The Market Report

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 343 Mount Hope Ave, Rockaway, NJ Opened:  1980 Closed:  2010 Later Tenants:  Nordstrom Rack Photographed:  July 2020 It's time for a very quick look at the 41,000 square foot former ACME at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall. This store formed the replacement for both the downtown Dover and downtown Rockaway locations when it opened in 1980 and quickly became one of the highest volume ACMEs in northern New Jersey, being remodeled several times and finally closing in 2010. Nordstrom Rack opened up shop here around 2015, but if you want to check out a lot more information on the store along with pre- and post-closure pictures, see Acme Style's 2010 posts here ! We also have a look at the ShopRite just over the border into Wharton at the other side of the Rockaway Townsquare Mall today, and tomorrow, we're taking a look at a former supermarket just north of route 80 here on Grocery Archaeology. Come back to check it out!

ShopRite of Rockaway Owner: Irv Glass / Glass Gardens Opened: 1980s Previous Tenants:  Two Guys > Ames Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  437 US-46, Rockaway, NJ Photographed:  July 2020 What were you doing in May of 2017? The 10th, to be exact? Good thing to reminisce on, to commemorate the beginning of 2022. Anyway, I know what I was doing -- writing my post on the ShopRite of Rockaway, NJ located just outside downtown Dover on route 46. In the summer of 2020, I returned to the area and stopped by the Rockaway ShopRite for lunch and to check out its remodel which is looking quite good. You might remember our tour of Linden not too long ago, and this store (being owned by Glass Gardens also) is quite similar -- just slightly older and in a mirror image. This store replaced an older store in town , which as I mentioned on that post, may itself have replaced a very old and small store, possibly even in downtown Rockaway. You enter through a hallway tha...

Original Tenant: ACME Markets Address: 25 W Main St, Rockaway, NJ Opened:  1955 Closed:  1980 Later Tenants:  Quick Chek/subdivided Photographed:  May 2019 We are here in downtown Rockaway for this extremely small 14,000 square foot ACME. It was built in 1955 and appears to have the metal tower sign built directly into the roof of the building, which was a variation sometimes seen. It was likely chopped off a bit and covered over with sheetrock (and then had a hole cut in the center...?) when the facade was renovated at some point. In 1980, this store was combined with another small location in Dover for a large, new store (since closed) in the Rockaway Townsquare mall. We'll actually be seeing both of those stores in the next week, but up first we have to head back down to 46 for an independent store in Rockaway on The Independent Edition !

ALDI Opened: unknown Previous Tenants:  none Location:  212 US-46 W, Rockaway, NJ Photographed:  May 2019 It's been quite a while since we last saw an ALDI -- in fact, if I'm reading through my posts correctly, it was all the way down in South Plainfield a month and a half ago. So why not take a look at another one? I'm unclear exactly how old this 20,000 square foot store is, although I know it's been renovated at least once (in other words, it didn't open with this decor package). It's been open since at least 2008 and the building doesn't appear to be that old, so it's possible it was an original tenant in the strip mall (although I would find it a little strange that it was built in a strip mall at all since ALDI seems to prefer freestanding stores when they get to build them from scratch). Notice the flooring left over from the previous decor package, but it seems that everything else was redone. By the way, I like this decor package very much, an...

Before moving to its current location, the ShopRite of Rockaway was actually in Rockaway. Because, you know, that kinda makes sense. The current one is technically in Dover. This is a pretty bad location for a supermarket, being located at a curve in the road and set way back. However, it's not hard to see how it would have originally been pretty great, assuming the supermarket predates the other surrounding buildings, which I would guess it does. Visibility is now seriously limited by the gas station and strip mall in front of the building west on 46, and the car dealer (visible here) just east. The property is located at 279 US-46. Photographed November 2016

Heading out west to Rockaway, whose ShopRite we've seen before. The township is also home to the Rockaway Farmers Market at 353 US-46. It's actually a barrel-roof building, although it's more likely to be a former skating rink than a former supermarket. Can anyone confirm this? The Rockaway Farmers Market first opened sometime between 2012 and 2016, then closed and reopened under new ownership. It has remained open since. The store features a full deli, seafood department, and even sushi and a floral department. You can check out the interior here , here , here , and here .

Last Saturday we saw the Linden, NJ ShopRite , a Glass Gardens -owned store. Here's another Glass ShopRite that I visited the weekend before Thanksgiving 2016. (As you could imagine, it was really crowded!) It's located right on the Dover border in half of an old Ames department store. Regardless, it's a very large store at over 70,000 square feet. You enter under the ShopRite logo. There is a liquor department immediately to your right when you enter, and the pharmacy and customer service are to your left. Produce, deli/prepared foods, and bakery follow in the grand aisle. There is a Dunkin' Donuts at the front of the grand aisle. You enter on the left; the exiting traffic is to the right. A close-up of the wall decor over the produce department. Entering the produce department from the main entrance. Notice the carpeted flooring! You'd think it would be hard to clean, but I guess there must be some reason for using it. Looking along the fro...