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The Food Emporium - Maplewood, NJ

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By Zachary
The Food Emporium
Opened: December 2025
Owner: Adam Shapiro
Previous Tenants: A&P (opened 1928) > Kings Food Markets (1942-2020) > Green Way Markets (2021-2025)
Cooperative: Key Food Stores
Location: 159 Maplewood Ave, Maplewood, NJ
Photographed: January 7, 2026
We return once again (the first time in a few years, actually) to downtown Maplewood to check out the newly-minted Food Emporium in town. This store of roughly 12,000 square feet (including a basement) actually dates all the way back to 1928 when it was constructed as an A&P, likely in a slightly smaller building. By 1942, it had become a Kings, which stayed put in the downtown location all the way until their bankruptcy in 2020. This was one of the locations Albertsons chose not to purchase, and in late 2021, it became a Green Way Markets owned by Adam Shapiro. Shapiro had been running operations over at Jack's Foodtown, and this was the first store he owned. In 2024, he opened a location in Bloomingdale, buying Marrazzo's Market in either 2024 or 2025. And just yesterday, he opened a new location in Waldwick.
Possibly in conjunction with Waldwick -- it had previously been a Key Food affiliate, and Shapiro was a member of Allegiance Retail -- his other three stores have joined Key Food, too, and this one has transitioned from Green Way to The Food Emporium.
Inside, the store has changed almost not at all in the switch from Green Way to Food Emporium. (Incidentally, both Green Way and Food Emporium were brands that A&P previously owned. Allegiance bought the Pathmark and Green Way names, and Key Food bought the SuperFresh and The Food Emporium names.)
Produce is in the front-right corner, with dairy in the rest of the first aisle. Meats are on the back wall, with frozen foods in the back-left corner and deli in the front-left corner.
As I mentioned, this store was a Kings for nearly 60 years. You can tour Kings when it was still open here.
I don't know if there's still some form of reset going on regarding the switch from Allegiance to Key Food, but both this store and Bloomingdale felt pretty empty, like they were low on stock. Both are very small stores and might be very low volume, so maybe they just don't keep that much on the shelves here.
The aisle markers have been updated with new Food Emporium logos.
Cheese and cold cuts are in this refrigerator case, which backs up to the produce department. The deli is on the other side of the cracker shelf you can see below.
You can see some similarities to Waldwick, such as the gray color scheme and the cheese and crackers being grouped together.
Over in the deli, you can see some sandwiches with Food Emporium labels and some with Green Way, so the switch over was still in full swing when I visited on Wednesday.
Some new Food Emporium signage has also gone up in the front, with only one Green Way logo I could spot still remaining in the store.



Green Way Markets
Opened: October 2021
Owner: Adam Shapiro
Previous Tenants: A&P (opened 1928) > Kings Food Markets (1942-2020)
Cooperative: Allegiance Retail
Location: 159 Maplewood Ave, Maplewood, NJ
Photographed: November 23, 2021 and December 9, 2025
Now, I realized we actually never got the full tour of Green Way, since the original post I linked above was with pictures sent in from a contributor. I visited the store myself the following month -- back in 2021, a couple weeks after this store opened.
It does look like they're stocking a little less on the shelves these days, especially in the perishables departments, probably because it's just not a very high-traffic store.
Another reality: the long-declining Ashley Marketplace in neighboring South Orange was sold and replaced after an extensive renovation with Village Marketplace. It's possible that that store, which is far better than Ashley was in its final years, drew some customers away from this one. They're a little over a mile apart.
Looking towards the back of the store from the produce department...
Green Way's renovation here was very extensive when they took over from Kings, as Kings' aisles ran side to side and the registers lined the right-side wall with produce against the first wall. The layout was completely redone and many of the fixtures were replaced.
Looking across the back wall. Notice the case of Green Way chicken to the right below, which has been replaced with a selection of Bell & Evans now that this store is no longer Green Way.
The grocery aisles now run front-to-back, which Kings' did also before they renovated a few decades ago.
Only four aisles in total here, including the produce/dairy aisle on the right side.
And the deli/cheese area is at the front of the store, next to the produce department.
Service deli is the only service counter here.
The registers are actually left over from Kings, but they got some new signs.
And these pictures come from early last month, when the transition was beginning. The darker blue price tags to the top are Allegiance tags, the lighter blue ones below are Key Food tags.
The same types can be seen in the grocery aisles too, during the transition, with orange Key Food tags and blue Allegiance tags.
Read more here for some other newsworthy stores this weekend, including Adam Shapiro's other stores!
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