Identity
American Stores' new logo, popularly known as the "teardrop" or "fish eye", was rolled out in 1961, effectively replacing the inconsistent "Acme Markets" or "Acme Super Markets" script logos of the 1950s; however, its implementation was not used throughout the chain. American Stores' distribution center, on US 30 in West Philadelphia, retained the gold script "Acme Super Markets" signage until its closure in 1993. The complex remained abandoned, complete with sign; the last Acme store in West Philadelphia had been sold in 1980.
The new Acme logo coincided with a building style known as "A-Frame." These stores were meant to compete with A&P, Food Fair, and Penn Fruit, all of which had trademarked architecture of their own. (Larger chains Safeway, Kroger, and Grand Union competed with Acme as well, but only in a few locations.) Most if not all Acmes built in the 1960s were a variant of this design. These could be adapted to main streets and shopping centers alike, and averaged 30,000 square feet (2,787 m2). Trademark features included a full peaked roof and signage that resembled the then-popular lava lamp, along with a standardized emergency exit location. The latter two elements were retained in Acme's 1970s prototype which succeeded many A Frame units. In turn, the A Frame's footprint was very similar to Acme's first standardized building model which had been rolled out in 1955.
Read more about this topic: Acme Markets
Famous quotes containing the word identity:
“No other group in America has so had their identity socialized out of existence as have black women.... When black people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men; and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)
“The adolescent does not develop her identity and individuality by moving outside her family. She is not triggered by some magic unconscious dynamic whereby she rejects her family in favour of her peers or of a larger society.... She continues to develop in relation to her parents. Her mother continues to have more influence over her than either her father or her friends.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)
“An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)