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TOUR: ShopRite - Lincoln Park, NJ

ShopRite of Lincoln Park
Owner: Larri Wolfson
Opened: 1987
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.
Location: 60 Beaverbrook Rd, Lincoln Park, NJ
Photographed: August 2019
A longtime favorite of mine, the ShopRite of Lincoln Park was built in the late 1980s to replace a smaller store at 153 Main St (demolished for a Walgreens) which was roughly across the street. This sprawling 65,000 square foot store has received freshening up but is largely original to how it would've looked on opening day. Outside, we see a unique logo using a typeface no other ShopRite uses.
The exterior has also been freshened up, with a new overhang (compare the black metal overhang to the previous awning) but is largely original too. The monument signs around the property are also wonderful...
As of my 2019 visit, none of the exterior signage had been updated. This is one of the remaining single-location ShopRites, so that this store's owner Wolfson does not own any other ShopRites.
What an exterior! Let's head in through this giant bank of entrance doors to see what we have...
Entering and turning to our left, we have floral, pharmacy, dietitian, catering, and customer service on the front wall. Bakery is to the right of the entrance on the right side wall.
As wonderfully endearing (or depending on your perspective, cold and unappealing) as the decor and design are, they are clearly quite old. The store has been maintained beautifully.
An example of the upgrades that have been done is these bakery cases, which are clearly quite new.  Produce takes up the back part of the first aisle...
The store's lighting is fascinating to me. It's not nearly as dark as it looks in these pictures, and it's actually quite effective in displaying the products.
While I don't know this for sure, it looks to me that the pictures of food are much newer than the rest of the decor. I wouldn't be surprised if they were installed some time around 2005-2010. Compare these pictures to Edison, for instance, which seems to have its original 80s pictures.
Looking back out from produce towards the front wall of the store (to the left). Up next, we have seafood and meat on the back wall...
Seafood (which may have been repainted, Styertowne notes in the link above) is at the back of produce, with butcher and packaged meats along the back wall.
Heading into the grocery aisles, we find HABA in the first few aisles with renovated shelving. Unfortunately my pictures are not great, but here we go...
How about those aisle markers? We'll get a good closeup look at them soon.
Large nonfoods selection, including this branded Madison Luxury Home section (a Wakefern brand).
I've never seen anything like these before! Note also that the categories are printed directly on the sign, not on separate boards that can be changed. Amazingly, we see that these not only are quite accurate all this time later but that some have in fact been changed with color-coordinated decals placed over the old categories.
The second to last and third to last aisles are frozen foods and dairy in the last aisle.
I love this signage! I also understand that it's probably past time for it to go. But for the time being, it's pretty fantastic.
19 aisles in total, with dairy here in the last aisle. Deli and cheese are in an island in the front corner here...
Sushi and prepared foods are on the front wall around this island.
The next island, facing the front end, is an enormous cheese counter.
We've seen unsuccessful islands before, but I think this works because it's so prominent and very close to the deli.
And now for a look at the space-agey front end...
This brings me to the one thing that bothers me from the shopper's perspective about this store. There are no checkout lane markers. The registers aren't numbered and there's no clear way to see which are open and which are closed.
Self-checkouts were recently installed at the end of the row of registers. These do have lane markers, so it's a bit easier to navigate them. That's all for this ShopRite, and if it's ever renovated we'll be back to see more! But for now, our other posts of the day are a nearby former A&P and Wolfson's Market just outside of town. Tomorrow, we are heading north (admittedly outside of the Parsippany/Great Piece Meadows area just for the day) for three posts in Butler and Kinnelon -- check out one here on The Market Report, one on The Independent Edition, and one on Grocery Archaeology!

Comments

  1. Boy do I wish I was closer to this store. I too have never seen anything like it!

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  2. LOVE the wall décor and aisle markers! And I agree, all the food pictures look newer -- helps to keep the overall look refreshed as opposed to totally outdated.

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  3. This has to be the coolest old ShopRite I've ever seen! While the décor is definitely dated it doesn't seem too horribly out of style. Just super funky. Some of the signage looks newer like the Grab & Go and Olive Bar. Really cool how they made that signage work so well with the original look of the store.

    So strange that there are no register lights. When I first saw the picture of the front-end, I just kept looking to find them, then I saw you mention they don't have any. Doesn't make the least bit of sense!

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    1. Yes, there's definitely a blend of newer and older signage around the store. But very cool appearance overall.

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  4. The Wolfson family also operated the former Boonton ShopRite. Located at 600 Myrtle Avenue, the Boonton store opened on July 18, 1962. It closed on February 7, 1987 because the owners felt the store was too small. IGA took over the space shortly thereafter. (The IGA supermarket opened before July 19, 1987.) But the IGA was forced out of business in July 2000, less than twelve months after the Boonton A&P and Kings both opened. The former ShopRite/IGA building became a Drug Fair no later than August 2004. The store is currently a Walgreens, which it has been since 2009.

    Regarding the now demolished, old Lincoln Park ShopRite (at 153 Main Street), it opened on June 28, 1961. A photo of this store appeared on Page 7 of the July 1, 1961 edition of the Paterson Evening News. The current Lincoln Park ShopRite opened on December 12, 1987. Newspaper advertisements for the then-new store proclaimed "THE ULTIMATE SUPERMARKET...LINCOLN PARK SHOPRITE. We're moving across the street...and into the future."

    There's actually an interesting article in the December 15, 1987 edition of The North Jersey Herald & News which discussed how Morty Wolfson (Larri's father) purchased a 10-acre farm from Mary Karback back in 1972, with the dream of one day building a new supermarket and shopping center on the property. In addition to giving Mary a generous amount of money for her land, Morty allowed Mary to live on the property for the rest of her life and paid for most of her property-related expenses. Note that Mary was still alive when the aforementioned article was published. Morty initially intended to move Mary's house to another part of the property, but the roughly 90-year-house would have fallen apart had it been moved. Consequently, a new house was built for Mary, who was 91 years old in December 1987.

    I've actually never been to the Lincoln Park ShopRite, so my opinion of it can only be based on the photos I've seen. I've made no secret of the fact that I dislike the warehouse look, and I am not fond of how this store looks so dark inside (though the webmaster did mention that things appear much brighter in person). But I also think that the other attributes of this supermarket are really cool. The decor of the store has such a delightful '80s vibe, and the exterior is awesome.

    However one feels about the Lincoln Park ShopRite, there's no denying that it was ahead of its time when it opened. I can only imagine how people in 1987 reacted when they first shopped at this store.

    --A&P Fan

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    1. Aah - I remember seeing that old Boonton store from 287 (when it was IGA, then noting it had become a drug store after the A&P opened up basically next door). Never knew what it had started as, though (as 287 wasn't there that far back, so we had always down the GSP until 287 was completed to the NY Thruway).

      The thing with no register signs does seem a bit odd - wonder if there was something else in mind when it was originally built (either some type of signs that no longer exist, or were they trying an early version of the single line perhaps?).

      Those aisle markers are quite interesting, and probably allow for more information than most any other you normally see (at least 9 categories on a couple of them, and it looks like they could have fit 1 or 2 more at the bottom - most stores are lucky to put 6 on each sign).

      Other than that, while there is nothing wrong with updating stores, it probably makes sense that one like this would be less likely to do so being a single (or once part of a group of two) store, where there may not be as much money/financing available as a larger operator would have.

      And, at the end of the day, as long as everything is functional (which, as noted, they seem to keep a good eye on fixing problems that may have existed), not changing things just for looks really doesn't matter much.

      After all, I never found a problem (in this area) with items in the 1977 Grand Union (that I doubt had much changed over the years until the chain bankruptcy) that would make me pick another newer one up or down the road over that one, as long as the items I was looking for were available (and since those lack of changes included never adding scanners, you could often get a deal from an item whose tag was not updated from an earlier week sale or when prices changed!).

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    2. Thank you both for your detailed history and memories!

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  5. Yeah, I'd LOVE to visit this ShopRite in person. It's like an 80s time capsule, and evidently the owner really loves the look -- and I can't blame them, it's so over-the-top and crazy.

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    1. It's worth a visit if you ever get around to this area!

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  6. I got to visit this ShopRite for the first time not too long ago. Below are some comments I have regarding my impression of the supermarket:

    *The monument signs (outside the store) have changed a bit since you took your photos in August 2019, although I do not consider the changes to have been drastic.

    *Thankfully, the wonderful and funky signage of the service departments and the milk and juice department remains unchanged. (I actually think that particular signage has more of a late-70s/early-80s vibe, even though this store opened in 1987.) As a matter of fact, I did not notice any changes to the store's decor since you took your photos.

    *I do think this store is much too dark. In fact, I cannot think of another supermarket that looks so dark inside. Perhaps the intention of the dark coloring was to complement the red and yellow signage found in the store. This store may have also featured quite a bit of neon when it initially opened (although that is pure speculation by me), and the dark colors would complement that as well.

    *Despite my distaste for exposed ceilings, I will give this store's owners credit for being way ahead of supermarket industry trends. It was a bold move to open a store with an exposed ceiling in 1987 (and I presume that this ShopRite always had an exposed ceiling) when having such ceilings did not become the industry norm until over a decade later.

    *This store is lined with photos of food, which as you mentioned look much newer than the rest of the decor. As I previously indicated, perhaps there used to be a considerable amount of neon where all the photos now are. I am curious about how this part of the store's decor originally looked.

    *I am also curious about whether the aisle markers are original to the supermarket. Although these markers seem old, my guess is that they are not original. While the aisle markers are neat, I think that the triangular-shaped fixtures holding them up look quite odd.

    *While much of the store has been maintained nicely, there are some signs of wear and tear. For example, some of the shelving looks like it needs replacement.

    *One thing that is relatively unique about the supermarket is that the service (i.e., non-grocery) departments are not all in the same area of the store: you have the floral, bakery, and produce departments near the front entrance, while the deli and cheese departments are all the way at the other end of the store.

    Before I conclude, I want to share some fascinating information about the first Lincoln Park ShopRite (which operated from June 1961 to December 1987). If you click on this link and scroll down a bit, you can see a photo of that supermarket back when it was in operation:

    https://www.nj.com/news/g66l-2019/12/c2028a61838353/vintage-photos-of-supermarkets-and-food-stores-in-nj.html

    While it was believed that the 1961-87 Lincoln Park ShopRite was demolished, I am nearly certain that was not the case. Looking at historic aerial views of 153 Main Street--as well as modern-day aerial views that are available on Google Maps--the building is almost rectangular in shape. However, one of the corners was/is "cut off" a bit, thus giving the building a unique shape. (In the photo of the old ShopRite which can be found by clicking on the above link, you will see that this "cut off corner" was where the supermarket's entrance and exit were located.) It would be extraordinarily unlikely for the old ShopRite to have been demolished only for it to then be replaced by a new building with the exact same shape. Instead, I feel quite confident that the former Lincoln Park ShopRite is still standing and that its facade was merely altered by Walgreens and any other tenants (that occupied the building between the time that ShopRite and Walgreens operated there).

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    1. To avoid any confusion, I was wrong when I indicated that one could click on the above nj.com link I shared. Instead, if you want to read that article and see the photos of vintage New Jersey food stores (including a photo of the former Lincoln Park ShopRite), you need to open a new tab, copy the nj.com link I shared above, paste that link in the new tab's Internet address bar, and then press the enter key.

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    2. Thanks for sharing your own experiences with this store! Glad to hear you were able to visit.

      I like your theory of neon. I could totally see this decor package originally having a lot of neon signage, then later removed in favor of a new color scheme and new pictures.

      It's also very possible you're right that the old Lincoln Park ShopRite was not demolished. To me, the question (looking at old aerials and street views) is not whether the building was demolished when ShopRite vacated it, but whether the building was demolished and re-built when Walgreens moved in after Rite Aid closed. That change happened between 2008 and 2013. To me it's pretty clear in the 2008 street view that the ShopRite building was not demolished:
      https://www.google.com/maps/@40.922893,-74.30782,3a,75y,319.14h,89.5t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sRdrYmzJh59dbtixEgUdqtQ!2e0!5s20080901T000000!7i3328!8i1664?entry=ttu

      But the building would've had to have been extensively renovated prior to Walgreens' opening, if they did not rebuild the building entirely. Hard to tell for sure, and based on a very quick search, Newspapers.com doesn't help much.

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