ShopRite
Opened: October 21, 2025
Welcome to one of the most anticipated supermarket openings of the year! I mean, the grand opening included a marching band and a parade, and backed up traffic for some distance around the store. The 90,000 square foot store -- nearly double the size of the previous store just around the corner -- opened on Tuesday morning with that fanfare, and a crowd that packed the enormous parking lot.
This store continues the evolution of the original Sunrise Market, which was located in Caldwell on Bloomfield Avenue. Later, Sunrise joined ShopRite and moved to 478 Bloomfield Ave in Caldwell, now a liquor store owned by Sunrise. In 1967, Sunrise moved to the location at 540 Passaic Ave in West Caldwell, which stayed open (complete with its pagoda theme) until this week. It closed on Monday night, making way for the new store at 900 Bloomfield on Tuesday morning.
Why exactly was the original store pagoda-themed? This is the burning question anyone who's visited it might have. Well, this plaque at the front of the new store gives us the best explanation I've seen yet. It's posted next to this picture of what appears to be the 540 Passaic store on its opening day back in 1967.
This store is now vacant and up for lease. While the new store is not pagoda-themed, that's not to say it hasn't incorporated a lot of the original charm and quirks of the previous store.
The exterior is modern and pleasant but distinctly lacking all things pagoda-y.
And inside, it's one of the nicest supermarkets around, even among its ShopRite peers. Sunrise owns one other store, the ShopRite of Parsippany about four miles west.
To get a sense of the grand aisle, here's a picture from the landing of the staircase on the way up to the second-floor event space. You enter in the front-right corner to floral and produce, with prepared foods lining the back half of the right-side wall. Cheese and deli are in an island at the left of the grand aisle, with a large cafe (under the cherry tree) in the middle. Bakery is at the back of the grand aisle, with seafood and meat continuing across the back wall. There's a Sunrise Cellars liquor store in the first few aisles and customer service in an island at the front, HABA in the next few grocery aisles (no pharmacy), and dairy/frozen on the left side of the store.
The Sunrise name is prominent here, probably in part because it was used in this town (or a neighboring town, technically) before the store ever became ShopRite.
The design of the store -- especially the grand aisle -- feels premium, a big step up from many ShopRites' interiors.
The decor is particularly attractive, with nods to the store's past but a fresh and modern design.
This store competes most directly with a Stop & Shop straight across the street. It's newly renovated, but smaller and far less deluxe than this ShopRite. Like this ShopRite, it doesn't have a pharmacy. A Foodtown is also right in the center of Caldwell, about a mile and a half east.
The store was ready for its grand reopening, with every shelf stocked perfectly. It was necessary: I was here around 9:20 AM, just minutes after the doors opened for business, and it was already quite crowded.
The prepared foods department, which includes the service counter you can see below along with a pizza counter, a sushi bar, and a hot food bar, lines the back of the right-side wall of the store.
The prepared foods weren't all set out yet because it was still early in the morning, but what they did have looked very good, such as this Sicilian pizza.
And I'm not sure what these are -- maybe garlic knots that have yet to receive their garlic topping? But they look chewy and yeasty and delicious.
Sunrise's Parsippany location also has a pizza shop, although the old West Caldwell ShopRite didn't.
Hot food is in the back-right corner. This store also has a salad bar over in the produce department, something that a lot of supermarkets have removed or stopped putting in new stores since the coronavirus.
Sunrise's bakery has always been one of their strong suits -- in fact all the perimeter departments are a notable step up from some other ShopRite operators -- but here the department itself is elevated with some great decor. The hanging light fixtures and tile backsplash make this section feel less like a typical supermarket bakery and more like a gourmet store. (But as an aside, what's up with those spot lights to the left of the bakery sign? Shouldn't those illuminate the sign, not the empty wall next to it?)
The products match. Sunrise's bakery is far from the typical supermarket bakery, and even in the older store their selection and offerings were far above what most ShopRites have.
Fresh breads are piled up next to an extensive display case of cakes and pastries.
Over on the other side of the grand aisle, cheese and deli are in an island between the liquor store and the grand aisle.
Once again, the selection and display here feels much more premium than the average ShopRite. Nothing against the average ShopRite -- many owners' new stores are very nice, but not as high-end positioned as this one.
The people of the Caldwells were out in full force to buy their deli meats at 9:28 AM, when I took the picture below! Not exactly the time I'd typically do my cold cut shopping, but people were filling shopping carts at this grand opening, not just browsing.
And the cafe -- temporarily closed for a grand opening event -- is in the middle of the grand aisle, separated from the rest of the store by this half-wall. Enough to give people eating some privacy, but small enough that there's still an open, airy feeling.
A look across the back wall of the store from bakery...
And yes, this is not exactly your average supermarket bakery.
The new store still has notable nods to Japanese design, such as this wave painting worked into the seafood department decor. But it feels more tasteful than the previous store, and more appropriate for the world of 2025. Once again, I'm a bit confused by the lighting here. Why isn't it centered over the department sign?
The liquor store, which is similarly premium in appearance compared to the rest of the store, is in the first three grocery aisles.
Again, the Sunrise name is prominent here. Sunrise has a handful of freestanding liquor stores, and the Parsippany ShopRite has a liquor store inside it.
The original pagoda phone booths are preserved in this store right up at the front, a nice touch! There were several people taking pictures of themselves in the phone booths when I visited.
A look across the front-end from the front of the liquor store...
A modern, bright HABA department is in the next few aisles after the liquor store. The previous West Caldwell ShopRite did have a pharmacy, but it closed around 2022 and it was removed to add another grocery aisle. This new store does not have a pharmacy. Parsippany does.
Service butcher counter is back over on the back wall of the store, to the left of the seafood department.
Again, we see meticulous displays of higher-end products, such as these fresh-made sausages.
The grocery aisles aren't particularly special, but they're wide and bright.
No dragons on the aisle markers anymore, though.
Still, the 540 Passaic store was getting to be in rough shape. It was always kept clean, but if you check out my latest round of pictures from there, you can see that the store was in need of some serious work. Given its relatively small size, it was probably easier to just build new than redo the existing one.
Frozen foods are looking quite a bit different than before...
Dairy takes up the last aisle, and frozen foods continue into an alcove in the front-left corner.
The same design company was responsible for this store as the renovations in Belleville and Nutley. According to a comment left on one of my Nutley posts from that firm, this was the first supermarket they built from the ground up. Pretty darn impressive for the first try at a new-build supermarket.
And let's wrap up with one more look across the very shiny front-end, looking back over towards the grand aisle.
While I'm sad to see the old store go, its time had come -- and this new replacement is a beautiful, modern supermarket with plenty of nods to the history. Don't miss this weekend's other posts here!
Opened: October 21, 2025
Owner: Dara Sblendorio
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: Wakefern Food
Location: 900 Bloomfield Ave, West Caldwell, NJ
Photographed: October 21, 2025
Hardly anything had changed between 1967 and this picture from last month...
As for the old location, I asked Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace to open there.
ReplyDeleteCody -- I've asked you before not to write the same comment repeatedly. Because you've disregarded that several times over, I will no longer be approving your comments.
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