Price Rite of Garfield
Owner: Inserra Supermarkets
Opened: 2014
Previous Tenants: Big Deal > Pathmark > A&P
Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.
Location: 59 Outwater Ln, Garfield, NJ
Photographed: July 2020
We've just crossed the Passaic River from Botany Village in Clifton (Passaic County) to Garfield (Bergen County). And from here on out, we'll be in Bergen County as we finish out this group. Price Rite is the discount supermarket brand of Wakefern Food, which runs ShopRite, and all Price Rites except for three are corporately owned by Wakefern -- plus four more which are being converted from Save-A-Lot in the Boston area. This one and the location in nearby Paterson are run by ShopRite operator Inserra Supermarkets, while the location in Camden is owned by ShopRite operator Ravitz Family Markets. And as a fun side note, I've actually photographed every supermarket within the city limits of Boston, which we'll someday get to see all of. Hopefully.
As we can see, the storefront still sports the A&P facade, refreshed with the latest Price Rite logo. Inside, the 2019 remodel freshened up the store's appearance a little but the renovation didn't seem to be as extensive as some of the corporate stores we'll see by the time we get up to Massachusetts. There are, however, some local touches we don't see in the corporate stores in this location.
Produce is in the front corner, with meats lining the rest of the first aisle. Dairy lines the back wall with frozen on the far side of the store. Price Rite, as a discount store, doesn't have any service departments.
The Drop Zone takes up the back part of the first few aisles. That's Price Rite's equivalent of the Wall of Values, a place to put big sale items and loss leaders to get people's attention.
Meat lines the left side wall of the store with some more in coffin cases in the middle behind the Drop Zone.
Looking up to the front wall through the Drop Zone.
Deli-dairy lines the back wall. This Price Rite seems to be a bit more cluttered and disorganized than the corporate store where I shop once every few weeks.
The grocery aisles look much like any discount store. Price Rite relies heavily on its own brands but does not sell exclusively storebrands.
International aisle mostly offering Latin foods (a department no other discount store chain features prominently) with freezer cases right in the aisle. This store also has a significant Polish and Italian selection for those populations.
Lots and lots of water! 8 aisles in total; the store comes in at about 40,000 square feet.
Frozen on the right-side wall of the store with baked goods in the front corner. Unlike the corporate Price Rites, this one features bread and other baked goods from local bakeries, rather than just standard commercial bakery stuff.
A look across the front end back towards the produce aisle. Today, Price Rite is Garfield's largest supermarket but there was also an ACME just about 3/4 of a mile south. And today, that store has been subdivided into multiple smaller storefronts -- including two food stores, which we'll be seeing tomorrow over on The Independent Edition!
Do you think most Price Rites are corporate owned because corporate wants to have a tight hold on the brand, or because franchisees are largely uninterested in it?
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question, and I'm not honestly sure. I believe -- although I don't know this for certain -- that Price Rite has been a corporate brand from the beginning, and that it wasn't until the opening of Camden that they opened it up to members. I do believe two stores in California were franchised, which have since been closed, and (not to be obnoxious but) it's fairly important to note that a store like this is not franchised but member-owned, so that like ShopRite stores, this store is owned by a company that also owns a share in Wakefern -- which in turn owns the corporate stores through its subsidiary Price Rite Retail Corp. And that company was then the one that acted as the franchisor for the California locations.
DeleteThat is correct - they had been all corporate stores until fairly recently. Thinking perhaps the members might have asked for the option to use that branding for spots that a regular ShopRite wouldn't work (even an older store that was too small for the modern ShopRite but still filled a market that needed a store).
DeleteThat makes sense, thanks for the insight!
DeleteGot it. Thanks, guys!
DeleteThat looks like a nice store! I've been meaning to get over to the one in Harrisburg to check it out
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is! Price Rites are some of the nicest hard-discount supermarkets.
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