If you don’t believe the national headlines about the uncertain business climate, then all you have to do is visit the old Acme shopping center on Princeton-Hightstown Road in West Windsor. The shopkeepers there are uncertain what enterprise will replace the Acme, which closed down earlier this month after serving as the center’s anchor for TK years, and they are even unsure who exactly owns the center, where most of the leases are expiring early in June.
One thing they do know is the obvious: Traffic through the center has noticeably decreased since the supermarket closed.
The ownership question may be resolved first. The Dreher Group, a Princeton-based commercial developer that also owns the Rite-Aid Pharmacy site across the road from the Acme (see story, page TK), has reportedly been under contract to buy the entire shopping center — formally known as Windsor Plaza — from the Courtney family, the original owners of the center. But family member Doug McDowell, speaking from his San Francisco home, has said he cannot comment on ongoing negotiations.
Richard Dreher, of the Dreher Group, meanwhile, declined to return calls and E-mails seeking information. But resident Pete Weale, attempting to notify the center of some potentially hazardous tree branches in the parking lot, was told by a representative of the Dreher Group that the Nassau Street-based developer was taking ownership of the center on Saturday, May 30.
At that point Dreher may be able to address what is now only a rumor — that the company is looking to bring a high-end Kings market to the center.
Since the Acme has been closed, most store owners say that it is still too early to measure the impact of the Acme’s closing, but they anticipate it will have adverse effects on their profits.
Mauro Pugliese, a manager at AlJon’s pizza parlor in the shopping center, says he has seen business slow down around dinner time already — and on Sundays, when other businesses in the shopping center, like the dry cleaners and hair salon, are closed. “On Sunday, this place is empty; nobody’s here,” he said. When the Acme was open, it at least drew some traffic to the shopping center, he said.
Pugliese says he has heard that rents will be increasing, which he says is one of the factors behind the Acme’s closing. “I don’t know how much it will increase, but that’s why they left,” he said, adding that he heard the Mail Room and AT&T store, both of which have closed within the past couple of months, also left because of the anticipated increase in rent. Despite this very possible scenario, Pugliese says AlJon’s plans to remain in the shopping center. “There is no other choice,” he says.
Pugliese says AlJon’s plans to use a lack of a grocery store in negotiations. “Then we have to negotiate the lease because there is no grocery store to bring people in,” which has been a big draw for business owners to open up shop in the center.
Jack Janick, owner of Craft Cleaners at the opposite end of the Acme site, says no one has been told anything about new leases yet. “There will be a few of us who won’t be asked back, but we don’t know who yet,” he said.
He said the new landlord, whose name he did not want to divulge, met with him and other business owners back in December or January, at which time a possible rent increase was mentioned, “which is to be expected,” Janick said. “It’s of concern, but am I losing sleep over it? No.”
Of the possible decline in business, Janick says his business is the oldest in the entire township, and he is not worried. His father opened the business in another location in 1956, and the business moved to its current location in the shopping center about 30 years ago, he says. Janick took over the business in West Windsor during the 1980s.
He says he, too, has heard that King’s supermarket was going to be a possibility, to which he is excited. “They do provide a better presentation,” he said of the store.
At the Bagel Hole, situated right next door to the former Acme, owner Carlos Bae says he still has a steady stream of regular and loyal customers. The only negative effect on his business has been the bad economy, which he attributes to his drop in business between 15 and 25 percent this year. He said that when the lease is up, he plans on staying, regardless of what occurs at the Acme site.
Further down the strip mall at Sunny Windsor Hair Design, owner Sunny Chandani says no paperwork for a new lease has been sent to her, and she, too, does not know the details of any ownership transactions or whether rent will increase.
Like Bae, she says she also has built up her own list of clientele, who still come to her shop to utilize its services, and she plans on staying. She says, though, that it would probably be helpful to have a new grocery store replace it. “It helps to have neighbors,” Chandani says. “We are hoping the change is for the better.”
