The Market Report

I know I keep saying this, but we're really down to the end here. Basically just two more cities to see before finishing out New Jersey altogether: Trenton and Camden. We begin Trenton by checking out some places to the north of town and then moving into the downtown area before heading east of town. We'll start with Ewing to the northwest of Trenton tomorrow, then move through the city of Trenton itself from west to east, then make a few stops in Hamilton and back to Lawrence to the east and northeast of Trenton. This is a fairly short group, and we'll be spending just under two weeks here before moving on. Let's start with a look at a supermarket in Ewing on The Independent Edition tomorrow along with a former supermarket just up the street on Grocery Archaeology !

ShopRite of Pennington Owner: Richard Saker / Saker Supermarkets Opened:  1960s Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  2555 Pennington Rd, Pennington, NJ Photographed:  January 2021 You know how all Saker ShopRites more or less look the same, such as Lawrenceville which we saw yesterday? Well now it's time to see one of those few Saker stores that look very different. We saw Belmar a while back, but it's closed now as a brand new replacement store opened across the street. There are a few others out there ( Edison , Freehold, Bordentown) but the 33,000 square foot ShopRite of Pennington is now the smallest and oldest operating Saker store. It also formerly had a ShopRite liquor store next door, which I believe remains vacant. The Laurenti family apparently owned several ShopRites in the Trenton area (before selling to Big V, which in turn sold some stores to Saker), so it's possible this was one of those stores since we don't see a whole

ShopRite of Lawrenceville Owner: Richard Saker / Saker Supermarkets Opened:  early 2000s Previous Tenants:  Kmart Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  3373 Brunswick Pk, Lawrenceville, NJ Photographed:  January 2021 Moving basically next door from yesterday's stop (which is the Wegmans in the mall just to the north, but over half a mile away) we are touring the 78,000 square foot ShopRite of Lawrenceville today. This store opened in the early 2000s in a former Kmart, likely replacing an older store nearby -- or at least that would be my guess. It's a fairly standard Saker store, although as we'll see it's looking very good. We find the grand aisle on the left side, with produce taking up the front. Cheese, deli, and prepared foods are at the back of the grand aisle, with meat and seafood on the back wall. Dairy and frozen are on the right side of the store, with a kosher department and pharmacy in the front right corner. We can tell that this is an older Saker

Wegmans Food Markets Opened: unknown Previous Tenants:  none Location:  240 Nassau Park Blvd, Princeton, NJ Photographed:  January 2021 Our final stop in Princeton is by far the largest at nearly 120,000 square feet. This Wegmans is located in the 120+ acre Nassau Park Pavilion, which is also home to TJ Maxx, Michaels, Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, Party City, Raymour & Flanigan, Best Buy, Home Goods, At Home, The Home Depot, and many more. It actually also has a recently-closed Walmart and a recently-closed Sam's Club. There are two enclosed malls nearby, the Quakerbridge Mall just to the south and MarketFair just to the north. The Wegmans competes with a Whole Foods (in a former Pathmark) and a Trader Joe's to the north, and a ShopRite just south. The ShopRite, of course, is a measly 78,000 square feet and that is tomorrow's tour right here on The Market Report!

Patel Brothers Owner: Swetal & Rakesh Patel Opened:  2017 Previous Tenants:  Genuardi's Cooperative:  none Location:  72 Princeton Hightstown Rd, East Windsor, NJ Photographed:  February 2021 Recognize that exterior? You very well may, because this Patel Brothers is in roughly half of a former Genuardi's supermarket. The 52,000 square foot building has been split almost exactly in half for a Patel Brothers on the right side and a Kohl's on the left side. Patel Brothers' entrance is in the glass tower, and while the exterior has barely been changed, the interior looks very different (but much like the past Patel Brothers we've toured). Patel's Fresh Kitchen is up first on the front wall, immediately inside the entrance. Produce lines the right side of the store, with dairy/refrigerated on the back and frozen in the last aisle to the left. As we see, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything much left from Genuardi's (except maybe some of the p