TOUR: Save-A-Lot - West Side, Newark, NJ

Save-A-Lot

Opened: 2015

Previous Tenants: Good Deal > Strauss Auto > Key Food

Location: 543 Springfield Ave, West Side, Newark, NJ

Photographed: July 2020

Obligatory stop here at a rather uninteresting store on the West Side of Newark about three quarters of a mile west of the Avon Avenue Extra. The store does have some interesting history, though, starting out as a Good Deal (local chain run by Sam Aidekman, whose brother Alex Aidekman was a co-founder of Wakefern/ShopRite and Pathmark). The Good Deal name dates back to the early 1900s when the Aidekmans opened a farmstand in Irvington; the brothers later went their separate ways with two supermarket chains.

As with most Save-A-Lots, there are basically no real fresh selections. Produce takes up about 1/4 of one side of the first aisle, with meats (only packaged meats) and deli items on the back wall. Dairy and frozen take up the last aisle.

Meat and deli items on the back wall. Notice the ceiling is lower and fitted with ceiling tiles in the back here, as this may have been a backroom. Because the space was an auto parts and repair shop between Good Deal and Key Food (I suspect this may also have been a Mayfair Foodtown after Good Deal), there's basically nothing left over from the original supermarket tenants.

The grocery aisles are pretty straightforward, with no-frills displays in cardboard boxes. I think this is the first time we're touring a Save-A-Lot here on The Market Report, but they all pretty much look the same. This one is actually on the nicer side.

Dairy and frozen take up the last aisle. We can see where the meat department is under the lower ceiling in the back.

A look at the front-end before we head out. Okay, that's all for Save-A-Lot! Good news is, we won't be seeing such boring stores in the near future. Tomorrow we have an early ShopRite that's still operating as an independent supermarket over on The Independent Edition!