Grocery Archaeology

Original Grocery Tenant: A&P Address: 429 N Enola Rd, Enola, PA Opened:  1960s Closed:  1983 Later Tenants:  SuperFresh (1983-2002) > ShurFine (2002-2017) Photographed:  August 15, 2022 Quick look today at a former supermarket in Enola, PA, built actually as a Centennial A&P and later converted to SuperFresh in 1983 before closing in 2002. A ShurFine operator opened later the same year and closed in 2017, the same year the new Weis opened about two and a half miles west. The 30,000 square foot store has been split between a Family Dollar and a PennDOT facility. That's all for Enola, and our final store in this area is about 16 miles north along the Susquehanna River, tomorrow on The Independent Edition !

Original Grocery Tenant: ShopRite Address: 242 Lincoln Blvd, Middlesex, NJ Opened:  1968 Closed:  1984 Later Tenants:  Pathmark (1984-2015) > Price Saver Fresh Marketplace (April 2019-September 2019) > SuperFresh (coming soon) Photographed:  January 10, 2023 Just a quick revisit at the Price Saver Fresh Marketplace, previously Pathmark and ShopRite, in Middlesex, NJ. The space's history has been well-documented here on the blog , and we do have definitive confirmation that the space is set to become a SuperFresh. The SuperFresh/Food World 2023 calendar, which they were giving out at the Belleville location, has the locations listed on the back and this store was on it listed as opening 2023. Worth noting, though, that Roselle is not listed on that same list -- and, for one reason or another, the December 2023 calendar page says Wishing All Food Bazaar Customers a Merry Christmas. So I'm not entirely sure what to make of that all. As we can see in these two pi...

Original Grocery Tenant:  Delray's Thriftway Address: 322 W Bridge St, New Hope, PA Opened:  1979 Closed:  1999 Later Tenants:  Clemens (1999-2006) > SuperFresh (2006-2015) Photographed:  January 12, 2021 Just next door from yesterday's McCaffrey's  is this former supermarket, today a gym and physical therapy facility. This facility is slightly smaller than the McCaffrey's at around 22,000 square feet. It was constructed in 1979 as Delray's Thriftway with the rest of the strip mall, then 20 years later became a Clemens which in turn was sold to SuperFresh in 2006. SuperFresh closed in 2015, with the current tenant opening a few years after that. By the way, we are directly across the river from Lambertville, NJ, where we saw the former ACME . That store is a little over a mile east over the border. Up next we're headed around 7 miles north along the Delaware River for tomorrow's snapshot, over on The Independent Edition !

Original Grocery Tenant: SuperFresh Address: 4357 Swamp Rd, Doylestown, PA Opened:  1987 Closed:  2009 Later Tenants:  GIANT Food Stores (2009-2021) Photographed:  December 28, 2021 We are here to check out the former Doylestown GIANT, which was built as a SuperFresh in 1987. The roughly 50,000 square foot store was sold to GIANT Food Stores in 2009, which renovated and reopened it. The facade, however, remains from the store's days as a SuperFresh. The new store opened just weeks before I visited, meaning I saw the old store immediately after its closure. I assume it's no longer so intact. Because when I took a look inside, it looked like they basically shut off the lights and called it a day... There's only so many places I could get a good view of the interior, but when I could see in, I could see that the supermarket was fully intact back there. A smaller window in front of what was the beer and wine department gives us a slightly better view of the interior, s...

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: 250 E Lancaster Ave, Wynnewood, PA Opened:  1960s Closed:  1983 Later Tenants:  SuperFresh (1983-2015) > ACME Markets (2015-2020) > Target (2021- ) Photographed:  December 2021 We seem to be seeing a lot of A&Ps and ACMEs here on the Main Line! Gladwyne had an A&P-turned-ACME , and Bryn Mawr had both an A&P and an ACME . Well, Wynnewood -- about two miles east of Bryn Mawr -- had another A&P-turned-ACME, which of course was also a SuperFresh from 1983 to 2015. ACME closed this store in the summer of 2020 , following but unrelated to a series of failed health inspections in late 2019. In 2021, Target took the roughly 23,000 square foot space for one of their smaller-format stores, though it looks like they may have expanded it slightly to just over 30,000 square feet. Notice the centennial facade peeking out from behind the Target facade! Here's a look at the ACME when it was still in business. Today, Wynnew...

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 1025 Youngs Ford Rd, Gladwyne, PA Opened:  1960s Closed:  1983 Later Tenants:  SuperFresh (1983-2015) > ACME Markets (2015-2019) Photographed:  December 2021 Gladwyne, PA is currently without a supermarket, since its ACME Markets location closed in February of 2019. Although the community lost its roughly 25,000 square foot ACME, its tiny but remarkable 1400 square foot Gladwyne Market House is still going strong just across the street. But wait, let's back up and review the history of this location. From the history I can piece together, this store opened in the 1960s as an A&P Centennial store at roughly 15,000 square feet. At some point thereafter, probably in the 1970s, it was expanded again by around 6,000 square feet. It looks like at the same time, an additional 2,000 square foot storefront (presumably a bank) was constructed out of the expansion, but was not part of the supermarket. I assume the store received the ...

Original Tenant: SuperFresh (previously Grant City/Clover) Address:  650 W Cuthbert Blvd, Westmont, Haddon Township, NJ Opened:  1997 Closed:  2011 Later Tenants:  Thriftway (2013-2016) > Target Photographed:  January 2021 We're in the Westmont section of Haddon Township today, visiting two stores. They're less than half a mile apart, with this former SuperFresh/Thriftway just down Cuthbert Boulevard from the ACME . While this SuperFresh , which replaced an older store converted from A&P in the same strip mall, was far more modern than the ACME, the ACME has managed to not only outlive the SuperFresh (which closed in 2011) but the subsequent Crystal Lake Thriftway (which occupied the space from 2013 to 2016). They moved from an older location in town. Check out the progression of the space here , and check out Acme Style's interior photos of the Thriftway soon after opening here . Target has done some interesting but relatively limited modifications to...

Original Tenant: Big C Department Store Address: 2465 S Broad St, Hamilton, NJ Opened:  unknown Closed:  1980s Later Tenants:  Davidson Foodtown (1989-1999) > SuperFresh (1999-2010) > subdivided Photographed:  January 2021 A&P had a 1960s-era store just to the northwest at 2130 S Broad , which closed in the 1970s. This 62,000 square foot store opened in the 1970s as a Big C department store before becoming a Davidson Foodtown in 1989 , which then sold to SuperFresh in 1999. It's unclear if the Davidsons who owned this Foodtown were the same Davidsons who owned the New Brunswick locations on George St (later CTown and now Bravo) and Elizabeth St (later Estevez Foodtown and now Food Universe). The space has been subdivided, with Ollie's Bargain Outlet (good stuff cheap!) taking the right half and a gym taking the left half. There's still a supermarket at Independence Plaza, though, as a Save-A-Lot has opened up in the front part of the mall closest to Broa...