The Market Report

Original Tenant:  Unknown Address:  184 Columbia Tpk, Florham Park, NJ Opened:  Unknown Closed:  Unknown Later Tenants: subdivided/Retro Fitness Photographed: November 2020 So it seems that I didn't do my homework before photographing the stores here in Florham Park. I photographed this store at the back of Crescent Plaza assuming it was a supermarket at some point, which it was not (I don't think, although it's still possible I suppose). Instead, it looks like it was built as a Drug Fair although it has a strong supermarket appearance. There's even still a cart corral visible along Retro Fitness's front sidewalk. There was also a Grand Union across Columbia Turnpike, and there's now a Trader Joe's next door along with a Kings in this same mall, which is our other post for the day. That wraps up the Morristown area, and tomorrow we'll be taking a look at what's next!

Kings Food Markets Opened: late 1990s Previous Tenants:  Village Market (closed late 1990s) Location:  184 Columbia Tpk, Florham Park, NJ Photographed:  November 2020 and August 2021 It's the final day of our greater Morristown group! We are here in Florham Park for two stores, the first being this Kings Food Market and the other being a store that's probably not  a former supermarket but oh well, you win some you lose some. This Kings seems to have been constructed by Village Super Market (a ShopRite operator whose Cedar Knolls location we saw most recently) but it's unclear whether or not this was ever a ShopRite; there was in fact a ShopRite in Florham Park just about 1000 feet south as the crow flies at 172 Ridgedale Ave, although it's been demolished and it's unclear whether that was a Village store. So whether or not this store was ever a ShopRite, it did become a Village Market in the 90s along with Morristown and South Orange (the original Village), and...

Original Tenant: Foodtown Address: 831 NJ-10, Whippany, Hanover, NJ Opened:  1991 Closed:  ca. 2000 Later Tenants:  Pathmark (ca. 2000-2011) > Farmtastic Supermarket (2014-2015) Photographed:  June 2020 Part 2 of our Pine Plaza coverage deals with this larger supermarket, built in 1991 by Michas Brothers Foodtown as a replacement for a much smaller store in a former A&P next door, which is part 1 . Michas Brothers (later Manyfoods) sold the 35,000 square foot store to Pathmark around 2000, which in turn closed in 2011 as the 20-year lease expired. In Cedar Knolls , we saw a Michas > Manyfoods > LaRacca Foodtown which then closed in early 2014. Well, a few months after the LaRaccas closed Cedar Knolls, they opened this location as Farmtastic Supermarket which lasted all of about 18 months before closing for good in mid to late 2015. As I mention in the A&P post, Pine Plaza is in an extensive redevelopment process which involved clearing out all of t...

Original Tenant: A&P Address: 831 NJ-10, Whippany, Hanover, NJ Opened:  1960s Closed:  1980s Later Tenants:  Foodtown (1980s-1991) Photographed:  June 2020 We arrive at the massive Pine Plaza in the Whippany section of Hanover Township once again after initially taking a look at the closed Farmtastic Supermarket back in 2018 . We're revisiting the Farmtastic location today as well, but the older supermarket in the mall is this centennial A&P, built in the early 60s and closing in the early to mid 80s. By the mid to late 80s, the A&P had become a Foodtown, which by 1991 moved down to an expansion of the plaza. Pine Plaza's property occupies nearly 20 acres of land but is completely vacant, awaiting redevelopment. Check out the Farmtastic post for more info on where the development is and what's happened lately. Tomorrow, we have two stores (one here on Grocery Archaeology and one over on The Market Report ) to finish out our Greater Morristown group!

Wegmans Food Markets Opened: 2017 Previous Tenants:  none Location: 34 Sylvan Way, Hanover, NJ Photographed:  December 2020 It's been a while since we last toured a Wegmans (I guess that was Hornell back in December 2020?) and interestingly enough, I posted that store within a few weeks of photographing this one. The 113,000 square foot store is incredibly deluxe and features a gigantic cafe and liquor store. It is, however, very similar to most of the other Wegmans stores from the last decade or two. The enormous location opened in 2017 in an isolated spot nearly half a mile off of route 10, but in a very visible spot facing interstate 287, from which you can see but not access the store. Now I'm unsure exactly how to start this tour, so let's head in to the food court in the front right corner. The liquor store is also in the front right corner, with deli and then butcher/seafood along the right side of the grand aisle; produce and bakery are on the left side of the gra...