Grocery Archaeology

We've spent plenty of time in Elizabeth, NJ, but we're back to check out some old family photos! My grandmother had literal boxes upon boxes of original pictures anywhere from 1950 or so up until recent years, and these come from the earlier side of that. First we have my great-grandmother and my aunt outside the local A&P, although I'm not positive exactly where this was. I do know that it was an A&P, though. Now a picture of my aunt outside of some store, although I'm not sure if it's the same one... I love these stacks of groceries in the window! Now we're headed back up to Massachusetts tomorrow for some more historical photos.

Original Grocery Tenant: Olive Tree Marketplace Address: 3130 NJ-10, Denville, NJ Opened:  2016 Closed:  2018 Later Tenants:  Corrado's Market (2019-spring 2023) Photographed:  June 4, 2023 Olive Tree Marketplace didn't quite last two years in this space in Denville, NJ on route 10, and while Corrado's made it a bit longer they were still out of business in about four years. The space reopened as a Corrado's in 2019, and while they improved the store greatly from Olive Tree, that wasn't enough to save the business. The closure of this store and North Arlington were very quiet, and no official announcement was made. It seems to be both abrupt and in line with a larger rethink (driven, it seems, by financial struggles) across the Corrado's business which I summarize in yesterday's North Arlington post. Many of the fixtures from this location were sold at auction, likely an attempt to make any last money they could from the failing store. No new tenant has ...

Original Grocery Tenant: Spring Farms Address: 45 River Rd, North Arlington, NJ Opened: ca. 2010 Closed: 2013 Later Tenants: Corrado's Market (2013-2022) Photographed: June 15, 2023 Today's update is a very quick look at the former Corrado's Market in North Arlington, just north of yesterday's DG Market . The store, which I suspected was beginning to falter in 2020 , closed in 2021 or 2022 as Corrado's apparently rethinks their business model. In the past few years, a strip mall they own with a supermarket in it in Wayne was foreclosed, a planned store in Brick was canceled, and locations in North Arlington and Denville were closed. Stores remain in Fairfield , Wayne, and Clifton remain in business, but the Clifton store is soon to undergo a major redevelopment that includes moving the garden center and wine/beer making supply store into the current supermarket building, along with a Planet Fitness. While plans call for the grocery store to remain in busine...

Original Grocery Tenant: ShopRite Address: 1717 River Rd, Fair Lawn, NJ Opened:  1990s Closed:  June 15, 2023 Later Tenants:  TBA Photographed:  June 16, 2023 The new ShopRite of Fair Lawn opened yesterday and on Thursday night, this little ShopRite on River Road closed in preparation for the new store. The 49,000 square foot store was built in the 90s on the site of a former Stop & Shop and was replaced with the new store in a former Pathmark. There was clearly some confusion over this move, given that in the 10 or so minutes I spent photographing the store, at least half a dozen people attempted to shop here, such as the person seen in the blue shirt above. There was some work going on inside, likely to remove any remaining merchandise or fixtures, and the workers occasionally turned people away. We don't get to see too much inside the store, but if you want to see what it looked like when it was in business, check out my previous post here . The carts were ...

Original Grocery Tenant:  ACME Markets Address: 467 Allwood Rd, Clifton, NJ O pened:  2004 Closed:  2015 Later Tenants:  Seasons Supermarket (2016-2023) Photographed:  May 22, 2023 Well folks, I attempted to get to the Seasons kosher supermarket in Clifton -- the former Styertowne ACME -- before it closed, after it abruptly announced its closure this spring. Rumors suggested it wouldn't actually close until mid-June but by late May it was empty and locked up. So unfortunately we will only get the outside pictures and a brief look in through the windows. The store opened in 2016 in a former ACME that was a bit over 10 years old at the time of its closure. The 55,000 square foot store was turned into one of the larger kosher supermarkets in the area. While Seasons says they lost their lease (which is true; this will soon be home to New Jersey's second Stew Leonard's), I think the real story is not that simple. Online reviews suggest selection was drastically cu...

Original Grocery Tenant: A&P Address: 514 Van Houten Ave, Passaic, NJ Opened:  1970s Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  Food Basics (closed 2016) > Gala Fresh Farms (2016-2018) Photographed:  January 5, 2023 We are returning to the former Passaic Gala Fresh Farms /Food Basics/A&P on Van Houten Avenue for a quick look at what the store is like today. Unfortunately, the roughly 30,000 square foot store has been subdivided into three spaces rather than being left intact, and even more unfortunately, two of those three spaces have been taken by dollar stores, with Family Dollar and Dollar Tree each taking around 10,000 square feet. (I don't particularly like any dollar store, and certainly not one of these Family Dollar-Dollar Tree combo stores.) The good news is that part of this building will become a SuperFresh. I mentioned this on yesterday's post about the upcoming Clifton SuperFresh , and this will be Passaic's second SuperFresh . It's not clear to me ex...

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 1938 Union Valley Rd, Hewitt, West Milford, NJ Opened:  late 1990s Closed:  2015 Later Tenants:  Highland's Market by Shopwell (October 2020-April 2022) Photographed:  July 2022 After 19 months, the Highland's Market of Hewitt, NJ closed in April. The store, which replaced a closed A&P, opened in October 2020. The store, which was affiliated with the Associated Supermarket Group, was perfectly adequate but had some execution issues. You can see my original tour here . I wondered in that post whether it would have a longer life than owner Nick Nasser's previous attempts in Elizabeth (two years) and Middlesex (five months). Well, it was right in the middle of those two. Nasser has since announced another Shopwell (also sometimes called Shop Well or some other variation thereof) for Budd Lake, about 32 miles southwest of this location as the crow flies. Obviously I can't predict the future, but I can't imagine that store having ...

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 629 Eagle Rock Ave, West Orange, NJ Opened:  1953 Closed:  1965 Later Tenants:  furniture store > CVS (1993-2018) > Aron's West Orange Market (2018-2021) Photographed:  July 2022 We return to this 8700 square foot building on Eagle Rock Avenue, just east of Pleasant Valley Way in the Pleasantdale section of West Orange. We first saw the store in 2018 (with some photos from 2016) showing Aron's West Orange Market in its soft opening phase, plus some older shots of the CVS that it replaced, then again in early 2019 when I got to visit it myself. I'm not entirely sure why, but Aron's operation was full of problems almost from the beginning. The beautiful displays that the original photoset captured were quickly gone replaced by empty spaces on all the shelves I noticed in my 2019 visit. I went back to pick up a gallon of milk in the summer of 2020 only to find the entire milk case empty, along with most of the bakery depa...

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 329 Speedwell Ave, Morris Plains, NJ Opened:  1978 in existing building, 1953 in previous building on site Closed:  2021 Later Tenants:  vacant Photographed:  January 2022 We are covering two recently-closed ACMEs here in NJ today, with the first here in Morris Plains! The store closed in 2021 with redevelopment plans coming soon, possibly. We last saw the place in December as it was going through its closing procedures. The redevelopments have been discussed for some time, but nothing really has taken hold yet. So at least as of January 2022, the building was still a hulking shell of an ACME just with the signage and interior removed. As Acme Style taught us long ago, this store would've originally had the Super Saver facade (still visible) but in the early 2000s was extensively renovated inside and out, including the Industrial Circus decor inside. This was the outside of a Starbucks, later turned into just a plain ol' cafe...