Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant:  Pathmark Address:  269 Ferry St, Ironbound, Newark, NJ Opened:  1970s Closed:  late 1990s Later Tenants:  SaveSmart Photographed:  January 2019 Our first store in the Ironbound, the historically Portuguese neighborhood of Newark, is this former Pathmark which is now a Save Smart discount department store. We've previously seen Seabra Foods stores in this neighborhood at 219 Chestnut and 123 Ferry , along with a Seabra's Market at 260 Lafayette St . The 34,000 square foot store was built as a Pathmark in the 1970s, closing in the mid- to late-1990s. At that time, it was replaced by a 60,000 square foot store just next door in the Ferry Plaza. Looking across the storefront to Ferry Plaza, where you can see the gray awning in the distance. The relocated Ferry store closed in 2015 with ACME taking it over in November of that year, then closing in 2017. See our coverage of the ACME here. Every one of Save Smart's carts is a former

Original Tenant:  A&P Address:  130 Spruce St, Central Ward, Newark, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  1980s Later Tenants:  Associated Supermarkets > Key Food Supermarkets Photographed:  January 2019 We are taking a look at a beautifully preserved (except for the roof, of course) former Centennial A&P just a couple of blocks northeast of yesterday's Extra Supermarket . The store has been abandoned for at least 15 years. Unfortunately, there's no way to really see inside. As I mentioned in the Extra post, the West Side has long been one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of Newark, though it is being redeveloped. The storefront does not look to be altered since the A&P days, with the exception of the logo and the cupola at the top. This store's model would place it as being constructed just before the 1967 riots, but it doesn't seem to have closed immediately in the aftermath. Consistent with some of my own research regarding other stor

Original Tenant: Grand Union Address: 414 Main Street, Belleville, NJ Opened:  1950s Closed:  2001 Later Tenants:  Foodtown > A&P > Food Basics (closed 2015) > Fine Fare (2016-2017) > Bell Farm (2017-2019) Photographed:  June 2020 We've crossed the border briefly just about a mile north of the Newark city line to the suburb of Belleville. This 32,000 square foot store is one we've visited before , but I returned after it closed for good in the summer of 2020. It's currently being prepared, according to property owner RIPCO, for a new LIDL. For the record, although I know I've mentioned this before, I strongly dislike LIDL. The property owners did an exterior renovation on the whole strip, which still had its Grand Union facade (remember that was five stores ago when Bell Farm opened), and it looks nice if a bit bland. Notice that the sign we see here is the same sign that was previously on the old facade, but now reading "supermarket" instead

Original Tenant: Xtra Supermarket Address: 930 Broadway, Forest Hill, Newark, NJ Opened:  unknown Closed:  2018 Later Tenants: Xtra Discount Store Photographed:  June 2020 Our first official post on The Market Report was a Look Inside at the closed Super Xtra Supermarket  at the northern border of Newark. When it closed, it was presumably taken over by new owners who opened the Xtra Discount Store in the incredibly long and thin, 35,000 square foot space. Unfortunately, it seems that the discount store had closed up too by spring 2020. The parking lot was totally fenced off, making it impossible to get any closer to the store than we see above. It was also raining and this is not a particularly wonderful part of the neighborhood, so I didn't linger too long. Interestingly enough, the new Xtra Discount Store used a logo almost identical to the original Xtra Supermarket's . They later switched to a much sleeker logo . I'm still disappointed I never made it to Xtra when it

Original Tenant: Food Fair Address: 12 Arlington Ave, Bloomfield, NJ Opened: 1950s Closed: 1970s Later Tenants: Mayfair Foodtown > Edwards > 99 Cent & Discount Depot Photographed: June 2020 We're returning to this store just around the corner from yesterday's ALDI . We first saw this store back in April 2019 (holy cow, that was two years ago already) and I linked to Styertowne, who has fantastic coverage of this location here . I wanted to get back to visit this store myself, if only for my own collection! Another shot of the storefront. I love this facade but unfortunately the owners have let it fall into disrepair. Not only is the paint peeling off the arches, the arches themselves (which are actually wood, not steel, in this location; perhaps it was an early variation) are beginning to disintegrate. As Styertowne mentions, the interior has been recently remodeled and functions as a supercenter for the area, with everything from furniture to groceries and home

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address:  31 Belleville Ave, Bloomfield, NJ Opened:  1951 Closed:  1970s Later Tenants:  subdivided Photographed:  February 2021 One of our three stores today is a quick look at this former ACME in Bloomfield. The 8100 square foot location originally faced Belleville Ave (which is now on the left side of the strip). It closed by the 1970s and was integrated into the Stop & Shop mall that was built around it. Today, that Stop & Shop is a SuperFresh and we can see just the tip of that building to the far right in the above image. Make sure to also check out the SuperFresh and the Foodtown downtown , and head over to The Market Report tomorrow for our next Bloomfield store!

Original Tenant:  A&P Address:  17 Hoffman Blvd, Ampere, East Orange, NJ Opened:  1950s Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  Megna Photographed:  July 2020 I was thrilled to stumble upon this store while driving from Orange to Belleville (and yes, I do mean stumble; it took me several trips around the block before I could get a parking space and was going the right way down the one way street). A 6,000 square foot A&P, this store even came with a parking lot which has since been walled in and converted to a storage yard by the stone importer. Ampere has always been the most affluent neighborhood in East Orange, meaning that when this store was built it was one of the most desirable places to live in Essex County. Though the neighborhood doesn't today have a supermarket, it's likely served by the large SuperFresh Food World (formerly Pathmark) just to the north in Belleville, which we'll be touring in a few days. First, though, we're going to pass