The Market Report

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...

Kings Food Markets Opened:  by 1964 Owner:  Albertsons Companies Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  255 S Livingston Ave, Livingston, NJ Photographed:  September 24, 2025 Happy weekend, everybody, and let's kick off the news posts this weekend with a return to an old friend: the Kings in Livingston. See my most recent post here . New graphics are in the windows, and while I don't mind the general design, I still don't particularly like this blue. (Note that the first picture in this post was taken before the window decals were installed.) Other, matching signage has been installed inside. Kings seems to still be somewhat independent within Albertsons Companies, as they're still using their own circular and aren't doing any of the Sincerely promotions that the other brands are. Kings has been owned by Albertsons since January 2021. The new graphics are in all the departments, and while I don't love the look, it's very consistent and easily...

Stop & Shop Opened: 2011 Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  Stop & Shop (ca. 1970 - 1980) > Kings Food Markets (1980-2010) Cooperative:  none Location:  875 Bloomfield Ave, West Caldwell, NJ Photographed:  September 11, 2025 and September 25, 2025 I love to see a new sign going up or an old one coming down ! Here in West Caldwell, I happened to stop by the Stop & Shop just as the new sign was being prepared for installation. (The picture above is from a few days later, when the sign was up fully.) It looks like they were planning the exact position with this white poster or banner, and then the letters would be installed based on that. In fact, it looks like the bolts to mount the new sign might come through the white sheets, which look like they're just paper. This store opened in 2011, but the history is more interesting than that. Stop & Shop first built this store  around 1970 as a combined Stop & Shop supermarket-Medimar...