SuperFresh - Irvington, NJ

SuperFresh

Opened: 2016

Owner: Shee Chun Lee

Previous Tenants: Pathmark (1992-2015)

Cooperative: Key Food Stores

Location: 471-79 Lyons Ave, Irvington, NJ

Photographed: March 12, 2025 and January 21, 2026

Before we begin, just a heads up: this was originally posted in December 2017, but was rewritten with new photos in January 2026. Now for the post! Today, The Market Report visits Irvington, a city right outside Newark (and in fact, this store is about three blocks from the Newark border). Pathmark built this store in 1992. It's very close to a former ShopRite-turned-Pathmark just over the border in Newark, but that store actuallly closed by 1986. So there was a gap of about six years between that store's closure and this store's opening. This one became the first Pathmark Sav-A-Center in 2008, closing with the rest of the chain in 2015.

Shortly thereafter, a Key Food operator moved in and renovated the store before reopening in the spring of 2016. This was one of the very early SuperFresh stores -- if I recall correctly, there was actually briefly a sign on the outside saying that "Key Food Super Fresh" was coming soon -- and is one of the larger Key Food locations. And in an interesting twist, the 327 Lyons location was also a Key Food after Pathmark closed in 1986 (though that Key Food only lasted until late 1989 or early 1990).

The layout hasn't changed much since the Pathmark days, but the SuperFresh operators did some freshening up of the store. Most of the fixtures weren't replaced, but these produce tables were.

This store's owners also own a SuperFresh each in Flatbush, Brooklyn and Baltimore.

As a leftover of the Pathmark layout, produce runs up the middle of the store straight from the entrance. There are grocery aisles to the left and right of the produce department, with customer service, HABA, and pharmacy in the front-left corner. Sale items are on the left side wall with meats on the back wall. Deli and seafood counters are in the back-right corner, with frozen and dairy on the right side of the store. Pathmark would've had a bakery in the front-right corner, which SuperFresh removed. That area was originally slated to be a liquor store, but it never opened, and now it's bread and baked goods.

This decor -- which SuperFresh installed upon moving in -- has aged really well, and almost ten years after SuperFresh's opening is still looking very fresh.

These grocery aisles to the left of produce would've originally been health and beauty and nonfoods when Pathmark was here, and SuperFresh briefly had international foods here before resetting the store and moving international foods to the right side.

Here's a look across the back wall.

SuperFresh replaced the lighting here at some point after they opened. The flooring appears to be original to Pathmark.

Similarly, some of the refrigeration is left over from Pathmark, although a few things have been replaced, including the meat cases. You can see the new refrigerators in the below picture from January 2026...

This decor, to me, looks roughly like something Pathmark could've used if they'd stayed in business.

To my surprise, it looks like SuperFresh actually installed this shelving when they moved in. I had assumed it was left over from Pathmark.

Here's a look at the previous decor here.

These freezers were installed by SuperFresh around 2020, but for the first couple years of this store's time as a SuperFresh, they used the previous Pathmark freezers that were white and blue.

Milk is in the back-right corner, with dairy in the last aisle. These refrigerators are all left over from Pathmark, though they may have been refurbished somewhat.

This front corner would've originally been home to Pathmark's bread section and the in-store bakery, which has been removed. Now, packaged baked goods and bread take up this area.

When it opened, this was the largest Key Food-affiliated store. It's since been eclipsed by Linden, which opened in 2019.

A look across the front-end reveals what I believe is a leftover sign for the handicap checkout -- one of the relatively few minor remnants of Pathmark still visible here.

This is also the largest supermarket in Irvington, a city of more than 60,000 people and three supermarkets -- this one, a City Supermarket, and a Supremo. (For comparison, the City Supermarket and Supremo combined are still slightly smaller than this store.) So it's good to see that, when Pathmark closed, this store remained a supermarket.

This post was rewritten on January 22, 2026 with new photos.