GIANT | Newtown Square, PA

4855 West Chester Pike

Welcome to the Newtown Square GIANT!

Our next stop in Newtown Square is the town's GIANT. When this center first opened in 1995, Genuardi's was the grocery anchor in this space. Not making it to the 2012 demise of Genuardi's, this store closed in the summer of 2010 along with the Glen Mills, Wayne, and Voorhees locations. However, Safeway must have still held the lease on this store in 2012, as it was sold to GIANT along with 15 other stores. GIANT reopened in this space on November 6, 2013. Without further adieu, let's begin our tour!

This store was recently remodeled to GIANT's current decor. I think it looks much better here than in Blue Bell, most likely because of this store's open ceiling.

Organic foods, floral, and a very narrow produce department are on the right side of the store. The flooring is left over from the 90s Genuardi's decor the store opened with. Safeway never remodeled this store to Lifestyle.

The meat and seafood counter and packaged meats line the back wall of the store.

Aisle 5 is stocked with canned foods.

Health and beauty is in the middle aisles. This store does not have a pharmacy, and I doubt it ever did as Genuardi's either, as there was previously a Happy Harry's next door until 2005. That space was later Staples but is now Five Below.

Dairy is in the back left corner of the store, across from the frozen foods aisles.

The bakery, deli, and kitchen are on the far right side of the store. This store has the same layout as Springfield; both shopping centers were developed by the same company, and the stores opened one year apart, so I guess they could be considered twins.

Customer service and GIANT Direct are next to the prepared foods.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2022

The remodel must have been quite recently, as this photo still shows the store with the previous logo and decor.

2007

I believe this store maintained the original Genuardi's decor from the 90s until the very end. It was probably one of the very first to get this logo.

Nearby competition

2.4 miles away: Whole Foods of Newtown Square

This Whole Foods opened in 2019 on a formerly empty plot of land as part of a new shopping center. We won't be seeing this store, but you can find pictures of it online.

2.8 miles away: Acme of Newtown Square

The Newtown Square Acme opened back in 1958, and has been expanded and remodeled several times over. We saw this store last week, and you can tour it by clicking here.

4 miles away: Amazon Fresh of Broomall

The Broomall Amazon Fresh opened last year in part of a former GIANT, which relocated to a new facility in 2019. It's safe to say there's no shortage of GIANTs in this area.

This was a nice, clean, and spacious store. However, it's quite small compared to the average GIANT and wasn't as busy as I would expect. Next week, we're headed to another GIANT just down the road! See you then! The Retail Connection: For today's table.

Acme | Newtown Square, PA

 

3590 West Chester Pike

Welcome to the Newtown Square Acme!

We'll be spending the rest of the year in Pennsylvania, so get comfortable! In today's installment of The Retail Connection, we will be touring the Acme of Newtown Square. This store, one of Acme's earliest pitched-roof models, came roaring into the township of Newtown on June 25, 1958, as a relocation from a 1951 store across the street. It's been expanded and remodeled several times since then, and is one of the chain's top-performing stores. It recently got this facade upgrade as part of a remodel of the center, and inside has the Quality Built decor. Let's take a look around!

At the last Acme we toured, the foyer was stocked with lots of Halloween goodies. Christmas has taken over in Newtown Square!

The left entrance goes directly into the small produce department. The original pitched-roof section of this store ends on the other side of this alcove, so the entire grand aisle is an addition.

Foods to go and the corner deli line the left wall. This store previously had the Chalkboard Market decor, so the space for signage is quite limited (the deli would have originally looked more like this).

The deli pantry now just has signage for "This Is Your ACME", interestingly without the fisheye logo.

The bakery is behind produce. I've been to a lot of Acmes, and I've never seen one that has the bakery in this spot. I guess when you take a 1958 grocery store and expand it to the size of one today, the layout will be strange.

The Frosted Mug is in the first aisle behind produce and bakery. This was previously the coffee and cereal aisle. The patterned tiles are left over from the Chalkboard Market decor.

Meat and seafood run down the back wall of the store. The signage for Lancaster Meats in the first photo is really off-center.

This was my first time seeing the new circular Signature Select logo on products. It was first launched in May. This was the original design. The new one is definitely a lot more modern and sharp.

Dairy is in the back right corner and the last full aisle of the store.

Health and beauty and floral are on the right side of the store. The HABA alcove was previously a state-run Wine & Spirits Shoppe. This store doesn't have a pharmacy, but there was previously one in the center a few doors down for many years.

Checkouts and customer service round out this store. This was probably one of the last Quality Built stores to get the township signage.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2018

The new facade isn't much different from the previous 90s one, but it's still a nice upgrade.

Nearby competition

0.7 miles away: Whole Foods of Newtown Square

This store opened in January 2019 as part of a new shopping center. The next store on the nearby competition list is also owned by Amazon...

1.6 miles away: Amazon Fresh of Broomall

The Broomall Amazon Fresh opened in September 2022 in a former GIANT. It was the second Amazon Fresh in Pennsylvania after Warrington. We toured the Broomall store back in March, and you can look back on it here.

2.8 miles away: GIANT of Newtown Square

The Newtown Square GIANT opened in 2013 in a former Genuardi's. This store is the next stop in Newtown Square, and we'll be learning more about it and touring it next week!

That concludes this post! While this Acme had a very odd layout, it was a nice and clean store and is still in good shape considering it turned 65 this year. It was also quite busy the day I was there, so it's not surprising it's lasted as long as it has. Our time in this area is only just beginning, and next week we'll be seeing the GIANT in town. Until then, though, thank you for reading and have a great week! Sincerely, The Retail Connection.