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7 Naughright Rd, Hackettstown, NJ

Original Tenant: A&P
Address: 7 Naughright Rd, Hackettstown, NJ
Opened: 1999
Closed: 2015
Later Tenants: subdivided, Retro Fitness
Photographed: May 2020 & June 2021
This 56,000 square foot A&P was actually the third in Hackettstown, where the chain had at least one operating store since 1958. The original store and 1980s-era replacement were both over at 57 US-46, a few miles west of here on 46, and this store opened as a replacement for the 1980s store in 1999.
As we see here, the far left portion of the store (about 18,000 square feet) has been taken over by Retro Fitness. However, the majority of the A&P remains -- with its signage! Except for the "FOOD MARKET" lettering, for whatever reason. That was removed, who knows why.
Crazy how good this sign, which is original to the store in 1999, still looked five years after the store's closure. The paint wasn't so lucky.
Let's take a look at what we can see inside the store.
Here's the foyer inside the entrance. We got lucky and the inside sliding doors were left open, so we can see a little bit inside...
And that shows us that the A&P decor is still on the walls! Or at least it was back in May of 2020.
An attempt at photographing "The Seafood Cove" on the back wall.
Store closed indeed.
Inside the exit foyer, we find the A&P Community Information Center fully intact. There's a lot more to see inside the front windows along the front-end, though...
So much is still intact! Check out the decor on the back wall, the clock on th right, the flooring, not to mention the registers and all the other stuff we see in the foreground here! They may have been moved around, and obviously there used to be more registers here, but still very cool to see some still intact.
Here we see the dividing wall between the old A&P and what is now Retro Fitness. I assume the landlord has left this side mostly intact to attract another grocery tenant, but for now, it remains empty.
A look across the front walkway of the store, and another look at the signage...
Believe it or not, the pylon sign remains fully intact out on route 46. You also can't really see the mall from the highway very well, so I wonder if anyone's seen this sign on the highway and stopped in expecting a supermarket.
Now I returned to the store in June of 2021 to see how its condition had progressed. Not much change, although we're missing the S...
The additional year did not, uh, make the store look better. But it's still incredibly cool to see it so entirely intact all these years after closing.
Notice that the previous "Store Closed" signage had been replaced with this hand-written CLOSED sign.
I was hoping to get some clearer interior pictures. As we'll see, that wasn't so much happening.
Funny how this picture is almost identical to the one I took a year before! The only difference is the reflection of the sky being cloudy instead of sunny here.
Unfortunately, we can't see anything much inside this time because the lights had been turned off. There's no good reason for the lights to be on still five years after closing, I guess, is there?
Looks like there might be a little more deterioration going on at this end, but that ceiling actually looks new. Doesn't it seem like there's less damage to it than we saw in the first round of pictures? Anyway, the space remains vacant but if another grocery tenant does move in, you can be sure I'll be back to visit! But for now, tomorrow, we move just to the south of Hackettstown for a look at two chain supermarkets on The Market Report.

Comments

  1. Great shots of the old signage! It was definitely in good condition in the first round of pictures. Looking worse in the second, but like you said, still cool that it's still surviving.

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  2. I thought that the Kohls on Rt 57 was the former Hackettstown A&P?

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    1. That was also an A&P, but I believe that was technically in Mansfield Township.

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  3. Always thought these A&P stores had too many words to go along with the logo sign! I'm not too familiar with A&P's naming history but I wonder why they thought they needed to add "FOOD MARKET". (I'm sure someone could provide some details). I get that they were trying to differentiate these models from others but still just seems unnecessary. "Super" does help lift the brand to a higher-level, I would say. Even "A&P Fresh Market" got shortened to "A&P Fresh".

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    1. Agreed -- at a certain point, it dilutes the value of the A&P brand because you keep associating other ultimately meaningless phrases with it.

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  4. Zachary, the photos of the interior are absolutely incredible! You and Acme Style both do an outstanding job of taking photos of the inside of closed supermarkets, and I have no idea how you are able to get such good shots. It's literally as if somebody opened the doors to the closed store and let you go inside to take pictures.

    On a different matter, I agree with Acme Style that the "Super A&P FOOD MARKET" signage was overkill.

    With a ShopRite in Mansfield that's very close to the Hackettstown border, and with a Weis that is in the town of Hackettstown, I'm presuming that this A&P (or the portion of the building that is not occupied by Retro Fitness) will be vacant for quite a while longer, as I don't think Hackettstown is large enough to support three supermarkets. I'm actually surprised this A&P lasted all the way until 2015, unless the store was located some distance from the Weis and ShopRite.

    While the A&P oval sign still looks great, the exterior paint looks horrendous. Since this is not a topic I know much about, I'd be curious to know what kind of upkeep is required (and how frequently such upkeep is required) to prevent a store's exterior paint from looking so awful.

    --A&P Fan

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    1. Thank you A&P fan! For some of the best photos I took, I made sure the camera lens was pressed directly onto the glass of the window. This would prevent nearly all the dirt and grime from showing up in the photo. If I had to angle the camera, I'd hold something up like a reusable bag to prevent any glare. I also cheated a bit and would do some adjusting in photoshop to make any evidence of glass disappear!

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    2. A&P Fan - exactly what Acme Style said. Press the lens directly onto the window and block any reflections!

      The Naughright A&P is roughly 3.5 miles from the ShopRite and Weis as the crow flies, or 5 miles/12 minutes on roads. So it's not next door, but certainly close enough that they were in competition. Problem is that not only are they there, but the Flanders ShopRite is 5.3 miles/11 minutes east, and the Netcong ShopRite is 5.5 miles/13 minutes northeast. The density of ShopRites way outweighs the population density, so there's not much room for anyone else (since Weis is already in Hackettstown and Flanders, and there are several Walmarts around). I could see a discount store like ALDI/LIDL/Save-A-Lot or a produce-focused farmers market type store in a smaller format succeeding here though.

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    3. Acme Style and Zachary, thank you both for sharing your insights on how to take good photos of closed supermarkets.

      On a different subject, hopefully a discount store or a farmers market will occupy the portion of the Naughright A&P that remains vacant. I can also see either type of store succeeding in that space.

      --A&P Fan

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  5. You'll have to keep an eye out while looking for other stores to photograph - maybe there is an independent Food Market store out there somewhere that is using the missing letters! ;)

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    1. Believe me, it's been on my mind since I saw this! Haven't come across any yet, though.

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