The Market Report

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 471 Main St, Chatham, NJ Opened:  1966 Closed:  ca. 1989 Later Tenants:  CVS Photographed:  November 2020 Very quick look today at this former ACME, mostly because Acme Style already has extensive coverage of the location  (including a great historical photo) and nothing much has changed in the nearly 10 years since they were here. The 17,000 square foot space was filled by CVS at some point, though I'm not sure whether it went directly from ACME to CVS. Foodtown took quite a few closed ACMEs in northern New Jersey, so it may have briefly been a Foodtown, or possibly CVS opened right after ACME closed. Chatham also has a Kings just about 800 feet away, so be sure to tour that store here . Tomorrow, we're heading into Morristown to start our next group, so stay tuned!

Kings Food Markets Opened: 1970s Previous Tenants:  none; Safeway > Finast > Good Deal previously on this property Location:  393 Main St, Chatham, NJ Photographed:  December 2019, November 2020, and July 2021 Ahhh, what a beautiful supermarket exterior. I mean, sure, sometimes we see supermarkets with unappealing rear entrances and exits . But this one doesn't look great all around. Unlike most supermarkets, this one is set up so that it's right up at the street with the parking in the rear. This 19,000 square foot store was constructed by Kings in the 1970s to replace an older store they had on the same property, in what was previously a Safeway that became a Finast and later a Good Deal, that burned down. Not much to see out on the street side, either. The layout of this store thoroughly confuses me, with the front-end running along the left side wall of the store; aisles run from side to side with produce in the back and deli/bakery in the front. Now typically ...

Whole Foods Market Opened: ca. 2000 Previous Tenants:  A&P (1960s-1998) Location:  222 Main St, Madison, NJ Photographed:  December 2020 It's time for our second Rose City tour! See the Stop & Shop near downtown here . This store is about half a mile outside of downtown. Originally built as a centennial A&P in the 1960s (see the facade? It's been changed but the bones are still there...) it was extensively expanded and renovated to its current 28,000 square feet in the 1970s. At the same time, the store was likely rearranged with the front-end relocated from the wall facing Main Street (seen here) to the left-side wall of the store, which faces the main parking lot. It's also possible that was a change made by Whole Foods upon moving in, it's hard to tell. But anyway, the 62,000 square foot Edwards, later Stop & Shop, up the street was too much for this much smaller and older A&P, which closed in 1998. Whole Foods moved in shortly thereafter, and th...

Stop & Shop Opened: 2000 Previous Tenants:  Mayfair Foodtown (ca. 1990-1995) > Edwards (1995-2000) Location:  133 Main St, Madison, NJ Photographed:  December 2019 & December 2020 Welcome to the Rose City! With a population of just about 16,000, Madison isn't exactly a big city, but that's its nickname nonetheless. On the eastern edge of the downtown area, which was once home to an ACME , is this 62,000 square foot Stop & Shop with a very interesting history. (Side note: about half a mile east on Main Street is a Whole Foods, which you can tour here .) I mentioned it in the posts from the former Kings/Mayfair in Berkeley Heights and the Stop & Shop in Berkeley Heights , but Grand Union had been planning to build here in the late 80s while Mayfair was planning to build where the Stop & Shop is now in Berkeley Heights. They reached a deal to swap locations, with Mayfair building here on this property, which was previously (and continues to be) ...