GIANT | Broomall, PA

2180 West Chester Pike

Welcome to the Broomall GIANT!

Happy Friday the 13th! You might be having some scary flashbacks to the Westtown GIANT, a store with the same exterior as the Broomall location and a fascinatingly ugly interior. But this store isn't that bad! It opened on December 6, 2019 in a new-construction shopping center, replacing the chain's original Broomall store which opened in 2001 in a former Bradlees. That store is now an Amazon Fresh. Without further adieu, let's head inside.

Thanks for having me.

The fresh bar and the garden are on the left side of the grand aisle. This store has the same decor that it opened with back in 2019; we last saw it in the Springfield store in May 2023.

The kitchen takes up a whole island on the right side of the grand aisle. Beer and wine is behind this area, and we'll see that in a moment.

The deli and the bakery are in the back of the grand aisle as we transition to the main part of the store.

Beer and wine in the first two aisles. There's a small seating area just to the right of where I took this picture.

A look at aisle 9, with various baking supplies.

The land and sea counter, packaged meats, and the small plant based selection are all on the back wall.

Milk/dairy and frozen are in the last few aisles of the store. This GIANT tops out at 20 aisles, which seems pretty large to me for a store built in the last five years, especially considering the sizable grand aisle. The store doesn't feel as big as it really is.

The store's Citizens Bank branch (with a lot of GIANT Direct orders ready to go in front of it) and the pharmacy are on the front end of this side. In the two-towers model that GIANT used for years (Aston being one of many, many, many examples), the secondary entrance would be in this area, but newer stores only have one entrance.

We find greeting cards and checkouts running down the front end. Thank you for shopping at your Broomall GIANT.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2022

Google hasn't been through most of this relatively new shopping center yet, so the best perspective we get of this store is from the Royal Farms parking lot across the street.

Nearby competition

1.8 miles away: Acme of Broomall

We saw this store last week. This store first opened as a Food Fair in 1957, later become a ShopRite in 1979 and then the Acme that it is today in 1994. This store is probably this GIANT's biggest competitor, though they're far enough apart and GIANT seems more popular (as is usually the case).

2.2 miles away: Amazon Fresh of Broomall

GIANT knows this store quite well - they operated in it for almost 20 years! It had originally been a Two Guys department store, and eventually became a Bradlees before closing in 2001 with the chain. GIANT opened a brand new store in most of the building later that year, and then moved to the store we just toured in 2019. Amazon Fresh opened their second Philly-area store here in September of 2022. Click here to see this store as it was in March of 2023.

Thank you for joining me on this tour! This store was quite nice, and I would definitely do shopping here if I was in the area (although I'm not in Broomall very often). I quite like the decor, too; GIANT's current decor is better, but I like the backlit signage in this one. It was definitely a step up from their previous decor, which we saw in Westtown (linked in the introduction). I'll see you next time! The Retail Connection: For today's table.

 

Acme | Broomall, PA

1991 Sproul Road

Welcome to the Broomall Acme!

Happy September! We're kicking off one of my favorite months of the year with, you guessed it, an Acme! This location has a somewhat interesting history, though, at least as Acmes go. It's the anchor of the Lawrence Park Shopping Center, a large and regionally well-known shopping center that recently completed an expansive renovation. It was definitely justified, as the shopping center has been operating since 1957. At that time, Acme's spot was filled by Food Fair, one of the top supermarkets in the Philadelphia area back in the '50s and '60s. Food Fair closed in 1979, and the store reopened as ShopRite that year. ShopRite closed in 1994, and the store soon became an Acme, relocating from their older Broomall store that is now a CVS (which has another location in the Lawrence Park parking lot). I feel like it's been a while since we've had a store with that much history! Let's go inside now!

This store has the early version of Quality Built, which we also saw last year in Cape May Court House. It's held up pretty well, but a remodel to a newer package also wouldn't be unnecessary.

Broomall Freshest Produce Market is just to the left in an alcove after we enter. As you'll see, this version of QB has much more vibrant colors than the more common version.

Usually, Acme hides wine in a random aisle near the center of the store, but in Broomall their selection is front and center.

The bakery is in the back of the grand aisle. I find it interesting how this store has the signs so far in front of the actual department. Usually Acme doesn't do that, but they had to here with the odd ceiling situation.

Meat and seafood is in the back of the store.

The one thing that tends to always change among early QB stores is the deli signage. This is one of the better ones I've seen. Others include Cape May Court House and the horrifyingly ugly Beach Haven.

Salty snacks are in aisle 8. The aisle markers are quite similar to the final product, though the number is thicker and the colors are slightly tweaked.

Dairy is on the right.

The curvy pharmacy is in the front corner. This store kept the Sav-On branding, though not on the outside. Also, I'm just realizing now that this store doesn't have the retro logo wall.

HABA, floral, checkouts, and customer service (where I had to check out, because the self-checkout wasn't taking my card) as we proceed out of the store.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2019

Here's the store with its old look. Personally, I like this better. It's way too white now.

Nearby competition

1.8 miles away: GIANT of Broomall

Here's next week's store, the GIANT up the road that goes behind this shopping center. It opened in 2019 as a replacement for an older store in Broomall, closer to the Newtown Square area, that opened in 2001 in a former Bradlees. That store is now an Amazon Fresh. Speaking of which...

2.1 miles away: Amazon Fresh of Broomall

We're only about two miles away from the Amazon Fresh! This store opened back in 2022. Like in pretty much every market, Amazon Fresh has been pretty slow to grow in the Philadelphia area. The only two other locations nearby (and neither are really close at all) are Warrington, which opened in 2021, and Bensalem, which opened only a few weeks ago on August 22. We toured the Broomall location back in March of 2023, and you can see it here.

Thanks for joining me at this Acme! I don't really have anything to say about this store - as '90s Acmes go, it's very average. I don't like this decor as much as the later version of Quality Built, but it isn't bad. If this store is getting a remodel at any time soon, it would get the University City decor (which the Trolley Square store in Wilmington now also has - thanks PlazaACME!). I really hope we start to see Acmes getting this decor that's sprouting up in Albertsons and Safeway stores across the West. But that's all for now! I'll see you next week at GIANT. Sincerely, The Retail Connection.

ShopRite | Glenolden, PA

 

140 N. MacDade Blvd.

Welcome to the Glenolden ShopRite!

Finally, we're back home! And we'll be completing the collection of currently-operating Delaware County ShopRites. The other ones are Brookhaven, Eddystone, and Drexel Hill. This ShopRite location opened on April 28, 2016, in what was formerly a Pathmark that closed with the chain in November 2015. Pathmark opened here in 1981 on the site of a former drive-in movie theater. Let's head inside and take a quick look!

This store has an extremely confusing and bad layout, so I didn't realize until after leaving the store that I missed the beer and wine section on the left side of the store, but I did get part of it in this picture. Behind me are cafe seating and the customer service counter.

The produce stand takes up most of the grand aisle. The ShopRite Kitchen and MacDade Blvd. Delicatessen are across from it on an island. By the way, this ShopRite is owned by Collins Family Markets, who also owns the Eddystone location. That store has a similarly-named Chester Pike Delicatessen and Kitchen.

The Delco Seafood Co. is in the back left corner. To the left of this was some sort of health and beauty department which went down the left wall. Here's a picture of the pharmacy department before it closed in 2021. I would think it was in this general area (probably where beer and wine is now), but I was only in this store once before the pharmacy closed so I don't remember (plus there's no place in the store that looks anything like that today).

Continuing down the back wall, we find the bakery department. The decor here was obviously retained from Pathmark's Chelsea Bakers department.

International foods are in aisle 5. The aisle markers here say both Collins Markets and ShopRite.

Various packaged meats and select butcher offerings on the back wall.

The dairy farm and frozen foods are in the last few aisles of the store.

Snacks and beverages get their own section in the front corner on this side of the store. This ShopRite seems to really like local flair, so obviously Herr's (based in Nottingham, Chester County) is front and center. Are Herr's chips really sold in all 50 states? That's what I read on their website, but I never saw them in Florida and I found a Reddit post by someone in California who couldn't find them anywhere. I do remember seeing them in an episode of Superstore (set in St. Louis), which I thought was odd.

ShopRite's old slogan adorns the front wall of this store as we check out.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2017

Not looking much different here, other than the pharmacy signage still being up. Here's how the store looked back in 2010 when it was still a Pathmark.

Nearby competition

1.1 miles away: Acme of Holmes

This Acme opened in 1969 and has been operating ever since, currently as the only anchor of the MacDade Mall. This was the second store I ever did a post on, back in 2022, and you can tour it here. Acme acquired quite a few Pathmarks during A&P's 2015 bankruptcy, and I was kind of surprised that they didn't take the Glenolden store, but I guess they were happy here. If this were the '90s, they probably would have moved into the Kmart next door, which has been abandoned for almost five years.

1.2 miles away: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market of Sharon Hill

This store first opened as an Acme back in 1959 and amazingly lasted until 2012, becoming known for being the last store in the chain with the '80s decor. It became Amelia's Grocery Outlet in 2013, which in turn became Grocery Outlet Bargain Market in 2015.

In all, I don't know how I felt about this store. The decor is great, but the store was kind of a mess, both literally and in terms of its layout. I probably would not shop here regularly. I did like their in-store soundtrack, however ("All You Wanted" by Michelle Branch -- though, in my opinion, her best song is "Are You Happy Now?"). One final thought: weirdly enough, my Flickr photo of this store was posted exactly two years ago today! I totally did not plan that out. Thanks for reading! The Retail Connection: Check out happy.