Monmouth Market
Opened: April 2025
Welcome back to Manalapan! The small store at Yorktowne Center has changed ownership, and is in the process of switching from Buddy's Marketplace, which I visited a couple years ago, to Monmouth Market. The new owners are still making changes, so the store is definitely not finished just yet. As you can see, a permanent sign hasn't been installed outside yet. And inside, the store is undergoing a reset. It looks like the new owners are looking to keep the highlights of Buddy's Marketplace -- the deli, prepared foods, and meats -- and add some new selections.
The grocery aisles are still also being restocked, but it looks like the new owners are making an effort to bring in more Middle Eastern products alongside the Italian products Buddy's carried. I think the new owners are Middle Eastern. I don't know the demographics of the area well enough to know if that's a community that's growing in this town or region, but if so, it would make sense to add those selections.
Some of the freezers are blocked off with these under repair signs on them, but notice that they're actually branded Buddy's Marketplace, so this may have been in progress when the store was sold.
It's still a very attractive if very small store, and I'm interested to see what the finished product looks like. But it's definitely small -- my estimate would be around 5000 square feet.
Meat and deli at the back, which look like they're mostly staying the same.
Monmouth Market has also introduced a new menu for deli sandwiches and prepared foods, so it's clear they want to continue the food service aspect that seemed to be a big part of Buddy's operations. The produce bins have been removed, though, and so there's a lot of open space between the deli and the front-end. The produce is all now in the refrigerators on the side.
A look across the back wall of the store.
Front-end (along with beverages and baked goods) opposite that wall. Incidentally, if it's true that Buddy Sciandra no longer owns this store, it might mean that the Sciandras -- the founding family of Top Tomato -- are out of the supermarket business entirely. There's only one Top Tomato left, and it's on Staten Island and appears to have changed ownership a few years ago. The Sciandras also briefly owned a store in Old Bridge, NJ, which is now Vucciria of Brooklyn.
Opened: April 2025
Owner: unknown
Previous Tenants: Key Fresh & Natural > Uncle Gino's Marketplace > Buddy's Marketplace
Cooperative: Krasdale Foods
Location: 300 Gordons Corner Rd, Manalapan, NJ
Photographed: May 9, 2025
That's all for this updated look at Monmouth Market, and here's our other posts for the weekend!
How has Cosmo’s been now in West Milford since it closed last year? Is it becoming another store?
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