A Seabra Foods - Union, NJ

Welcome to another Seabra Foods, this one owned by the "A" branch, as opposed to the "A&J" side. This store opened as an A&P in the 1950s I believe, and the Kenilworth store was built in the mid-1990s as a replacement for this location. However, there is a large number of seniors who live near this store, and could not easily get to the Kenilworth location. A&P kept this location open alongside Kenilworth until 2006, when the Union A&P closed.

Around 2007, Foodtown opened in the former A&P space, after little to no renovation if I remember correctly. They promptly closed and were replaced by Food King, which put up a "King" in place of the "town" already on the sign. Food King lasted only slightly longer than Foodtown, and soon after, A Seabra moved in, as well as into a former Foodtown in Roselle and a former Food King/Foodtown/Grand Union in Springfield. Both of those stores have closed by now, but the Union location remains open, at least for the time being.

I should mention that this used to be my local supermarket (along with the Acme on Magie and the A&P in Kenilworth). It sure was never this nice when it was an A&P!

Let's head inside . . .

You walk into a large produce department with a tiny liquor selection to your left (there is more in the grocery aisles). Seafood and meat are along the back wall; an island to your right has deli, bakery, cafe, and salad/olive/soup/hot food.

Despite the sign visible in the upper left-hand corner here, there is no floral department.

Very small beer selection in the front corner.

The signage is really nice and reminiscent of the decor of SRS (ShopRite Supermarkets) from a few years ago, like this example in Clark, NJ. It might have been the same design firm.

On the other side of that produce case, we see bakery/cafe to the right, cheese and cold cuts to the left, seafood straight ahead, and deli facing the back wall.

A tiny coffee/cafe area with a few stools is even squeezed into this pretty small store!

 Hot foods looking towards deli and the back of the store.

Olive/salad bar towards the back.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of the seafood department, which takes up a big part of this back left corner.

The meat department continues along the back wall of the store.

There is an alcove in the back past the meat department where the dairy cases are, along with bread and a few other shelves in the middle.

 

The grocery aisles all have new shelving, which is very nice.

 

In addition to White Rose, this location had a substantial selection of Super A products. It's going to be interesting to see if they make the switch to Avenue A as the Associated Group does, or if they will continue to use just White Rose.

And then there's always that stray wrong storebrand:

The last few aisles are international, liquor, and frozen foods.

 

 

 

 

 

In the front corner opposite the entrance, there is an area that would have been liquor originally but has been converted to health and beauty. This store does not have a pharmacy.

 

 Notice the one lonely neon beer sign by the corner. (That sign and most of the other liquor remnants here are gone by now.)

Looking along the front-end with registers to the left and bakery to the right.

That about completes our tour. I have to put in a word about this store's bakery - it's great. The products are either baked in-store, or are brought in from Teixera's Bakery in Newark or one other, whose name I'm forgetting now. If you visit this store you absolutely have to try something from the bakery!

Heading back outside . . . 

A Seabra Foods is a very nice store here in Union, but it's also very small. But getting certain items (produce, bakery, ethnic foods) that they specialize in is a great idea.

A Seabra Foods

150 Galloping Hill Rd, Union, NJ 07083
Open Daily 7AM-9PM
http://www.aseabrafoods.com (not yet available)
(908) 364-2790