122 8th St, Passaic, NJ

Original Tenant: Inserra ShopRite

Address: 122 8th St, Passaic, NJ

Opened: 1994

Closed: 2015

Later Tenants: vacant

Photographed: July 2020

Hard to believe this ShopRite only lasted 21 years. It was built as part of a large strip mall in an isolated industrial section to the southeast of the downtown area of Passaic. The 65,000 square foot store was expected to draw customers from all over but simply... didn't. It was incredibly poorly located in a city that had plenty of other choices, so the Inserras, who owned the store, didn't invest in it because it didn't make sense. The neighborhood is not a pleasant one, dominated by warehouses and factories, some abandoned. This simply doesn't make for a pleasant approach to a supermarket. The store drew from some of the residential areas just to the north, but being hard to get to from everywhere else other than there, the store just didn't make any sense to maintain. Closing in 2015, this store was replaced a few months later with a beautiful, brand-new location just across the river in Wallington in a former Food Basics.

You can see how desolate most of this mall is from this picture. It's simply not a location within the city for a retail destination. That said, a developer has purchased the property and will be redeveloping the site. Unfortunately I don't have a northjersey.com (Bergen Record) subscription, so I can't read any more of the article than the headline.

But for right now, ShopRite branding remains around the property! Just not on the main storefront. So it seems that ShopRite couldn't make it here, but tomorrow we'll check out an independent store just down the street that's giving it a go over on The Independent Edition!