Business & Tech

Bryn Mawr ACME Closes for Renovations

The new store is scheduled to reopen in March 2012.

After the selection on shelves rapidly depleted in the past week, the Bryn Mawr ACME closed Thursday, May 12 for reconstruction of what officials say will be a flagship store, slated to open in March 2012.

Passersby may have noticed the old Jaguar building next to the store was torn down this week since that site will be used to expand to create a new, larger ACME. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new store is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, May 17, said Steve Sylven of SuperValu.

Though many specifics of the project were not readily available this week, Sylven said more details will be released in the next several days.

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“We’re excited to be able to do what we can to make room for what’s going to be our flagship ACME in less than a year’s time,” Sylven said. “It’ll be bigger, and they’ll offer a wider variety of meals for all our customers in the area.”

Customers and nearby business owners alike have some concerns about the new ACME. 

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Edward Joyce said Wednesday that his family has been shopping at the Bryn Mawr ACME since before he was born and that he shops there about five times a week, since he doesn’t do big shopping trips.

“It’s going to be an inconvenience,” said Joyce, who added he’s known about the 10-month temporary close for nearly a year. “I finally knew where everything was in the store. I guess it [the new store] will be a good thing though.”

Patty and David Mungo, on the other hand, said Wednesday they’d only found out about the closing about a week ago.

“This is it—there’s nothing else,” Patty Mungo said. “I was pretty upset, but I do understand they need to make a bigger ACME.”

Though there was a sign in the entrance of the ACME warning customers the store would be closing May 12, Mungo said she didn’t know for how long it would be closed until she asked an employee.

“The issues that surround it are that it’s the only option within miles, but I don’t think that’s ACME’s fault,” David Mungo said.

Kevin Meehan, of M & M Two Wheelers, Inc., at 606 W. Lancaster Ave., across the street from ACME, said he is most concerned about the lack of visibility for their store during construction and about changes being made to the roadway in anticipation of the new ACME, including the addition of a left-turn lane onto Pennswood Road that would decrease street parking used by customers. He noted Sen. Daylin Leach’s office has been particularly helpful in working with them on how parking changes will affect them.

Meehan said he also worries about the possibility of neighboring businesses leaving, which would further negatively impact business.

“The renovation is going as planned,” Sylven said. “Certainly, we regret any inconvenience that may have been caused by needing to close. We’re working fast on this, and we’re hoping to reopen in March of next year.”


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