ShopRite
Ah yes, what supermarket built by a guy named Gladstein doesn't have a pagoda-inspired exterior? The best explanation I've been able to find is simply that the original owner, Ned Gladstein, liked Japanese culture and architecture and decided to build a supermarket roughly in that style. Of course, this was 1967, so certain decisions made then might not, uh, fly today. (The rickshaws in the dairy department have been removed in recent years, but the Sayonara sign remains above the exit.)
A few years ago, Gladstein's daughter Dara Sblendorio took over this store and the Parsippany location. Although the jump from a 45,000 square foot store to a 90,000 square foot store might be big here in West Caldwell, the Parsippany store is 90,000 square feet, so they're accustomed to stores that big. Parsippany is about four miles west of here.
I have always loved the West Caldwell ShopRite for its quirky charm and exceptional bakery, but it's been a while since I've actually been and it's definitely not aging particularly well. Its most recent renovation was over 20 years ago, and it's clear that it's time for an update, as you can see right away in these pictures. Still, the store is high-volume and very popular.
Per Placer.ai, which tracks foot traffic in businesses, this small and dated ShopRite sees over 110,000 visits a month, while the much larger and newer Stop & Shop across the street gets just over 30,000 visits. That store has just completed a renovation, which you can see here.
As you can see, the bakery is beautiful here and rivals any standalone bakery. It's the first department you enter to when you come into the supermarket, with deli and prepared foods along the right-side wall. Cheese and catering islands, along with bagels, are straight ahead, with produce in the back-right corner of the store. Meat and seafood line the back wall, with dairy and frozen on the left side. There was previously a pharmacy in the front of the first grocery aisle, but it has closed and is now used for additional grocery shelving. You can see the former pharmacy below.
There's a big emphasis on the fresh and prepared foods here, but the aging store doesn't do those departments justice like the Parsippany location does.
It's rare these days to see a mainstream supermarket with such a substantial selection of full-service prepared foods, but given that the Parsippany location has an even bigger prepared foods department, I have no doubt the new store will too.
Gourmet cheese and a catering desk are opposite the deli and prepared foods in islands.
Here's the aisle behind the cheese and catering counters, which originally ended where the diagonal floor stripe and wall are. The pharmacy was in front of that.
Salad bar between prepared foods and produce.
The produce department was the only one to get any real updates recently, with some new fixtures, flooring, and general fixing-up. Still, it's definitely clear that it's time for a bigger update. As I understand it, the new store has been in the works for a couple years, so they've probably been holding off on doing anything much here in the old store in anticipation of the new one opening.
A look across the back wall, with floral, seafood, and meat counters on the back wall and the grocery aisles to the left.
You can't miss the gold panels and dragons, which again are fun and quirky but I don't believe the term "cultural appropriation" had yet been invented in 1967.
These service departments are large, especially for the store's small size, so you can see they've worked hard to expand the perimeter even in a smaller and older store.
But smaller and older it is indeed. Take a look at the ceiling.
Even though the store is older, you can see it's been kept very clean.
Google says that these are Chinese, not Japanese, characters. And the rickshaws are gone in the last aisle, but you can catch a glimpse of them in my original post.
While I haven't seen any pictures of the new decor in the new ShopRite, I doubt it'll include any of this vaguely Asian influence.
The dragons on the aisle markers will live on here on The Market Report, though!
A (not very good) picture of the Sayonara sign on the front wall, which is certainly unique.
I had to get back and photograph this store one more time before it closed, because there's nothing else like it out there and chances are there will never be again.
Opening: October 21, 2025
The opening date of the new West Caldwell ShopRite is fast approaching, so let's check in on their progress! The exterior is almost complete, and the sprawling 90,000 square foot store is set to open on October 21. Here's a Facebook post from July that gives a look inside the new store.
This will be Sunrise Supermarkets' fourth location in this area. The original store, which you can see below, was on Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell. They then moved to what's now a Sunrise-owned liquor store at 478 Bloomfield, then to the current location at 540 Passaic in 1967. The new store is just around the corner from the Passaic Avenue store -- really all but across the street -- and represents a major jump up in size, double the footprint of the current 45,000 square foot store.
Let's take one last visit to the Passaic Ave ShopRite before it closes!
Owner: Dara Sblendorio / Sunrise Supermarkets
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.
Location: 900 Bloomfield Ave, West Caldwell, NJ
Photographed: September 11, 2025
ShopRite
Opened: February 1, 1967
Owner: Dara Sblendorio / Sunrise Supermarkets
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.
Location: 540 Passaic Ave, West Caldwell, NJ
Photographed: September 11, 2025
Still, I'm excited for the new store! Come back in a couple weeks to see it once it opens. But in the meantime, here's this weekend's other posts!
Saturday
- ShopRite prepares a new store in North Jersey (this post) while finishing up a remodel at another North Jersey store
- Stop & Shop remodels a North Jersey store
Sunday
- Fine Fare's latest Manhattan location opens
- Food Bazaar remodels Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island locations
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