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This week we take a look at the Pathmark in College Square, Delaware. Located in the busy city of Newark, this was one of several Pathmarks in the town, similar to a Philadelphia or New York situation. This store became an Acme in late 2015, and has since had major upgrades inside.
The store opened in the late 80's or early 90's with this decor. Since then, it has deteriorated significantly, leaving moisture in the ceiling tiles, cracks in the tile, and peeling of paint. Could this be the winner of The Company Neglect Award?
First look inside of a Pathmark tower model vestibule for me. I've never been in a Pathmark, actually.
Look at the produce department, with the bland lighting and tile. Overpriced prepared watermelon available in the front... and $6.99 is the sale price... the sign says "$6.00 Off".
Looking to the side you can see some service departments, and where the Giant-PA like tile ends. A&P probably invested over $500,000 in just aisle markers for all of the Pathmark stores... I haven't seen one without these.
Rather odd and unfitting stationery display in an alcove near the first aisle. It gives me a weird vibe... like Acme's Premium Fresh & Healthy decor package with the subtitled text.
You can really see how old the store looks in this shot, but at the same time it looks brand new, in a way. The flooring in this section of the store is pristine.
Pharmacy in its standard alcove in the front. Notice the Red, White, and Blue lines inside the pharmacy. This matched some of Pathmark's exterior signs at the time for older locations.
Paper Products in... Aisle 1? Classic! A&P spent years powerwashing Pathmark to get rid of its character... but at the end, everything was back to normal.
The Pathmark brands were later retired... it should now really say America's Choice Brands. Yet another fault in A&P's plan to merge with Pathmark.
Seafood & Meat along the front end near produce. A very faded Pathmark logo serenades the department signage with checkerboards.
"Fresh Meats" along the adjacent end of the store.
Aisles in this decor package featured above-aisle lighting, similar to A&P's wood-slat shelving.
Laminate wood flooring was added here at some point. It's definitely not original to the store... the earliest we'd see texture in Pathmark's decor package would be sometime in the "Go Fresh & Local" era before the A&P merger.
Typical Pathmark. Self-checkouts on the right, regular on the left. But what's that? There's no scars on the tile from the old, long self checkouts? A rare find...
Pathmark barely used U-Scan Express lanes in their early 90's stores. This could actually be one of the test stores for it. This type of self-checkout would be a standard issue for later stores... being one of the most recognizable self-checkouts in supermarkets.
Pathmark of College Square100 College SquareNewark, DE Pathmark > ACME |
Actually, the laminate wood-look flooring is original to the store, and came with this decor package only in the bakery. This original photo comes from a construction firm that handled Pathmarks, among other supermarkets, and shows an original bakery department: http://www.jayeff.com/uploads/pathmarkinside.jpg
ReplyDeleteYou can see the rest of the photos here: http://www.jayeff.com/project-showcase
Wow! Thanks for the information, Supermarket Fan. In the pictures it looked newer and less worn than the other tile, so I assumed it was added at some point.
DeleteAnd hey, check out those aisle markers!
Out of the Pathmark stores I was ever in, I only remember them having those types of self checkout machines, unlike the A&P stores that (at least some of them) had the kind with the long belt.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't be surprising, as other stores locally here that have self checkout also have ones more like this (the scan & bag type), while it seems that Stop & Shop's I've seen tend towards the belt type.
Previously, if I remember correctly (I found a picture somewhere on the web), Pathmark did use the long-belts. I think Alexweb8 (Youtube) has a tour of the Pathmark in Port Jeff' Station with the long-belts.
DeleteI personally like the belt type more... it gives you a better overall experience, and you can wait to bag your items. With the belt less, you have to put it in a bag... plus its always weighed, so you can't wait! Which type do you like more, Will?
Any Pathmark I was ever in had these, not the belt style. I used to go out of my way to A&P just for this reason.
DeleteFound the video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8reAEVzFQw Pathmark did use these in some of their stores, but most had the non-belt.
DeleteThe belt styled ones are disappearing from all stores all of a sudden... my S&S replaced them with the U-SCANS a few months ago. Sad to see them go!
Clarification on Pathmark and self checkout:
ReplyDeleteIn the late 90s/early 2000s, Pathmark installed banks of four Optimal Robotics U-Scan Express (affectionately called "tanks") in many stores, old and new. At the time, a few stores instead received a handful of Productivity Solutions Inc. belted lanes, in a normal arrangement.
In the mid 2000s, the company introduced the integrated customer service desk, nested among the registers. Initially, this configuration included the installation of two Fujitsu U-Scan belted lanes around the desk, but some time thereafter, Pathmark switched to IBM for its SCOs, and stores that took longer to get the new desk would end up with two IBM belted lanes.
A&P, on the other hand, after experimenting with both PSI/IBM and Optimal/Fujitsu belt and bag models, ultimately settled with Fujitsu. Pathmark in Weehawken was one of the last installations I can think of: a few U-Scan Genesis to replace the tanks.