Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant: A&P Address:  Barclay Farms Shopping Center, 1409 Marlton Pk E, Cherry Hill, NJ Opened:  1960 Closed:  1979 Later Tenants:  Plus Discount Foods / Lew's Clover Butcher Shop (1979-1982) > Kingsway Hardware > Drug Emporium > Asian Food Markets (2005-2018) Photographed:  January 2021 The Barclay Farms Shopping Center opened with an A&P in 1960 in the Barclay section of Cherry Hill Township. The A&P was open until June 1979, when it closed and was subdivided with an A&P-owned Plus Discount Foods taking most of the space and Lew's Clover Butcher Shop taking the rest of the 19,000 square foot space. It was all later converted to a hardware store, then Drug Emporium, and then back to a supermarket when Asian Food Markets  took over the space in 2005. They lost their lease in 2018, and it seems they weren't interested in leaving but were forced out. Planet Fitness has opened up in the space as of 2021, which I caught right...

Original Tenant: SuperFresh (previously Grant City/Clover) Address:  650 W Cuthbert Blvd, Westmont, Haddon Township, NJ Opened:  1997 Closed:  2011 Later Tenants:  Thriftway (2013-2016) > Target Photographed:  January 2021 We're in the Westmont section of Haddon Township today, visiting two stores. They're less than half a mile apart, with this former SuperFresh/Thriftway just down Cuthbert Boulevard from the ACME . While this SuperFresh , which replaced an older store converted from A&P in the same strip mall, was far more modern than the ACME, the ACME has managed to not only outlive the SuperFresh (which closed in 2011) but the subsequent Crystal Lake Thriftway (which occupied the space from 2013 to 2016). They moved from an older location in town. Check out the progression of the space here , and check out Acme Style's interior photos of the Thriftway soon after opening here . Target has done some interesting but relatively limited modifications to...

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 537 W Nicholson Rd, Audubon, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  senior center Photographed:  January 2021 Quick look here at the instantly-recognizable former centennial A&P here in Audubon. The 21,000 square foot store was built in the 1960s and may have closed by the mid-1980s when the Philadelphia-area A&Ps became SuperFresh. If it didn't, it may have been combined with the Westmont A&P and moved just to the northeast to where SuperFresh was in Westmont (later Thriftway and now Target). It's now a senior program's offices and facility. It's almost directly across the street from the ACME (formerly Penn Fruit) here in Audubon, too. Check that store out here , and tomorrow, we move on to Westmont for a look at that former SuperFresh here on Grocery Archaeology along with another ACME over on The Market Report !

Original Tenant: Food Fair Address: 101 W Crescent Blvd, Collingswood, NJ Opened:  1949 Closed:  early 1960s, by 1968 Later Tenants:  Teamsters offices Photographed:  January 2021 We arrive at the Collingswood Food Fair, built in 1949 with a beautiful arched roof and tower. The store is 18,000 square feet but was apparently closed by the early 1960s . It later became a toy store and the current Teamsters offices by 1968. I love that the tower is still there, and that the arched roof is clearly visible from all directions! I assume this wall that we see would've been the front wall of the store, although I suppose it's also possible the front wall faced route 130, to the right in the above photo. I'm not too familiar with arched-roof stores of this design that had the aisles from side to side of the arch, instead it was more common for the front and back of the arch to be at the front and back of the aisles. Tomorrow, we'll be jumping a few towns to the south t...

  We're at the end here, folks! After over a year making our way up and down the whole state, we have come to our last group. And now we're down to the last week and a half or so of posts for the Garden State. We begin to the southeast of the city of Camden (unfortunately, no posts within the city limits of Camden) and continue more or less east along route 70 to Marlton. And then we finish up with one stop down towards the Delaware Memorial Bridge before finishing up New Jersey! Highlights include our final NJ Supremo, a heck of a lot of ACMEs, a couple of chains we've never seen before, and four former supermarkets around this area. Check out our first store tomorrow on  The Market Report !