Grocery Archaeology

Why don't you stop by your friendly neighborhood Pathmark and... oh wait a minute. This name tag dates back to the 1970s, when my aunt worked at the Elmora location . My father (her brother), on the other hand, decided to get a job with his friends at... Foodtown across the street, which is now long gone . (You can, however, still see the faint marks left from Joey's name.) Love the midcentury modern design on this name tag though!

And you ain't kiddin', brother. The above patch, which measures about 4" in diameter, most likely came from the grand opening of the Elizabeth, NJ ShopRite  in 1994. This sticker, however, which has long lost its stickiness, is more recent, although I don't have a date. Most likely not from after 2002, when the logo was changed.

For your holiday enjoyment, here's a 1992 discount card from Kings Food Markets, based in West Caldwell at the time (now one town west in Parsippany). Kings later ended the Signature Club, only to bring back a similar loyalty program sometime around 2016. Now, the sale prices advertised in the circular are only available with the card.

Here's a little something to tide everyone over until The Market Report returns on January 1st! A few more random grocery bags from my own collection, following up on my first post on The Market Report. A pre-2002 ShopRite bag. Go fresh, go local with these Pathmark bags. Not sure on a year, but probably close to the final bankruptcy. I feel like I've posted this White Rose bag before, but you're gonna see it again anyway... And this one will be memorabilia soon enough, with LIDL's takeover of Long Island-based Best Market: Not a supermarket bag, but an old retail bag nonetheless: From the Elizabeth location. This one goes out to my friends at A&P Preservation . The 1990s Bravo logo makes an appearance on this bag. Not sure where it's from. And we're finishing up with this bag from Kings. I believe I posted this one previously but now we get to see both sides... Over and out for now. Happy holidays! Come back to The Market Re...

Original Tenant:  Finast (First National Stores) Address:  1303 N Broad St, Hillside, NJ Opened:  ca. 1960 Closed:  Unknown Later Tenants:  Hillside IGA (??-??), Drug Fair (90s-09), Walgreens (09-18), Save-A-Lot (18- ) Although this store is located within the city limits of Hillside, a suburban town tucked in between Elizabeth and Newark, two of New Jersey's largest cities, it's in the far southeastern corner of the municipality. Therefore, it's actually closer to the Twin City Supermarket in Elizabeth than the ShopRite of Hillside, which was posted yesterday on The Market Report. The store's rather unusual facade comes from its years as a Drug Fair and is not unlike other former Drug Fair locations in Verona  (formerly A&P) and Belleville . Other views are quite difficult from Google Maps due to the trees surrounding the building. The store backs up to the Oheb Shalom Cemetery (to the right above) and borders the Evergreen Cemet...

Original Tenant:  ACME Address:  24-28 Fair Lawn Ave, Fair Lawn, NJ Opened:  1951 Closed:  1963 Later Tenants:  Foodtown (??-??), The Food Showcase (??- ) Former Acme located all the way to the right of this mall. Based on the timeline here, I'd bet that it originally looked like this location in Fair Haven, which you can view on Acme Style here . In the early 50s, Acme was beginning to phase in strip-mall locations, while maintaining the style of the earlier 1940s street-front locations. As with many 1950s malls, limited parking in the front with a larger lot in back. It was also common to see the angled spaces, which have been kept here. Now for some historic aerials... 2012 Not much has changed since 2012. The Food Showcase, a Kosher supermarket, takes up the right half of the building. 2008 2002 1995 historic aerial is really low-quality, so we're skipping right from 2002 to 1987. Nothing to see in between anyway. 1987...

Original Tenant:  Unknown Address:  120 Clinton Ave, Newark, NJ Opened:  ca. 1966 Closed:  Unknown Later Tenants:  CTown Supermarket (??- ) This is an extremely interesting supermarket in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Newark. I suspect that it was built as either a Supermarkets General-owned ShopRite or a Good Deal, both of which were quite active in Newark. However, it also bears some similarities to A&Ps of that era. The timing is somewhat confusing, though, as we'll see in the historic aerials. At first glance, it doesn't look too exciting. The store faces a small row of parking on the side street, although its address is on Clinton Ave (the major road in the foreground). Here we see the storefront along the side street. This part of Newark was hit very hard by the riots in 1967 and remains one of the least-redeveloped sections of the city. Large, and mostly unused, parking lot in the rear. It's obvious that the entrance an...