ACME Markets

I’ve shopped at the Acme in New Providence several times since opening. I’ll only go back if I absolutely have to. Prices are very high compared to other options, such as Trader Joe’s. Customer service is also severely lacking. On one occasion, I heard 4 employees arguing in the aisle near the deli section. The cashiers I’ve dealt with don’t seem happy or make me feel welcome. I asked a question about the Mixx program and they basically insulted me for not understanding how it works.

Wherever ACME could cut corners, they did. Compared to the former A&P, (which I sorta liked since, in comparison with the Clark Shoprite, it was less crowded and had fresher vegetables and fruit) here’s where the service has deteriorated: they removed the self-​serve checkout terminals, at 5PM they had only one (!) cashier on duty, their plastic bags are flimsy and have a lower capacity than the former A&P or Shoprite, they do not have artisanal breads. They do not offer a customer loyalty card (nor did A&P in reality.).
The only improvement is much better lighting over the entrance area that A&P used to feature fresh berries.

Great prices. Very clean. Love the cashier Anthony

Saw a full page ad in today’s (¹¹⁄₁) Star-​Ledger sale prices for a few items. Thought it would be a good time to check them out. (Had shopped @ A&P for many years @ this location & when they were on Westfield Ave.) Went in to look around & pick up 2 dozen Lucerne large white eggs which were advertised for $ 1.49 a dozen. Found the eggs right behind the sign advertising them on sale for $ 1.49. Picked up 2 packages & brought them up to the register where they rung up as $ 7.48! I told the clerk that they were on sale for $ 1.49 a dozen. She turned to the next clerk & asked «know anything about eggs on sale?» He said «yeah, those ain’t the ones, we don’t even have any of the right ones» I said «These are the wrong Lucerne large white eggs?» He said «Yeah, we can give you a rain check» I told him not to bother, I won’t be back! Sad that they have to trick people into shopping with bogus ads!

Would be 3.5 stars, but I’ll gladly round that up!
This supermarket has opened at A&P’s former location. Yesterday was their opening day. But they didn’t have any celebrations or gave out any samples or anything like that. It has been years since we’ve been to an ACME (used to go to the one in North Plainfield before they closed down when I was little), so we decided to come here and see what’s new.
When we pulled in, we grabbed a shopping cart and got inside. All of their shopping carts were actually the A&P ones, but maybe they’ll replace them later on. When we got inside, we were greeted by the manager and then we looked around. We looked to see what was available and the prices.
This looked like an average supermarket with pretty much the same basic merchandise you can get at ALMOST anywhere. In fact, the layout was the same as the old A&P. The produce, deli, and specialty coffee areas were located on the left side of the store. The bakery area was located in the back of the store on the left corner.
The poultry area was located in the back of the store. The frozen and dairy food areas were located on the right side of the store. The pharmacy and restroom areas were located in the front on the right side of the store. In between those areas were aisles of general groceries (snacks, drinks, breakfast, pasta, baking etc.).
MOST of the prices here were actually no different than the ones at A&P. What I mean by that is I’ve seen cheaper prices at Shop Rite. Sure those prices here may be lower than the ones at Whole Foods, but I can’t say the same for Shop Rite. However, we didn’t walk out empty-​handed.
We saw some frozen vegetables that were on sale at a good price (ACME’s own brand). We also got some cookies at a regular price that we thought was reasonable (ACME’s own brand). We even saw some premium items on clearance, probably because ACME didn’t plan on selling any of those in the future, and this was probably the result of the takeover from A&P. This included a tiny selection of Cadbury Ice Cream bars (people went crazy over these!!), a small selection of Talenti Gelato pints, and Nathan’s Spicy Brown Coney Island Mustard. Because of the super low prices on those items, and the expiration dates were good, we got 4 packages of those Cadbury bars (some people got 8+), 3 unique flavors of Talenti’s gelato (one flavor remained — lol), and one container of that mustard.
When we got to the registers, things got pretty interesting. 33% of the merchandise that was scanned rang up prices that were higher than what was marked on the shelf, including some of the clearance items. Fortunately, the supervisor matched all of the prices. They also told us that they were planning on selling the cookies at a higher price (hmm…), but at least they matched it. If that wasn’t enough, the manager told us that she marked one of the cookies as FREE due to the error on their part. Now that’s great service.
Because of the great service we received, I rounded up the rating. But due to the majority of the prices being similar to A&P’s, I take one star away. We will only come back if we find a bargain on an item that costs lower than Shop Rite, and I know we will in the future. Welcome to Clark, Acme!