Acme (Closing) / Pathmark, Ironbound Neighborhood, Newark, NJ
The former Pathmark (now SaveSmart) which closed in 1995 when this store opened can be seen in the far right of this photo in the adjacent shopping center
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The Acme (former Pathmark) of Ferry Street in Newark, NJ is having a going-out-of-business sale. The closing was announced by the UFCW local 1262 a few weeks back. Unfortunately, the closing is not surprising. In a gentrifying neighborhood full of immigrants from Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Ecuador and lots of other places--Pathmark, with its deep expertise in ethnic merchandising--was a perfect fit; by contrast, Acme makes little effort to carry the products that the people of the neighborhood want to buy. It’s like the company has one model for supermarkets, and they plop them down no matter what neighborhood they operate in.
The sad part is that Pathmark was so successful and high-volume in this neighborhood that, in 1995, they replaced an older store next door with this 65,000 sq. ft. super center. Once A&P took over, prices went up, but at least the store still carried the wide selection of fresh and dry goods that the neighborhood wanted. Acme cut tons of these products and greatly reduced the selection. They replaced the once vibrant international flavor of Pathmark with a WASPy supermarket that your grandmother might have shopped at.
I am sure this is only the first of many former A&P/Pathmark stores that will close under Acme's leadership. The stores are mostly devoid of customers. The owners of New Albertson’s never had a long-term strategy to be in the grocery business. This is a company run by Wall-Street money men who buy up companies, leech money out of them to make themselves rich, saddle the companies with debt, and then try to sell them quickly. And believe me, they are saddling New Albertsons with billions of dollars of debt, financing all these acquisitions and store renovations. Unfortunately for them, there has been low interest in an Albertsons IPO the two times they have tried to offer the company up for sale, and now that same-store sales are tanking, it seems even more unlikely. To top it off, the company still hasn’t had a single profitable quarter since it was formed and is losing tens of millions every quarter.
Employees are being offered opportunities to relocate to other stores, but the ones I spoke to said many of the stores are too far away, and after being put through the wringer over the years, I think they are ready to move on. No one has yet signed on to takeover the supermarket, but the buzz was that ShopRite was interested in the store. The Kearny ShopRite operates 3 miles away.
Acme (Closing) / Pathmark, Ironbound Neighborhood, Newark, NJ
The former Pathmark (now SaveSmart) which closed in 1995 when this store opened can be seen in the far right of this photo in the adjacent shopping center
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The Acme (former Pathmark) of Ferry Street in Newark, NJ is having a going-out-of-business sale. The closing was announced by the UFCW local 1262 a few weeks back. Unfortunately, the closing is not surprising. In a gentrifying neighborhood full of immigrants from Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Ecuador and lots of other places--Pathmark, with its deep expertise in ethnic merchandising--was a perfect fit; by contrast, Acme makes little effort to carry the products that the people of the neighborhood want to buy. It’s like the company has one model for supermarkets, and they plop them down no matter what neighborhood they operate in.
The sad part is that Pathmark was so successful and high-volume in this neighborhood that, in 1995, they replaced an older store next door with this 65,000 sq. ft. super center. Once A&P took over, prices went up, but at least the store still carried the wide selection of fresh and dry goods that the neighborhood wanted. Acme cut tons of these products and greatly reduced the selection. They replaced the once vibrant international flavor of Pathmark with a WASPy supermarket that your grandmother might have shopped at.
I am sure this is only the first of many former A&P/Pathmark stores that will close under Acme's leadership. The stores are mostly devoid of customers. The owners of New Albertson’s never had a long-term strategy to be in the grocery business. This is a company run by Wall-Street money men who buy up companies, leech money out of them to make themselves rich, saddle the companies with debt, and then try to sell them quickly. And believe me, they are saddling New Albertsons with billions of dollars of debt, financing all these acquisitions and store renovations. Unfortunately for them, there has been low interest in an Albertsons IPO the two times they have tried to offer the company up for sale, and now that same-store sales are tanking, it seems even more unlikely. To top it off, the company still hasn’t had a single profitable quarter since it was formed and is losing tens of millions every quarter.
Employees are being offered opportunities to relocate to other stores, but the ones I spoke to said many of the stores are too far away, and after being put through the wringer over the years, I think they are ready to move on. No one has yet signed on to takeover the supermarket, but the buzz was that ShopRite was interested in the store. The Kearny ShopRite operates 3 miles away.