Jewel-Osco | Clarendon Hills, IL

 

303 Holmes Ave

Welcome to the Clarendon Hills Jewel-Osco!

For the first time since October, we're headed to Illinois! Calypso is bringing us a tour of the Clarendon Hills Jewel-Osco. This store opened on January 24, 1967, and was the largest store in the chain at the time of opening, with special features including a pastry shop, book and magazine section, and photography shop. Despite its large size at the time, it's been remodeled several times over the years, and currently has the Jewel Heritage decor inside. In we go!

This is our first time seeing a Jewel-Osco with Starbucks inside.

This store's grand aisle is on the right side of the building, with deli (not pictured) and produce on the outside wall, meat and seafood in the corner, and bakery on an island.

In this store, aisle 14 is home to general merchandise like party products and greeting cards.

The pharmacy, formerly known as Osco Drug, is in the back corner on the far left side of the store. HABA is in the aisles across from the counter. This store has had a pharmacy department since opening.

Beer and wine is in the last aisle of the store, with floral on the front wall.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2022

The store has been its current size since the mid 90s, which was also probably when it got the double entrances. Those were popular with Acme during that time.

2011

At this time, the store had a green color scheme on the exterior and the Industrial Circus decor inside.

Thanks as always to Calypso for this Jewel-Osco tour! Next week, we're heading back home to see a much more familiar store to me, GIANT. Thank you for reading, and see you next week! Sincerely, The Retail Connection.

Acme | Folsom, PA

 

124 Morton Ave

Welcome to the Folsom Acme!

It sure doesn't feel like Groundhog Day here on The Retail Connection, because this is our very first time in a Superstore-style Acme! This design was used from around 1995 up until 2001. For the most part, stores of this design had either the Red White & Blue or Chalkboard Market decor package upon opening, with this store receiving the latter. It held its grand opening on February 12, 1999, the day after longtime nearby stores in Folsom and Woodlyn closed their doors. Prior to Acme, a small shopping center operated on this site, anchored by Ridley Bowl and A&P. Today, the store has a nice version of the Quality Built decor. Let's head inside and check it out!

Produce is on the left side of the store. When this store first opened, it had the Chalkboard Market decor, as evidenced by the layout and green ceiling. This was one of the last stores to open under American Stores, who created the Chalkboard Market decor, as the sale to Albertsons was finalized in June 1999.

Bakery and deli are in an island across from produce. The backsplash is left over from the Premium Fresh & Healthy 1.0 decor, which this store had in between Chalkboard Market and Quality Built.

Meat and seafood are in the back left corner, completing the grand aisle of the store.

The Frosted Mug is in aisle one behind the deli-bakery island. This was previously the Wild Harvest department, which was added under SuperValu.

Frozen foods are in aisle 10, complete with the nice PF&H 1.0 wood flooring.

General merchandise is located in aisle 11. This aisle and aisle 12 (our favorite) transition into one double-wide aisle halfway through.

Dairy and lunch meat occupy the rest of the back wall. The rounded awning in the second photo is where the dairy signage was for PF&H 1.0.

The pharmacy is in an unusual spot on the left wall. Like Paoli, Folsom's twin store, this store kept the Sav-On branding, though Paoli also kept the exterior signage while this store removed it. Interestingly, it seems that a new Sav-On sign was installed during the remodel, as the previous one appeared considerably larger.

Floral is in the left corner on the front wall, fitting for an early spring. This was originally the photo department, which probably closed in the mid 2000s. It then became miscellaneous seasonal merchandise before floral relocated here from the produce section during the Quality Built remodel.

A look down the front end. Like many 90s Acmes, this store has a Citizens Bank branch.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2017

The grand re-opening following the remodel took place in January 2017, so this was shortly after. The apple-filled windows must have hung on for a while after, though.

2015

Still totally fresh and healthy at this point. The nearby Pathmark closed the same month this picture was taken.

Nearby competition

0.4 miles away: Lidl of Folsom

The Pathmark I mentioned was previously on this site. It opened as a ShopRite on January 18, 1967, then became a Pathmark just under two years later in October 1968. The store closed in September 2015 due to A&P's bankruptcy and was demolished in 2017 for this Lidl, which opened December 5, 2018. You can tour it in my very first blog post here.

1.4 miles away: Aldi of Woodlyn

This store is located in the same center as the former Woodlyn Acme, but a few doors down in a former Raymour & Flanigan Outlet which was previously a Hechinger. I visited this store shortly after it opened back in March, and you can take a look inside here.

And that's all I wrote on the Folsom Acme! This is one of my local stores, and I've always considered it the "nicer" Acme, at least in comparison to Holmes. It is a really beautiful store and always busy, so I'm sure it's one of the chain's top locations. Thanks for reading this week, and I'll see you again next time! Sincerely, The Retail Connection.

Acme | Concordville, PA

 

101 Byers Drive

Welcome to the Concordville Acme!

Our final stop in this area of Delaware County is the Concordville Acme. This store first opened on April 25, 2008 as a co-anchor to the Concordville Town Centre along with Target and The Home Depot. Despite being nearly 16 years old, it is still the most recently-built Acme. This was one of four new Premium Fresh & Healthy stores to open under SuperValu, with the others being Avondale, Bordentown, and Limerick (closed in 2011). It's also one of the very few Acme stores to retain the Premium Fresh & Healthy decor. With that backstory out of the way, let's take a look inside!

This store is referred to as both Glen Mills and Concordville. The interior signage says Concordville, so I'll go with that.

Produce is on the left side of the grand aisle. Even despite its aging decor, the store isn't looking too badly. It's also not without a few more modern touches, as the lighting has been updated.

Deli and bakery are on the outside wall. The cheese shop to the right of the deli has closed. This is a slightly modified version of the PF&H 1.0 decor, with the colors from PF&H 2.0.

Heading to the back of the store now. While the butcher block still looks new, the signage for Lancaster Brand Meats has seen better days.

Aisle 6 (only half as good as aisle 12). While the aisle markers have been updated to Quality Built, the category markers atop the shelves are still PF&H ones.

Dairy is in the back corner, with deli meat and cheese going down the right wall.

The curvy pharmacy department still uses the Sav-On name.

Customer service is on the front wall next to the left entrance. The photo department formerly operated here as well.

A look at the checkouts and The Frosted Mug. The latter was previously the a la carte cafe.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2023

Although the colors are different, the exterior design is virtually identical to Bordentown. While SuperValu was by far the worst company to ever own Acme, they did have some good designs. This is a really nice exterior.

2015

"Cold Beer" has since become "Beer & Wine".

Nearby competition

1.9 miles away: Wegmans of Concordville

Last week, we visited the Concordville Wegmans, which opened in 2015 as the only Delaware County Wegmans. You can tour the store by clicking here.

3 miles away: GIANT of West Chester

The Dilworthtown GIANT opened in June 2002 as the first of four GIANT stores in West Chester.

That's all for the Concordville Acme! While this is a nice store, it seemed eerily quiet compared to even GIANT and there were barely any shoppers inside. I imagine they took quite a hit when Wegmans opened, but considering the Wegmans is almost nine years old now, Acme must be performing well enough to stay open. Next week, we're headed about 15 miles east to another Acme that was much busier. Until then! Sincerely, The Retail Connection.

Wegmans | Concordville, PA

 

100 Applied Bank Blvd.

Welcome to the Concordville Wegmans!

This store is not only the first Wegmans featured on the blog, but also the first Wegmans I've ever been to! The Concordville location opened on November 8, 2015 as the anchor to Brandywine Mills. This is currently the only Wegmans in Delaware County. They had plans for a store in Broomall, which fell through in 2016 after protests over developing the center. This Wegmans, however, obviously did materialize, so let's check it out!

In typical Wegmans fashion, produce is straight ahead upon entering the store. The grand aisle continues to the right, with grocery aisles to the left.

Old fashioned subs and pizza are on the front wall by The Buzz.

Just beyond there, we find the Wegmans Wine & Beer Shop, with the Market Cafe behind it. This store doesn't have a balcony for people eating in-store, but it does have outdoor seating.

Asian foods and sushi are across from the alcohol section. I've always liked how Wegmans makes all of their departments look like a storefront. It almost reminds me of Disney World in a way.

A large bakery takes up most of the space between produce and the grand aisle. I've had Wegmans bakery products a few times before, and I've always enjoyed them.

The seafood market is in an island, while the meat department is on the perimeter under an awning.

Similarly, as we get to the back wall, we find the cheese shop in an island and the charcuterie and delicatessen departments on the wall. Funny how at Wegmans, the deli, usually the most prominent department in a supermarket, is one of the last we see.

We finally made it out of the grand aisle maze! Aisle 2 is home to home products and cooking supplies.

Dairy runs down the back wall of the store. There's the famous Wegmans train!

The pharmacy department is in aisle 2 along with health and beauty products.

Paper products and other general merchandise are in the final aisle of the store. While 16 aisles doesn't sound like a lot for a 140,000 square foot store, the grand aisle is so huge it's surprising they even got that many aisles in.

A pretty quiet front end.

Other Images of Interest

Street View Images

2019

I believe the only change that has been made to the store since this photo was the removal of the pub inside in 2021.

Nearby competition

1.9 miles away: Acme of Concordville

Next week, we'll be heading just up the road to the Acme of Concordville. This store opened in 2008 and is still the newest purpose-built Acme in the chain today. It also retains its original decor from when it first opened.

2.6 miles away: GIANT of West Chester

Last week, we completed the West Chester group with the GIANT store in the Shoppes at Dilworthtown Crossing. This store opened in 2002 and was recently remodeled to GIANT's current decor. You can step inside the store by clicking here.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at this Wegmans. I would like to come back sometime and do some actual shopping, instead of just taking photos and rushing through. Have a great weekend and be safe if you're one of the many people getting snowed in right now (myself included). Thank you for reading this post, and I'll see you next week! The Retail Connection: Every day you get our best.