Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant:  Dave's Market Address:  184 Essex St, Millburn, NJ Opened:  1940s Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  ShopRite > CTown Supermarkets Photographed:  March 2019 ShopRite is the undisputed leader of the New Jersey grocery market, and operator Village Super Market has a location just a quarter mile outside of town that's been in that location since 1976. There was at least one other former ShopRite in Millburn, a little over a quarter mile to the east of this location at 249 Millburn Ave . If that store opened in the early 60s, it was likely a replacement for this one. This location is actually a landmark store for the Wakefern group. Prior to the store's ShopRite affiliation, it was Dave's Market owned by Dave Fern. I might have explained this previously, but Wakefern (the cooperative that runs ShopRite stores, formed in 1946) is named after a portmanteau of the original members' names: Weiss, Aidekman, Kesselman, and Fern. B...

Original Tenant:  unknown Address:  832 Flushing Ave, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  CTown Supermarkets (??-2015) Photographed:  December 2019 Although Bushwick is a very desirable neighborhood and is quickly gentrifying, not all parts of the neighborhood are developing equally. The northern section, closer to (extremely desirable) Williamsburg, tends to remain lower income and has many vacancies, abandoned industrial properties, and so on. This particular store is also located immediately across from a public housing complex. There is, however, a Bravo at the north end of the housing complex, which we'll see up next. Just a few blocks west, we find the upscale Food Bazaar on Manhattan Ave. But other than those two and the Food Bazaar several blocks south on Myrtle Ave, this neighborhood has very few large, full-service grocery stores. To go back to happier times in 2014, check out this street vi...

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...