Original Tenant: Grand Union (?)
Address: 1390 NJ-36, Hazlet, NJ
Address: 1390 NJ-36, Hazlet, NJ
Opened: 1956
Closed: 1975
Later Tenants: subdivided
Photographed: December 2020
Quite the store here at Airport Plaza in Hazlet, a 115,000 square foot mall with lots of tiny stores and a DMV (or, as we call them here in NJ, an MVC or Motor Vehicle Commission). That office takes up part of a 17,000 square foot arched roof former supermarket, which was a Grand Union according to JoshAustin610. I'm very interested in this question of arched-roof Grand Unions since discussing it on the Tenafly post. This store does indeed more closely resemble the Penn Fruit prototype than any other Grand Union models, though with some notable differences. Most noticeably, the arch extends to the front wall (as seen above), but then slopes down in back rather than extending all the way to the back wall as Penn Fruit stores did. Tenafly similarly slopes down. An even stranger model in Union slopes down in both the front and back. That all makes me think that in fact, Grand Union did have a short-lived arched-roof prototype, perhaps a few different similar prototypes, that weren't used on more than a few stores -- rather than, as we speculated in the comments of the Tenafly post, taking over a handful of random Penn Fruit and Safeway locations. (Although I'm still not convinced that Union wasn't built as a Safeway.)
Speaking of short-lived, part of the Grand Union space was briefly operated as the Hazlet Farm Market, probably opening in early 2017 and closing by 2020 (maybe earlier). Let's take a peek inside that store...
All the store's fixtures were still intact at the time of my December 2020 visit, making me think the store probably closed not long before that. Hard to tell, though.
These cases are likely secondhand from some grocery store, although it's anyone's guess which one. Now we will be seeing a few more stores before we leave Hazlet, but first we're going to take a quick detour to the south to make a few stops in Aberdeen, starting tomorrow on The Independent Edition!
Interesting find but I have more information to share. This site where the Grand Union closed in 1976 was because the new owner/management of the plaza wanted a total overhaul renovation and evidently brought in a roller rink operator who leased the spot where Grand Union was. It became Skate Arena in January 1977. I have a photograph to show proof and an article. It is posted on Rink-History website (rink-history.weebly.com) and you check new jersey list under the US list. Then roll down to find Airport Plaza Roller Skating Rink. Another proof I got was the owner of the plaza was the same owner as IEI company which is still there in the same plaza. I do not know when they closed the roller rink but then they had several businesses come and go through out the years. Hope that helps! Great website! Going to add yours on my website link page for anything related to commercial archeology. Yes, there are a few rinks that became grocery stores or other way around. Check my website! Thank you!
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