Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant: Kelly's Market Address: 601 US-46, Kenvil, Roxbury, NJ Opened:  unknown Closed:  2020 Later Tenants:  Kenvil Liquor & Food Store Photographed:  May 2020 & June 2021 This small grocery/convenience store is just east on 46 from our other post today, the former Kenvil IGA . It looks like this used to be a bit more of a supermarket and was cut down to a convenience/liquor store over time (likely by its current owners, who took over in 1995). The store in late 2020 or 2021 was converted to the Kenvil Liquor Wine & Food Store with a logo clearly designed to rip off Krauszer's , a well-known convenience store chain. It's unclear whether the ownership changed, but there's not much evidence that it did. So these days, the store is decidedly a liquor store first and then a convenience store and really not a grocery store anymore. Tomorrow, we have our two final stores of the greater Dover group in Randolph on  The Market Report !

Original Tenant:  Jack's Super IGA Address: 659 US-46, Kenvil, Roxbury, NJ Opened:  ca. 1995 Closed:  ca. 2000 Later Tenants:  subdivided Photographed:  May 2020 The Kenvil IGA, owned by Jack Shakoor's HAJ Supermarkets, opened in the 1990s and closed by around 2000. We had a bit more detail on HAJ Supermarkets back in Boonton , and this store was short-lived enough that it never became a Foodtown when the other HAJ stores switched (North Arlington, Caldwell). I am unsure exactly how the IGA would've been set up or whether they would've taken up the entire 30,000 square foot building, and I certainly have never seen a picture of the IGA in business. I'm also unclear on whether the building was built new for IGA or was previously a different tenant. And another thing I'm unclear on... why did this store fail so quickly? HAJ's other stores seem to do rather well and when there are closures, such as Boonton, they're usually directly due to a competitor open...

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 281 NJ-10, Succasunna, Roxbury, NJ Opened:  1970s Closed:  1998 Later Tenants:  Linens N Things > vacant/subdivided Photographed:  July 2020 We arrive at the Roxbury Mall in the Succasunna section of Roxbury Township for two stores today, the first being this approximately 36,000 square foot former ACME that was built with the strip mall in the 1970s. As JoshAustin610 explains , this store replaced an older one on the same property that was closer to the highway but burned down. I didn't feel the need to go too deep into this store and its history, since it actually hasn't changed a whole lot since Acme Style visited more than 10 years ago back in 2009. The only big change is that the right half of the space, where Linens N Things' entrance would've been, has become an outdoors store . The brick on ACME's sign column (under the pyramid) has also been covered over with new stucco facade. But our other store in the Roxbury ...

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 100 US-46, Budd Lake, Mount Olive, NJ Opened:  1970s Closed:  1990s Later Tenants:  HomeGoods Photographed:  May 2020 Our second Budd Lake store is here on 46 just west of the Stanhope/Netcong interchange with 80, and just east of Verdi Fresh , our other post today. The 34,000 square foot store was built in the 1970s (and previously looked much more like a 70s A&P ) as an A&P, which eventually closed in the 90s when the Hackettstown store was replaced. Tomorrow we are moving into the next town east on 46 on the other side of 80 for a wonderful store over on The Market Report !

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 5716 Berkshire Valley Rd, Oak Ridge, Jefferson, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  ca. 2005 Later Tenants:  Lakeland Bank offices Photographed:  July 2020 Yesterday we saw the Pathmark (later Fresh Emporium/Imperium) in Woodport in the southwestern part of Jefferson Township. We will continue our circuit around Dover, but for now we're moving up to the northeastern part of the township for two stores in the Oak Ridge section. A&P first built a location at Berkshire Valley and Chamberlain Roads in the 1960s, which was expanded to 39,000 square feet in the 90s to what we see here -- with a very familiar style of facade we've certainly seen before ! The monument sign out on Berkshire Valley Road matches the building's facade... But after A&P invested enormously in the store, it closed around 2005 -- but with a 61,000 square foot replacement immediately next door. In 2015, that store became an ACME, and we are also touring that store ...

Original Tenant: Pathmark Address: 757 NJ-15, Woodport, Jefferson, NJ Opened:  by 1970 Closed:  2015 Later Tenants:  Fresh Emporium Food Market / Fresh Imperium Food Market (2016-2017) Photographed:  September 2016 & May 2020 Crash and burn, anyone? After Pathmark closed here following decades of successful business, Fresh Emporium opened up in 2016, closing the following year -- but not before Key Food, owners of The Food Emporium banner, sued. Tour Fresh Emporium here . Fresh Emporium then became Fresh Imperium... I thought I had already posted these pictures, from September 2016, but apparently I hadn't. If you zoom in, you can see that there was no real sign change, just a new banner for the word Imperium. So that was back in 2016 when the store was still in business. Fast forward to May 2020, Fresh Imperium has been closed for a few years, but a nearby business didn't get the memo... And the store is in the middle of route 15, with the northbound lanes at ...

Original Tenant:  Michas Brothers Foodtown Address: 350 N Main St, Wharton, NJ Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  subdivided - Wharton Farm Market & Rite Aid > Walgreens Photographed:  July 2020 Interesting stuff here in Wharton just north of route 80, and we saw the ShopRite just south of route 80 yesterday. This 25,000 square foot anchor to the Wharton Mall was constructed probably in the 1970s by the Michas Brothers, later Manyfoods, whose other stores we saw a while back also. Probably when Manyfoods went out of business around 2003, this store would've been closed (and also not sold, likely hurting from the new nearby ShopRite). Looks like I scared off those two cars who were in the first picture. Anyway, around that time the Foodtown was cut in half, with Rite Aid (now Walgreens) taking the right half and a farmers market taking the left half. There isn't much left from Foodtown, but the Wharton Farm Market (aka the Wharton Farm Pro...

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 343 Mount Hope Ave, Rockaway, NJ Opened:  1980 Closed:  2010 Later Tenants:  Nordstrom Rack Photographed:  July 2020 It's time for a very quick look at the 41,000 square foot former ACME at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall. This store formed the replacement for both the downtown Dover and downtown Rockaway locations when it opened in 1980 and quickly became one of the highest volume ACMEs in northern New Jersey, being remodeled several times and finally closing in 2010. Nordstrom Rack opened up shop here around 2015, but if you want to check out a lot more information on the store along with pre- and post-closure pictures, see Acme Style's 2010 posts here ! We also have a look at the ShopRite just over the border into Wharton at the other side of the Rockaway Townsquare Mall today, and tomorrow, we're taking a look at a former supermarket just north of route 80 here on Grocery Archaeology. Come back to check it out!

Original Tenant: Food Fair Address: 120 Bassett Hwy, Dover, NJ Opened:  ca. 1955 Closed:  1970s Later Tenants:  NJ Department of Labor Photographed:  July 2020 How about that for one gorgeous example of a midcentury modern supermarket? Shoppers at the Dover Shopping Center would've had their choice of two different supermarkets, one at each end of the mall -- this Food Fair, which opened at the beginning of the shopping center's construction, and the ACME , which moved from across the street. At roughly 18,000 square feet, the Food Fair was slightly larger than the ACME, but ACME outlasted the Food Fair by a few years. Much like the ACME, this store's front-end probably ran along the side wall visible above to accommodate for shoppers parking in the rear of the store. I now regret not going behind the store, but it was also a very hot day and I didn't want to seem all that suspicious, but we can see the back from a Google Maps street view . We have two posts again ...