SPECIAL REPORT: SuperFresh - Hopelawn, NJ

GRAND OPENING

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SuperFresh, Hopelawn, NJ

We're taking a pause from the Bronx coverage (the rest of which you can see here and which will continue tomorrow) to cover the grand opening ribbon cutting of the brand-new SuperFresh in Hopelawn, NJ! The store opened officially at 7AM on Friday, July 31, 2020 with the ribbon cutting held at 2PM.

We'll have a full store tour of this location when we pass through New Jersey after we finish New York (you can expect that to begin in the late fall or early winter coming up), but for now, we're covering the ribbon cutting of this beautiful new store, which happened yesterday. Previously, we've been to the grand opening at the Food Bazaar in Elizabeth, NJ which you can see here, but this is only my second grand opening to attend. This former Pathmark closed on November 25, 2015 without a buyer, and was briefly expected to be taken over in part by a D-Town Market Fresh (which I can only assume is related to B-Town Market Fresh). The 30,000 square foot space never opened though, and it was sold to New York-based Food World Supermarkets, who also own SuperFresh locations in Roselle and Linden.

After an extensive remodel, Food World opened the SuperFresh yesterday to a large crowd. The new store has basically no traces of Pathmark except a slight resemblance on the exterior, and it feels much larger than its 30,000 square feet (or smaller than Pathmark).

The store also has a Super Health Pharmacy department which is expected to open at the end of August.

SuperFresh was a banner created by Montvale, NJ-based A&P for stores in the Philadelphia region in the 1980s, but in A&P's bankruptcy the brand was sold to Staten Island, NY-based Key Food Stores Co-Operative. Key Food uses the banner on the larger, suburban locations in New Jersey and New York. Each SuperFresh is independently owned and operated, so the SuperFresh in Hopelawn does not share an owner with the short-lived locations in Edison or New Brunswick.

The new store is gorgeous and was opened to much fanfare as owner Harold Lee cut the ribbon inside the store yesterday afternoon.

The mayor of Woodbridge along with Key Food and local officials and executives attended the ribbon cutting, and several spoke at the event. The full video is below...

And wrapping up today's special coverage with this exclusive photo of Key Food Stores Co-Operative Vice President John Durante with store owner Harold Lee and his wife immediately after the ribbon cutting. ("We're smiling under the masks!" Durante assured me as I took the picture.)

The SuperFresh is at 101 New Brunswick Avenue, Hopelawn, NJ. Wishing luck to Harold Lee and the team at SuperFresh Hopelawn!