Grocery Archaeology

Original Grocery Tenant: Big V ShopRite Address: 400 NY-211, Middletown, NY Opened:  1990s Closed:  2007 Later Tenants:  Big Lots Photographed:  February 3, 2021 This 50,000 square foot supermarket was built in the 1990s as a Big V-owned ShopRite, relocating from a beautiful store of half that size down the street. In 2001, ownership was transferred to SRS when Big V went bankrupt. This store was relatively short-lived, having closed in 2007 when ShopRite moved into a former Stop & Shop, directly across the street from their old location. On Flickr, Jack Thomas captured this store several times in its history, including with its original facade and after a renovation . Also of note is that a location was built to replace this store , but when Stop & Shop closed very close to this store, ShopRite moved there instead. The almost-ShopRite -- of 85,000 square feet -- is now partially a Planet Fitness . (He also has a huge library of retail pictures in this a...

Original Grocery Tenant: Big V ShopRite Address: 303 NY-211, Middletown, NY Opened:  1950s Closed:  1990s Later Tenants:  non-grocery tenants Photographed:  February 3, 2021 Welcome to Middletown, New York's first ShopRite! The store opened in the 1950s with a beautiful sweeping arched roof and an all-glass front wall, which amazingly is pretty intact these days . The 24,000 square foot store, as far as I can tell, was built as a ShopRite owned by Big V and then closed in the 1990s when Big V moved down the street to a much larger, new-build location. That's what we'll be seeing tomorrow!

ShopRite has long been a major name in New Jersey supermarkets, but recall that in 1975, the cooperative was reeling from the loss of Supermarkets General, which in 1968 had split off and become Pathmark. It, of course, would go on to more than recover from the loss, but in 1975 the cooperative was definitely still trying to regain members and market share. In the metro New York market, by the mid-1970s, Pathmark was near the market leader, which it would become by the end of the decade (and then, if I'm not mistaken, lose the title to ShopRite in the late 1980s). In 1975, ShopRites were located in Hillside (where the current one is), Clark (replaced by the existing store in the 90s), Millburn (which recently went through a renovation ), Union (now Second Avenue since the store moved to Route 22), and Colonia -- although I'm not sure about whether that's before or after it was a Stop & Shop (later Foodtown and now The Fresh Grocer ). Although ShopRite still has a l...

Original Grocery Tenant: Big V ShopRite Address: 675 Kidder St, Wilkes-Barre, PA Opened:  1990s Closed:  2001 Later Tenants:  vacant, half now Ollie's Bargain Outlet Photographed:  December 22, 2018 I mentioned on one of our recent Gerrity's posts that Wakefern used to have a presence in the Wyoming Valley, actually as early as 1981 (not sure if they were here before that). I believe most of that presence was driven by member Big V, which also had a large presence in the Hudson Valley of New York. For a quick recap, they attempted to leave Wakefern around 2000, trying to simultaneously convince Wakefern they were going off on their own to avoid paying the penalty to leave while also having very public negotiations with Stop & Shop to sell the chain to them. Wakefern rejected their argument, required they pay the penalty to leave the coop, and that bankrupted Big V. Wakefern bought back most of Big V's assets (one store went to Stop & Shop), but some store...

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: Kinsley's Market Address: 1471 US-209, Brodheadsville, PA Opened:  1990s Closed:  1998 Later Tenants:  Kinsley's ShopRite (1998-2012) Photographed:  December 22, 2018 Kinsley's Market was a longtime supermarket in the small town of Broadheadsville, PA (population 1700), dating back to the 1950s around the area. Check out this history from the Pocono Record. By the 1990s, this 50,000 square foot barn-themed market was constructed, joining the Wakefern co-op in 1998 and becoming a ShopRite. The store closed in 2012 when a massive 95,000 square foot store was constructed just around the corner from this one. Here's a look at the store before it closed. Josh says there the store became a ShopRite in 2001, but Wakefern itself says that the store joined in 1998. These days the store is an outdoors/sports supply store. A 70,000 square foot Weis is also directly across the street from this store, a relatively new construction having opened as a ...

Original Grocery Tenant: Village ShopRite Address: 51 N 3rd St, Stroudsburg, PA Opened:  1960s Closed:  2019 Later Tenants:  vacant Photographed:  November 29, 2019 I grew up largely shopping at ShopRites owned by Village Super Market, whose stores we've seen around the Union, Essex, and Morris county areas of New Jersey, so coming to visit a store that looks and feels a lot like what I was used to growing up -- but all the way out here in Stroudsburg -- was a little strange, but pleasantly nostalgic. This ShopRite opened in the 1960s and, I believe, was owned by Village Super Market for its whole life. It was expanded out to around 47,000 square feet, with its latest renovation happening probably around 2000, and closed in 2019 when it was replaced by a store just outside of town constructed in a former Bon-Ton in the Stroud Mall. You can see a former department store at the back of this strip mall, too. Looking in through the windows here had the same feelin...