco Wholesale Corporation (Trade name, doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only Big-box store, big-box retail stores (warehouse c ...
; natural/organic products retailer
Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A US ...
;
Wegmans Food Markets
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a privately held American supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Gates, New York, and was founded in 1916 in Rochester.
As of , Wegmans has 110 stores, mostly in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions. ...
;
Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States.
The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, Californi ...
and
Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when ...
; and various smaller chains. Acme was the regional sales leader in the Philadelphia area for decades, and only lost its lead to ShopRite in 2011.
Acme offers online grocery shopping for orders that can be picked up at the store. Before 2009, Acme also delivered to customers through online orders. In 2004, Acme introduced self-checkout stands, where shoppers could scan and bag their own groceries; however, many stores (including acquired stores - see below) have had their self-checkouts removed in an effort to expand customer service. In 2008, many Acme stores began adding hot food bars to the deli section.
In July 2015, Acme's competitor A&P announced it would be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in three years and ceasing operations after 156 years. A&P began placing many of its stores up for auction shortly thereafter, and Acme placed bids on 76 of them, eventually taking the leases to 71 stores in all from A&P's namesake brand and its subsidiaries
Pathmark
Pathmark is a supermarket brand owned by Allegiance Retail Services, a retailers’ cooperative based in Iselin, New Jersey, USA. Pathmark currently has one location in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, which it has operated since 2019.
From ...
,
Waldbaum's
Waldbaum's was a supermarket chain with stores in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx; and in Nassau, Suffolk counties and Upstate New York. The chain also for a time operated stores in New Jersey, Connect ...
The Food Emporium
The Food Emporium is a chain of grocery stores in New York and New Jersey. The supermarket banner was created by Shopwell Inc., whose roots can be traced to Daitch Crystal Dairies (established 1919). Shopwell Inc. was acquired by The Great Atlan ...
. This enabled Acme to expand its footprint in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, where they competed with both Pathmark and Superfresh for business; re-establish its presence in the New York metropolitan area, which had been greatly scaled back over the previous two decades; and return to former market areas in Delaware and Maryland. In addition, Albertsons was able to return to Connecticut with some of its purchases; in 2006, Acme's corporate sibling Shaw's sold off or closed all of its stores in Connecticut. It was also announced in August 2015 that Acme would be taking over a former
Genuardi's
Genuardi's Family Markets Limited partnership, L.P. was a chain of supermarkets located in the Northeastern United States. Family-owned until purchased by Safeway Inc., Safeway in 2000, Genuardi's had its headquarters in the Bentwood Executive ...
location in
Barnegat, New Jersey
Barnegat Township is a township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the township's population was 20,936, reflecting an increase of 5,666 (+37.1%) from the 15,270 counted in the 2000 Census, which ha ...
; this was made possible by the merger of Albertsons and Safeway, which had owned the Genuardi's chain before shutting it down a few years before, and continued to own the lease on the property. (This store opened February 5, 2016.) Acme has also completed the purchases of the leases of two closed A&P stores in
Boonton, New Jersey
Boonton is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 8,815, an increase of 468 (+5.6%) from the 2010 census count of 8,347, which in turn reflected a decline of 149 (− ...
, and
Patterson, New York
Patterson is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The town is in the northeastern part of the county. Interstate 84 passes through the southwestern section of the town. The population was 11,541 at the 2020 census. The town is name ...
, The Boonton store reopened on September 18, 2016, The Patterson, New York, store reopened on August 23, 2016, as well as an A&P Wine & Spirits location in
Riverside, Connecticut
Riverside is a neighborhood/section in the town of Greenwich in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 8,416.
The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several ...
. In April 2016, Acme closed three stores it had operated in
Oxford, Pennsylvania
Oxford is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Oxford is the closest town to Lincoln University. The population was 5,733 at the 2020 census.
History
The borough was once called Oxford Crossing and Oxford Village during the ...
Shrewsbury, New Jersey
Shrewsbury is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. Centrally located in the Jersey Shore region in the New York Metropolitan area, the borough is an historic bedroom community of New York City. As of the 2010 United States ...
. The Shrewsbury location, however, was essentially just replaced by a former A&P Fresh store Acme acquired as a result of the A&P bankruptcy in
Tinton Falls, New Jersey
Tinton Falls is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 17,892,East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, near Malvern. The company was previously headquartered in Center City,
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, but moved to 75 Valley Stream Parkway in East Whiteland Township in 1988. Acme continued to house some support departments, including its accounting department, in Center City.Acme Tradition / History ." Acme Markets. Retrieved on February 14, 2011.
Brands
The following are store brands that are currently sold at Acme Markets, or have been sold at Acme Markets:
Currently sold:
* Lancaster Brand Meats
* Lucerne Dairy Farms (acquired with Safeway)
* Ivins' Famous Spiced Wafers
* "O" Organic (acquired with Safeway)
* Open Nature (acquired with Safeway)
* Signature Kitchens (Albertsons/Safeway brand, previously Safeway Kitchens; now part of "Signature" brand collection; roll-out started in April 2016. Brand being phased out in favor of Signature Select)
* Signature Care (Albertsons/Safeway brand, previously Safeway Care; now part of "Signature" brand collection; roll-out started in April 2016)
* Signature Farms (Albertsons/Safeway brand, previously Safeway Farms; now part of "Signature" brand collection; roll-out started in April 2016)
* Signature Cafe (Albertsons/Safeway brand; roll-out started in April 2016)
* Signature Select (acquired with Safeway, previously Safeway Select; now part of "Signature" brand collection)
* Signature Home (Albertsons/Safeway brand, previously Safeway Home; now part of "Signature" brand collection; roll-out started in April 2016. Brand being phased out in favor of Signature Select and Signature Care)
* The Snack Artist (acquired with Safeway. Brand being phased out in favor of Signature Select)
* Value Corner (acquired with Safeway, when brand was known as Pantry Essentials)
Formerly sold or phased-out:
* Acme (American Stores/Albertsons/Supervalu)
*
Alpha Beta
Alpha Beta was a chain of supermarkets in the Southwestern United States. Stores under this brand existed between 1917 and 1995. Former Alpha Beta stores have all been purchased by other grocery chains and rebranded.
History
Before Alpha Beta ...
(former sister chain; only sold in Super Saver-bannered locations)
* Bala Club (American Stores)
* Bright Green (Safeway. Brand merged into Open Nature)
* Econo Buy (American Stores)
* Equaline (Supervalu)
* Essential Everyday (Supervalu)
* Farmdale (American Stores)
* Gold Seal (American Stores)
* Home Life (Supervalu)
* Ideal (American Stores)
* Louella (American Stores)
* Market Fresh (Supervalu)
* Osco Drug (American Stores)
* Refreshe (Safeway)
* Sav-on Osco by Albertsons (Albertsons)
* Shoppers Value (Supervalu)
* Speedup (American Stores)
* Super Chill (Supervalu)
* Supreme (American Stores)
* Virginia Lee (American Stores)
* Wild Harvest (Supervalu)
In popular culture
The Acme name was used for a fictional corporation in many
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
cartoons, such as '' Road Runner/ Wile E. Coyote'' in the 1940s onward. Acme was a popular name for businesses at the time. The name was not only used for fictional markets, but drugs, delivery services, anvils, and even traffic signal companies. Today, the Acme name is most commonly associated with the Northeastern supermarket corporation, Acme Markets.
See also
*
Giant Food Stores
The Giant Company (formerly known as Giant Food Stores) is an American regional supermarket chain that operates stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia and provides online shopping and delivery to New Jersey through G ...
*
Genuardi's
Genuardi's Family Markets Limited partnership, L.P. was a chain of supermarkets located in the Northeastern United States. Family-owned until purchased by Safeway Inc., Safeway in 2000, Genuardi's had its headquarters in the Bentwood Executive ...
*
Safeway
Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...
*
Costco
Costco Wholesale Corporation (Trade name, doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only Big-box store, big-box retail stores (warehouse c ...
*
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States (and, until 1965, the lar ...
*
Pathmark
Pathmark is a supermarket brand owned by Allegiance Retail Services, a retailers’ cooperative based in Iselin, New Jersey, USA. Pathmark currently has one location in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, which it has operated since 2019.
From ...
Wegmans
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a privately held American supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Gates, New York, and was founded in 1916 in Rochester.
As of , Wegmans has 110 stores, mostly in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions. T ...
*
Weis Markets
Weis Markets, Inc. ( doing business as Weis and stylized as weis) is a Mid-Atlantic food retailer headquartered in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. It currently operates 199 stores with over 23,000 employees in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jer ...