Grocery Archaeology

Original Tenant: Shop n Bag Address: 2134 Street Rd, Bensalem, PA Opened:  1960s/70s Closed:  ca. early 1980s Later Tenants:  Food Check (1980s-late 1980s) > Staples (1988-2003) > Office Depot (2006-2010) > Bottom Dollar Food (2011-2015) > Jerusalem Furniture (2016- ) Photographed:  December 28, 2021 An obvious former Bottom Dollar Food location here in Bensalem has become a furniture store for the past five years or so. Check out the full history here and here . The 21,000 square foot store has a lot of similarities to the Cinnaminson location we saw not too long ago. There's also a Redner's a little under half a mile west, and an Amazon Fresh coming soon about a quarter of a mile southeast, not to mention a GIANT about 3/4 of a mile north and other assorted markets closer, so there's a lot of competition around here. Tomorrow, we continue our westward trek, this time moving about five miles northwest to our next stop in Feasterville-Trevose on The I...

Original Tenant: Penn Fruit Address: 1402 US-130, Cinnaminson, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  1970s Later Tenants:  Shop n Bag (1970s-??) > Talk of the Town (??-??) > Portobello Farm Market (??-ca. 2009) > Gold's Gym (ca. 2010-2012) > Bottom Dollar Food (2012-2015) Photographed:  January 2021 We arrive in Cinnaminson for a look at two different stores, both former supermarkets. This one has quite the history which I've pieced together with JoshAustin610's records , opening as a Penn Fruit and then cycling through a variety of banners and owners before becoming Bottom Dollar in 2012. (Incidentally, if I'm not mistaken, Talk of the Town was a relatively short-lived high-end gourmet market concept by Wakefern, one of several they tested over the years.) If you compare today's exterior pictures to JoshAustin610's 2010 picture linked above, you can see the similarities but that Bottom Dollar did exterior renovations. They also, of course, redid the entire i...

Original Tenant: Kennedy Shop n Bag Address: 400 John F Kennedy Way, Willingboro, NJ Opened:  ca. 1970 Closed:  1998 Later Tenants:  Eickhoff ShopRite (1998-2015) Photographed:  January 2021 You may have heard of Levittowns in New York and Pennsylvania, designed by William Levitt who sought to plan an ideal suburban residential community. Levittown, NJ was the third constructed, after New York and Pennsylvania, on the land of Willingborough Township, opening in 1958. And in 1959, the township officially became Levittown Township. The New Jersey township was notable among the Levittowns due to its central position in efforts to integrate housing: Levittown, NJ was intended to be an all-white community, and a lawsuit by a Black applicant to live in the community who was rejected sparked the creation of an integration program in Levitt's development company. Of course, as more Black families moved in to the township, many white families moved out. The township was ren...

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 215 N Hermitage Ave, West End, Trenton, NJ Opened:  1961 Closed:  1970s Later Tenants:  Vereen Thriftway (1970s-1980s) > Vereen IGA (1980s) > Super Thrift (1980s-1997) > Foodtown (planned, never opened) > Supreme Food Market (early 2000s) > Supreme Shop n Bag (early 2000s-late 2000s) Photographed:  January 2021 The Westside Plaza in the West End neighborhood of Trenton is 50,000 square feet of retail space, with 34,000 square feet originally occupied by an early A-frame or pitched roof ACME that opened in 1961. You can read a lot of detail on the history here , and I summarized the progression above. Plainfield, NJ-based Supremo Food Markets most recently took over the space, around 2000 or shortly thereafter, but chose to call the store Supreme Food Market instead of Supremo. Within the first few years, the store became a Shop n Bag under the same owners, before closing between 2005 and 2010. Unfortunately, bec...

Original Tenant: Thriftway Address: 660 Plainsboro Rd, Plainsboro, NJ Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  Asian Food Markets (??-2020) Photographed:  February 2021 Yesterday we saw the brand-new Asian Food Market in Plainsboro Plaza , and they moved out of this 20,000 square foot location a little more than a mile east of Plainsboro Plaza. If memory serves me, this store was built as a Thriftway in the 80s (or possibly a Shop n Bag?) and later became an AFM around 2000. This store had closed just about 6 months before I visited, right before the new one opened. Quite the difference between the new store's interior and this one's interior (see here and here ). So far, I haven't heard of any tenants (grocery or otherwise) that are interested in this space. Unlikely, I think, that another supermarket would be interested in the space. Here's the entrance/exit on the left side of the storefront. I'm unclear on what the layout was, but I believe the grand...