The Market Report

Key Food Supermarkets Opened: May 16, 2026 Owner: Ricky & Lenny Hernandez Previous Tenants: none; Foodtown > CTown previously on property Cooperative: Key Food Stores Location: 126 Main St, Matawan, NJ Photographed: May 28, 2026 Time for another new store from Key Food! (The mess going on in Oakland Gardens , I mean the transition going on in Oakland Gardens, is notable but doesn't actually result in the cooperative having any new  stores.) Here in Matawan, which is at the far north end of the Jersey Shore -- I suppose it's not even really part of the shore -- Key Food member Ricky Hernandez has opened a new store with his son Lenny (ownership via Asbury Park Press ). The Hernandezes also run Tropical supermarkets in north and central Jersey, and are preparing to open a SuperFresh in Long Branch. At just 7700 square feet, this Key Food is truly tiny. That didn't stop the designers from going all-out here in the produce department, though! It's a small, but...

Patidar Supermarket Opened: February 19, 2026 Owner:  Rajesh & Pradip Patel Previous Tenants: non-grocery tenants Cooperative: none Location: 711 NJ-28, Bridgewater, NJ Photographed: March 27, 2026 As Indian and South Asian communities expand in New Jersey (and the New York metro area in general), Indian supermarkets are expanding with them. That's the case here in Bridgewater, where local chain Patidar has opened their newest and flagship store in a roughly 37,000 square foot former Buy Buy Baby. The store is large, spacious, and deluxe, with modern decor and a wide range of services not often found in Indian supermarkets (but becoming increasingly common). You enter to the grand aisle on the right side, with produce in the middle and a cafe in the front-right corner, along with prepared foods (both premade and made to order) and a sweets counter on the right side wall. Dairy is at the back, with frozen foods in the first few aisles and nonfoods on the left side. A pharma...

Sprouts Farmers Market Opened: October 3, 2025 Owner:  publicly traded Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  1002 St Georges Ave, Avenel, NJ Photographed:  October 5, 2025 Greetings from a brand-new Sprouts! This is currently Sprouts' northernmost location on the east coast, although stores are on the way on Long Island and in Westchester County in New York. This newly-built location in the Avenel section of Woodbridge, NJ anchors a strip mall that's still in progress. Sprouts definitely chose a tough location here: it's a high-profile location, with easy access from several major roads and highways, but it's also within a couple miles of a couple of ShopRites, a Wegmans, a LIDL, an ALDI, a SuperFresh, a Walmart, a Fresh Grocer, and a number of independent stores. Still, there's some distance to a dedicated natural foods store: the closest stores are two Whole Foods in Clark and Metuchen about five miles away each, but that's a distance in the...