Update: Kings Food Markets!

And this time I actually have worthwhile updates.

Livingston

We are returning for the first time in a while to visit the Livingston Kings, where things have been happening very slowly and sporadically. I still can't tell if a true renovation is coming soon here, but we do have a few minor updates to see. First off, the whole store has been reset, with the most major change happening in the first aisle. Here's the produce department, along the front wall of the store, prior to the most recent reset...

And afterwards...

(The above picture and all subsequent pictures in this post were taken just a few days ago, 3/7/22.) A couple of changes of note here. Oh, and don't forget, we actually have the floor plan for this store here, which I'd recommend taking a look at. The most significant is that the produce cases have been removed from the left side of the first aisle, and the refrigerators are all now on the right side, which is the front wall of the store. What I'm not sure about is how much, if at all, that cut the selection back. The produce cases now run all the way to the wall at the far side, and there used to be a section for condiments and oils back there. Plus, another case has been added (you can just see the edge of it to the far right) in front of the existing vegetable case which used to be more floral display. I suspect, although I'm not 100% sure, that the produce bins and displays in the middle of the aisle are also new. They seemed to be in better shape than I remember the fixtures being, and they match what ACME's putting in their QB remodels almost exactly.

Other than a reset of the grocery aisles, there's nothing else to see change-wise in Livingston. But it did dawn on me that I've never done a full store tour of this store, despite having been here so many times. So let's take a tour. Feel free to skip ahead if you're only interested in updates at other Kings -- we're also checking out Chatham, Summit, and Millburn.

The cheese island faces the entrance (to the left above) and the Market Square, the deli/bakery area (straight ahead above).

This island was added in the 2012 "Where Inspiration Strikes" remodel. This Kings, by the way, opened on May 25, 1966 and was originally around 8500 square feet. Today, it's been expanded several times (most recently in 2012) to a heftier 25,400 square feet.

The grocery aisles run parallel to the front wall of the store, and the checkouts before the 2012 expansion used to go from front to back from approximately where the floral department is now to approximately where the deli department is now. If I'm not mistaken, deli/bakery used to be in the back left corner. Produce, meat, and seafood didn't move.

Speaking of, here's meat on the right-side wall of the store, and seafood in the back right corner. Don't forget to check out the floor plan if you're confused.

It was very difficult getting pictures in this store because there were (and usually are) so few customers and so many employees. I think I was seen when taking the above picture, but I also think nobody cared.

These fixtures were all replaced in the 2012 remodel. This is the back aisle of the store, with frozen on the back and dairy facing. Above, we're looking towards the deli/bakery (left) side of the store, and below, looking towards the meat/seafood (right) side of the store.

Since the ACME acquisition, the store has been a lot better stocked, a lot brighter, and a lot cleaner. I just wish we could get some new decor because this is so bland. Everything is beige.

This is the side of the deli wall, and I believe this is where the service deli/bakery used to be, facing this way. Now it's right around the corner. The Market Square, which contains deli/bakery and prepared foods, is made up of a few smaller businesses that used to be next door to Kings.

The registers are to my left, and the deli/bakery are to my right in the above shot. By the way, there's been absolutely no change with the liquor store, and it's still empty with nothing but junk inside. I didn't get a shot of the inside because there was a guy inside, but it's just random shelves and merchandise -- same as it's been for a year now.

Here's the deli, looking back over towards the grocery aisles.

Bakery counter in the back. There's also a sushi counter and a pizza counter between bakery and deli, but I don't think the pizza counter is functional anymore. At least I don't ever see pizza in it or in the oven anymore.

And here's an overview of the front of the Market Square, with the registers (including the newer self-checkouts) to the left. Well, I sure hope soon I can report a real remodel going on here, but for now we're stuck with whatever this is. But there are suggestions that more work might be going into some of the other Kings stores soon...

Chatham

We previously toured Chatham in December 2021, so not all that long ago. Not much has changed since then, but we do see one change here in the bakery department. Sharp eyes will pick up on it...

Here's a slightly better look at it -- the bread displays have been replaced with the same types of displays that are going into the Quality Built-remodeled ACMEs. And an unfortunate spacing on the department signage has the "Fresh Bread" sign not over the bread case, as it should be, but way to the right over the edge of frozen cakes and customer service. So hopefully, again, these fixture updates will be followed shortly thereafter by decor updates. Right?! By the way, this is definitely the same fixture that's going into ACMEs -- see Hamilton Square's bread case, from a post just a few days ago. Now those are not great pictures of the bread cases, but here's a better shot...

Summit

Yes, Summit also received the new bread case, but no other updates. The bread case looks nice here, but it would look so much better if all the other fixtures were upgraded to match it. The wooden table to the left in the above photo looks really out of place now, given that it's probably at least two generations of fixtures old. Here's a before shot. But now for some serious changes...

Millburn

The largest Kings is also what I assume to be the highest-volume. It's also directly across the street from the Springfield ShopRite. Check out my original store tour, posted in May 2021, here. Notice anything in the photo above? Well, I sure did...

Can it be?! Are we actually getting a Kings remodel, for real? Well, it's hard to tell at this point. We'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, there's definitely a few things in progress here.

In the first aisle (deli/bakery/cheese), we see a few notable changes. The first thing that caught my eye is the fact that the floor around the salad bar was a little scratched up. Turns out the salad bar used to be in the little alcove to the right, where those two brown refrigerator bins are now. There used to be an olive bar and a Mediterranean bar (with things like composed grain salads and so on) where the salad bar is now, which have both been removed. The odd coffee shop-type alcove to the right has been stripped for new refrigerators displaying prepared foods, pasta, and such. See before for comparison. I suspect the refrigerators we see here were simply relocated from elsewhere in the store since they don't look brand-new (although they may be), but I don't know where they may have come from. Interestingly, Millburn has not received the updated bread case. The real change happens at the other end of the store...

Used to be that there was one aisle that was frozen on one side and dairy on the other, then the last aisle was both sides frozen. I'm not 100% remembering whether there's still an aisle that's frozen on one side, but dairy has been removed from this area. I believe the frozen department is now just one aisle, but I'm not sure. Didn't pay enough attention.

In the front of the last aisle (with produce and now dairy), we have the liquor department, with freshly replaced lighting. Actually, I believe that was done throughout the store. Notice that the wood-texture flooring of the produce department has been scraped up. Now let's turn around 180 degrees to look towards the back of the store...

Here we see the relocated dairy department, as well as the fact that the wall between the main supermarket and the produce/liquor room has been removed. I'm not 100% sure whether a grocery aisle was removed, but the produce department felt way larger than it used to be. Part of that is the fact that, like Livingston, produce used to run up both sides of the aisle but is now only on one side.

Here's an overview of the back corner of the store, with the produce department currently in the process of being remodeled. There's not actually that much space here, but I did use the wide angle lens on my camera just for fun.

All of the produce fixtures here are new except possibly for the refrigerators. To the far right in the above picture, as well as in the top of the picture with the orange juice, we can see where the wall used to connect dividing the store from the produce department, and the patching paint job (which almost matches) where it was removed.

Looking back up towards the front of the store. I do like the new open layout here, it makes the store feel much larger and the dairy aisle facing produce rather than in its own aisle also helps to make the store feel more open. I do think selection (or at least the amount of product on the shelves) was reduced for this remodel, though.

Here we're looking back into the main supermarket, which has not had its flooring removed (yet?). That brings me to my big question here, are we actually getting a remodel? Or are they just going to redo this one department and then put down some new flooring and call it a day? I'd love to see new, exciting decor up on the walls, but so far I see no indication that that's actually going to happen. (Also, let's take bets -- what decor package will Kings be getting, or would Albertsons have a custom one designed just for Kings?) I will have to get back to this store to check it out, but it might be a while before I can. Before we head out, I did take a drive around the back where there was a dumpster and two lift trucks. The lift trucks gave me hope for a real remodel (the only change we see already done here that would require a lift truck is the wall removal, and since that seems to have been done a while, I assume they would've removed the lift trucks by now if they weren't needed for something else in the future, like a decor change). Here's the other thing I saw out back...

Well, that wraps up this set of updates at Kings! (I can also mention that I visited Florham Park on Monday and there were no changes at all.) Here's a look at what's coming soon!