Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant:  Grand Union Address: 22 W Main St, Denville, NJ Opened:  ca. 1960 Closed:  2001 Later Tenants:  Key Food Marketplace (2001-ca. 2005) > demolished > Walgreens Photographed:  July 2020 You win some, you lose some. This is an example of the latter. Grand Union built a roughly 20,000 square foot store here at 22 W Main St between 1957 and 1963 which lasted all the way to the end of the chain's life in 2001, then becoming very briefly a Key Food Marketplace for a few years. I assumed that Walgreens then took the spot of Key Food, opening sometime around 2008. Well that last part is true, but it turns out the Grand Union/Key Food building was actually demolished and replaced with a building roughly 5,000 square feet smaller (notice the walkway to the right of the Walgreens building; the Grand Union building immediately bordered the next row of storefronts). We can see that the diagonal parking rows here remain from Grand Union, but unfortunate...

Original Tenant: Boonton IGA (?) Address: 600 Myrtle Ave, Boonton, NJ Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  Jack's IGA > Drug Fair > Walgreens Photographed:  July 2021 Today we have three stores in Boonton which we'll be passing through from east to west! Our first is this 13,000 square foot store which JoshAustin610 posits may have been a 1960s-era ShopRite. Later, it became the Boonton IGA which seems to later have transitioned into Jack's Super IGA no later than 1991. By the middle of that decade, Jack's Super IGA also opened the Kenvil IGA in Kenvil and Boonton closed at the time of the opening of the A&P next door (which would've been around 1997). Caldwell opened around 96, North Arlington around 98, and Kenvil closed around 2000. About that same time, shortly after Kenvil closed, Jack Shakoor switched over to Foodtown. Here's what this store would've looked like almost 10 years ago (looked better, in my opinion). Anyway, I me...

Original Tenant:  A&P Address:  1483 NJ-23, Meadtown, Kinnelon, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  subdivided Photographed:  July 2020 Our second store here in Butler is a 60s-era Centennial that's been extensively renovated and subdivided. The A&P building, which appears to have been expanded, is actually a barrel-roof structure. And today, we're also visiting a small store in downtown Butler as well as a Stop & Shop right over into Kinnelon. Now by the way, I am aware that these are not in the immediate Parsippany and Great Piece Meadows area as I promised at the top of the post, but we are just doing one brief detour day today before heading down into Boonton tomorrow for two stores on  The Market Report  and one on  Grocery Archaeology !

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 261 Comly Rd, Lincoln Park, NJ Opened:  1970s Closed:  1990s Later Tenants:  Cost Cutters/Drug Fair combination > Walgreens > ACE Hardware Photographed:  June 2021 Our second stop in Lincoln Park is this 29,000 square foot former A&P which closed by the 90s after the current Lincoln Park ShopRite opened in 1987 and then became a Cost Cutters-Drug Fair combination store. It became a Walgreens briefly before Walgreens moved to a former Rite Aid property around the corner at 153 Main St, demolishing the Rite Aid (which itself was a former ShopRite). This then became Costello's ACE Hardware. Our other stops for the day are the current ShopRite in town and Wolfson's Market just outside of town, and tomorrow, we are heading north (admittedly outside of the Parsippany/Great Piece Meadows area just for the day) for three posts in Butler and Kinnelon -- check out one here on The Market Report, one on  The Independent Editi...

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 3035 US-46, Parsippany, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  1991-92 Later Tenants:  Michaels > subdivided Photographed:  June 2020 Today's second store, which is just to the north of our first stop at Subzi Mandi , was also one of the very early stores that Acme Style covered back in 2009 . Since then, the 21,000 square foot building went from a Michaels arts and crafts store to a Blink Fitness and a few smaller tenants as Michaels moved up the highway into a former A&P . The exterior, as we see, was also given a light refresh with a new coat of paint at the same time. This window, done to match the store's interior , would have displayed the sale circulars for the week to customers before they entered. Here's a look across the front of the store, which looks to have been altered since the ACME days (those windows look larger than ACME's would have been, and we can see the differences in brick). As Acme Style points out, the ent...

Original Tenant: Food Fair Address: 1157 US-46, Parsippany, NJ Opened: likely 1960s Closed: 1970s Later Tenants: Pantry Pride (1970s) > Pathmark (likely 70s-2015) > Target (2018-present) Photographed: January 2020 Our third store of the day is a very interesting one! It looks like this store was built as a Food Fair in the 1960s with the mall, which also had an A&P at the other end. It later became a Pantry Pride when Food Fair converted most of their stores to that banner, later selling to Pathmark probably around the 80s. The Food Fair also probably was paired with a JM Fields department store. It's hard to tell exactly where the supermarket originally ended, but the space currently occupied by Target is roughly 75,000 square feet and the Pathmark space was probably around that size or slightly smaller. Lots more information and a great picture of Pathmark in business here . Don't forget to check out today's final post at the Patel Brothers across the str...

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 1099 US-46, Parsippany, NJ Opened: 1960s Closed: 1980s Later Tenants: CompUSA > Michaels Photographed: May 2020 We are moving across the highway from today's other post, the Patel Brothers , to two former supermarkets here in the Troy Hills Shopping Center! The first is this former centennial A&P, now extensively renovated but still recognizable way back there behind this new facade. The store is 17,000 square feet, placing it right in line with contemporary centennial stores. There was also a Food Fair, later Pantry Pride, at the other end of the mall which you can check out here . Tomorrow we continue to move west along 46 to our next store over on The Independent Edition !

Original Tenant: Stop & Shop Address: 790 US-46, Parsippany, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  1982 Later Tenants:  Kings Food Markets (1982-1983) > ShopRite (mid 1980s-2000) Photographed:  March 2020 Much like nearby West Caldwell , just four miles east, this mall was constructed as a Stop & Shop/Bradlees combination. The Stop & Shop was roughly 33,000 square feet with the Bradlees, now Home Depot, just shy of 100,000 square feet. When Stop & Shop left New Jersey in the early 80s, like West Caldwell, the supermarket was sold to Kings but unlike the others, the Kings lasted barely a year. Soon after closing, Sunrise ShopRite (owners of the West Caldwell store ) took over the space, then constructed a huge 64,000 square foot location just next door in 2000 (now expanded to 82,000 square feet). Kings, by the way, is based here in Parsippany where we'll be spending our next week or so. Our other post today is a small independent store in an outparcel of ...

Original Tenant:  Foodtown Address:  451 Ridgedale Ave, East Hanover, NJ Opened:  unknown Closed:  1999 Later Tenants: CVS Photographed: March 2019 Our third East Hanover store today is this former Foodtown in downtown East Hanover separated from the ACME and Pathmark on route 10. The 12,600 square foot store was built in the 1950s or so by a Foodtown owner. JoshAustin610 calls it Ross's Foodtown, but this store was also by the end of its life a Michas Brothers/Manyfoods location whose Whippany ( earlier and later ) and Cedar Knolls ( earlier and later ) locations we recently saw which all were closed or sold by 2003. Oddly, this CVS lacks a sign on the side of the store with the only sign facing out to the street. I believe there was an older store here in town, but I don't know for sure. There doesn't seem to have been a replacement for this store, and it lasted all the way until almost the end of Manyfoods. Tomorrow, we move up to 46 in the eastern part of ...

Original Tenant: Two Guys Address: 240 NJ-10, East Hanover, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  early 1980s Later Tenants:  Pathmark (early 1980s-ca. 2000) Photographed:  March 2019 This 121,000 square foot space at the back of the Hanover Commons was built as a Two Guys department store, which closed by the early 80s. At that time, the left 51,000 square feet of the space became a Pathmark while the right half became a Bradlees. This is the side that became Bradlees, and the division between Dick's and Marshalls is approximately the same as where Pathmark/Bradlees would've divided. This Pathmark was replaced around 2000 by the Whippany store to the west and the Livingston store to the east, which opened in 2000 and 2001 respectively. The facade of the strip mall has been remodeled a few times since these new anchors opened; Kam Man Market is also across the street (New Murray Rd). There's not much to see along the front here given the extensive facade renovations, but d...

Original Tenant:  ACME Markets Address:  235 NJ-10, East Hanover, NJ Opened:  1960 Closed:  possibly 1970s Later Tenants: Gogel Tire Photographed: November 2019 Our first of three East Hanover stores is the former ACME, now Gogel Tire, at route 10 and New Murray Rd. This store opened in 1960 as a 50s-style flat roof, and has been expanded (probably by Gogel) to 24,000 square feet but retains its original appearance. The bones of the building seem to be very original but this sign is not. This facade treatment may or may not be original to ACME, but it looks similar to what it would've originally looked like regardless. There's a lot to see right around here too, so make sure to check out the former Pathmark just across route 10 as well as the former Foodtown just over in downtown East Hanover. Plus, check out our tour of the Kam Man Market directly across route 10 from 2019 here . Tomorrow, we move up to 46 in the eastern part of Parsippany with one store her...

Remember when we  visited the Great Swamp ? We are once again traveling by natural landmarks now, as we move to the north to the circuit formed by East Hanover to the south, then Parsippany east to west along route 46 before jumping out to Towaco/Lincoln Park to the north of the Great Piece Meadows and circling north through Butler and Kinnelon then back south to the west through Boonton and Denville as we circle west to finish out the group. This is a big and kind of randomly organized group, spanning 15 miles south to north and 11 east to west, so perhaps it's most accurately classified as eastern central Morris County. Lots of exciting stuff coming up on all three blogs, so let's jump in tomorrow with three former supermarkets in East Hanover tomorrow here on  Grocery Archaeology !