Grocery Archaeology

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 !

Original Tenant:  Unknown Address:  184 Columbia Tpk, Florham Park, NJ Opened:  Unknown Closed:  Unknown Later Tenants: subdivided/Retro Fitness Photographed: November 2020 So it seems that I didn't do my homework before photographing the stores here in Florham Park. I photographed this store at the back of Crescent Plaza assuming it was a supermarket at some point, which it was not (I don't think, although it's still possible I suppose). Instead, it looks like it was built as a Drug Fair although it has a strong supermarket appearance. There's even still a cart corral visible along Retro Fitness's front sidewalk. There was also a Grand Union across Columbia Turnpike, and there's now a Trader Joe's next door along with a Kings in this same mall, which is our other post for the day. That wraps up the Morristown area, and tomorrow we'll be taking a look at what's next!

Original Tenant: Foodtown Address: 831 NJ-10, Whippany, Hanover, NJ Opened:  1991 Closed:  ca. 2000 Later Tenants:  Pathmark (ca. 2000-2011) > Farmtastic Supermarket (2014-2015) Photographed:  June 2020 Part 2 of our Pine Plaza coverage deals with this larger supermarket, built in 1991 by Michas Brothers Foodtown as a replacement for a much smaller store in a former A&P next door, which is part 1 . Michas Brothers (later Manyfoods) sold the 35,000 square foot store to Pathmark around 2000, which in turn closed in 2011 as the 20-year lease expired. In Cedar Knolls , we saw a Michas > Manyfoods > LaRacca Foodtown which then closed in early 2014. Well, a few months after the LaRaccas closed Cedar Knolls, they opened this location as Farmtastic Supermarket which lasted all of about 18 months before closing for good in mid to late 2015. As I mention in the A&P post, Pine Plaza is in an extensive redevelopment process which involved clearing out all of t...

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 831 NJ-10, Whippany, Hanover, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  1980s Later Tenants:  Foodtown (1980s-1991) Photographed:  June 2020 We arrive at the massive Pine Plaza in the Whippany section of Hanover Township once again after initially taking a look at the closed Farmtastic Supermarket back in 2018 . We're revisiting the Farmtastic location today as well, but the older supermarket in the mall is this centennial A&P, built in the early 60s and closing in the early to mid 80s. By the mid to late 80s, the A&P had become a Foodtown, which by 1991 moved down to an expansion of the plaza. Pine Plaza's property occupies nearly 20 acres of land but is completely vacant, awaiting redevelopment. Check out the Farmtastic post for more info on where the development is and what's happened lately. Tomorrow, we have two stores (one here on Grocery Archaeology and one over on The Market Report ) to finish out our Greater Morristown group!

Original Tenant:  Village ShopRite Address: 1711 NJ-10, Morris Plains, NJ Opened: 1964 Closed: 2013 Later Tenants: Uncle Giuseppe's (renovations began 2021) Photographed: June 2020 It's amazing that this Village ShopRite lasted all the way to 2013! Not so much that it was small, at over 40,000 square feet, but simply that it was outdated and wasn't renovated after the late 1970s, when Village gave it its last overhaul. It was replaced by the Cedar Knolls location , which was newly built closer to downtown Morristown and off NJ-10 -- notably moving farther away from the Morris Plains Stop & Shop , and much closer to the Morris Plains ACME . Acme Style captured the store soon before its closure, which you can see here (along with their coverage of the new location and the Stop & Shop). Here's what the store looked like after ShopRite's closure. The store had been cleaned out with an auction of the fixtures as you can see in the poster in the first pictu...