Still Thinking About the Bryn Mawr Acme Closing

Ryan Noyes of SuperValu, parent company for Acme just called.  My husband answered the phone and talked to him for awhile.  Eavesdropping, I imagined he was calling to invite me to a closing ceremony of some sort.  I’d felt really bad walking by the Acme this morning.  Today (Thursday, May 12) is the last full day of business.  I could hear the machines destroying the former Jaguar building from the rear and I wondered if I should go in and say goodbye to my favorite employees who had been so nice to me and other customers over the years.   I have asked many of them if they know where they’ll be assigned but many don’t know yet.  I told them it was important to acknowledge that as much as I was going to be inconvenienced, I understood that their lives were being impacted greatly as well.

I thought of giving cards to them individually even though I don’t know their names.  Some have been there for decades.  Many of my favorites have retired and a few have died.  

Some of my friends complained a lot about not being treated as they would have wished by the employees at the store but I have stood there with tears in my eyes watching checkout clerks help elderly customers write their checks and count their money.  So caring!  I’ve also seen their patience helping a blind customer with his shopping, not complaining a bit when he dropped a glass bottle of liquid they then had to mop up.  We see and experience what we want to sometimes.

It turned out that Mr. Noyes was inviting me to a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Acme, not a closing ceremony for the old Acme.  I’m hung up on the past, he’s looking forward as the company must.  The ceremony will be held next Tuesday, May 17 at 3 p.m.  I have a conflict and will have to decide whether to try to rearrange my schedule.  He asked me to spread the word to anyone in the community who might attend.  There’s no alternative but for all of us to make do and bide our time during the renovations. 

I’ve lived in Bryn Mawr for 50 years and the Acme was here when I got here. This is the end of an era.