This Week: Acme Sold, Octomom Ordered to Return Ring

Find out what's been going on around the region this week that you might have missed.

• Photos (1)

Acme Grocery Chain Sold

The brand has a strong presence in Lower Merion, but its future is uncertain.

Acme Markets, which operates three grocery stores in Lower Merion, is among several chains the Supervalu company has sold to investment consortium Cerberus Capital Management, Supervalu announced Thursday. There was no announcement from Supervalu or Cerberus about how the sale will affect the future of the grocery stores. Acme has a store in Bala Cynwyd (where a shopper won $1 million last year) and one in Penn Valley, as well as a Bryn Mawr store that reopened last year after renovations. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in July that moves by Supervalu executives seemed to indicate they were looking for buyers for Acme and their other grocery "banners". Are you concerned about the fate of Acme Markets? Tell us in the comments section …

•  14 Comments
• Photos (1)

Bryn Mawr ACME Avoids Chopping Block

Local supermarkets are spared the axe from SuperValu cuts.

Although 38 supermarkets—including three in the Delaware Valley—will close due to underperformance, the Bryn Mawr ACME will survive. Corporate owner Supervalu Inc. announced Wednesday in a news release that it will close about 60 stores, including 38 supermarkets, that are deemed "underperforming or non-strategic." The chain owns Malvern-based ACME. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Morrisville, Sharon Hill, and Glassboro, NJ will see their ACMEs close before Dec. 1, 2012. An additional ACME will close in Stevensville, MD. Wayne Sales, SuperValu's president, said: “These decisions are never easy because of the impact a store closure has on our team members, our customers, and our communities. Today’s announcement reflects our …

• Photos (1)

News Next Door

Main Line Student Wins $1 Million from Acme

Joseph Facciolo plans to pay off student loans.

The man who won Acme's $1 million summer sweepstakes grand prize celebrated in the spotlight Wednesday morning in a ceremony at the Bala Cynwyd grocery store. Joseph Facciolo, of Lower Merion's Belmont Hills neighborhood, collected game-piece tickets on shopping trips throughout the summer, and they combined uniquely to qualify him for the jackpot, at odds of 48 million to one. He interviewed first with Patch Tuesday evening. The 26-year-old Temple University dental student was presented with a ceremonial check, as well as a personalized Philadelphia Eagles jersey from team mascot Swoop. Facciolo came with his parents, his girlfriend and her mother, two of his three brothers and their girlfriends, he said. They posed for pictures, and he …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (13)
• Videos (1)

Struggling ACME Switches CEOs

The grocery chain's most recent quarterly report raised the question of whether it might be up for sale.

ACME Markets parent company SuperValu Inc. on Monday replaced president and CEO Craig Herkert with board chairman Wayne Sales, less than three weeks after the grocery chain's dismal quarterly report. ACME opened a flagship store in Bryn Mawr in June. "We will take significant cost out of the business, and move with urgency in our retail food business to lower prices and create points of sustainable differentiation for our customers," Sales said in a statement from the company. In the report July 12, the company reported falling sales, vowed to cut costs and said it planned to withhold investor dividends. Moreover, its stated plan to "explore strategic alternatives" was characterized by The Philadelphia Inquirer as "corporate parlance for …

•  9 Comments
• Photos (3)

Will ACME Be Sold?

The market's parent company is looking to "explore strategic alternatives."

ACME's future is uncertain, as its parent company SuperValu Inc. said it was looking to "explore strategic alternatives"—business lingo that often means a company is looking to sell, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. ACME in June reopened its flagship store in Bryn Mawr after just over a year of construction. Those present at an invitation-only preview of the new store expressed excitement about ACME's role in bringing people back into Bryn Mawr. SuperValu executives have said they are committed to slashing prices at ACME stores to combat falling sales, according to the Inquirer. Would you be upset if ACME were sold? Tell us in the comments.

•  7 Comments
• Photos (1)

Bryn Mawr ACME to Open Friday

There was an invite-only preview of the new flagship grocery store Wednesday afternoon.

With full, neatly lined shelves, the Bryn Mawr ACME is ready for business on Friday. The new store, reopening just over a year after it closed for construction, is 37,000 square feet—13,000 square feet larger than the old store. The property straddles both Haverford and Lower Merion townships, and the project added a left-turn lane to the eastbound lanes on Route 30/Lancaster Avenue at Pennswood Road. The new, larger store includes ACME's third gluten-free deli and a much larger prepared food section with a Tony Luke's Grill, said ACME President Keith Wyche at an invitation-only open house Wednesday evening. "It's really great to see ACME building new stores," Wyche said. "It's the first new store since 2008, and we've been in Bryn Mawr …

•  3 Comments
• Photos (26)