The Market Report

Our next group of stores continues just to the south along the eastern edge of the state from Elizabeth. Beginning in Carteret, we'll be wandering through Iselin, an unincorporated part of Woodbridge Township inland a bit (along with a few stops just over the border in Edison along the way) before passing through Metuchen, Fords, and Hopelawn (between Iselin and Perth Amboy), and finally ending up in downtown Perth Amboy where we'll take a look at most of the grocery stores there. In the interest of keeping the groups more geographically focused and shorter, this will only take up the next two and a half weeks or so but we'll be seeing stores here as well as on The Independent Edition and Grocery Archaeology . Come back here tomorrow to see our first stop to the north! BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! We have some updates at a few stores we've previously toured! Check them out here: SuperFresh - Passaic, NJ Stop & Shop - Allwood, Clifton, NJ ShopRite - Bloomfield, NJ

SuperFresh Owner: Teofilo de Jesus Opened:  2021 Previous Tenants:  A&P > Presidente Supermarket > Compare Foods Supermarket (2005-2021) Cooperative:  Key Food Stores Location:  161 Jefferson St, Passaic, NJ Photographed:  June 2021 If you've been keeping up on your NYC area supermarket news, there's one really big mover and shaker that has been rapidly expanding lately: Old Bridge, NJ-based Key Food Stores Co-Operative. Here's another example of Key Food bringing on an existing, and clearly successful, store to their cooperative. This store might look pretty familiar, and that's because we toured it back in March when it was a Compare Foods. In early June 2021, the store was switched over to Key Food's SuperFresh banner (a brand that was acquired from A&P in the 2015-16 bankruptcy. I visited the store just about a week after the switch happened, so the signage hadn't been fully installed yet but banners were up around the store advertising the ne

Stop & Shop Opened: 2009, 2001 in former building Previous Tenants:  Grand Union in older building on same property Location:  1189 Broad St, Clifton, NJ Photographed:  June 2021 A remodel is underway at the Stop & Shop at Broad Street and Allwood Road in Clifton, where we previously took a quick look at the store as it was in 2019. At the time of my more recent drive-by, the exterior appeared to be mid-paint job, with the sign temporarily replaced with a banner (which oddly enough has the chain's older fruitbowl logo). The remodel at this 53,000 square foot store is in direct response to the extensive renovation at the ShopRite of Brookdale which is just over a mile south on Broad Street. We're also checking in with their progress today , plus see the newly converted SuperFresh (previously Compare Foods) in downtown Passaic! Here's what's up next.

ShopRite of Brookdale Owner: Neil Greenstein Opened:  1999 Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  1409 Broad St, Bloomfield, NJ Photographed:  June 2021 We are returning to the Bloomfield ShopRite! (Also known as the Brookdale ShopRite because of its location in the Brookdale neighborhood of Bloomfield, so named for its proximity to Brookdale Park.) This ShopRite opened in 1999 as a new-build store replacing an older location on the same property, and I photographed it way back in May of 2016 but it didn't make it to the blog until April 2019 . In late 2020, an extensive remodel began on the 60,000 square foot property, including a much-needed rearrangement of the parking lot. The storefront was also redone, as we can see compared to my 2016 photo . This store has long been a favorite of this part of Essex County, since it's always been a well-run store, but it's generally a nightmare to navigate. The layout has been significantly streamlined

ShopRite of Linden Owner:  Irv Glass / Glass Gardens Opened:  1990s Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  637 N Edgar Rd, Linden, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 Our second-to-last Greater Elizabeth store is just outside the city to the south. Like the ShopRite of Elizabeth , it's a large, 70,000 square foot store that is extremely popular, an older store that has been recently renovated and has gone from a dingy and outdated environment to a modern and clean facility. We have seen the store pre-renovation, but unfortunately only the exterior. An interesting coincidence that the two main exterior shots I have line up almost exactly! Make sure to check out a brand-new update at another supermarket nearby over on The Independent Edition here . It's possible the Aviation Plaza store replaced a smaller and older ShopRite here in Linden, or maybe a nearby location such as Rahway on Saint George Ave, but I haven't been able to pin that down. Let's