Starting off our Former Supermarket Week with this location in Elizabeth, NJ. While I don't actually know what chain it was, it was undoubtedly a supermarket.
Gotta love a store with a tower! Many supermarkets used similar towers in the 1950s, although this store's slanted design suggests Food Fair or A&P most likely. Since the location doesn't appear on any established lists of those chains' stores, it's also possible it was an independent (of which there were several in Elizabeth, although I didn't think there were any this large), or another store like Foodtown. I don't believe that Elizabeth had a ShopRite before the existing store opened in 1994.
A few longtime Elizabeth residents I know were unsure of what this building's original tenant would have been. It's pretty obvious it was a supermarket, though.
Today the store, which is located at 639 Bayway Ave, is the Bayway World of Liquors.
Photographed June 2018
It was most likely a Grand Union, considering its slanted top. I have a needle set that looks similar. https://i.etsystatic.com/5487955/r/il/d932e4/123996884/il_794xN.123996884.jpg
ReplyDeleteI have the same suspicions, especially as compared to confirmed former Grand Unions such as what's now CTown at 444 20th Ave, Paterson, NJ. (That store's tower isn't slanted like this, but similar idea.) Problem is, I can't find a reference to a Grand Union in Elizabeth at any point. I will keep looking, and at some point this summer, I hope to spend a good amount of time researching in the Elizabeth Public Library, which has a huge collection of historical documents including local newspapers going back more than 100 years. I'll see if I can confirm that!
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