TOUR: ShopRite - Springfield, NJ

ShopRite of Springfield
Owner: Robert Sumas / Village Super Market

Opened: 1975

Previous Tenants: Safeway > Finast

Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.

Location: 727 Morris Tpk, Springfield, NJ

Photographed: November 2019

We are returning here to the ShopRite of Springfield! We visited briefly back in 2018 to see the store in a snapshot, but we're back to see the whole interior and a more extensive look at the exterior. This 39,000 square foot store has been expanded beyond recognition from an original 11,500 square foot building with a glass front and an arched roof, known as a Marina style Safeway. When Safeway pulled out of New Jersey in the 60s, the store became a Finast (First National Stores), transitioning to Village ShopRite in 1975 as a replacement for their Summit location.

This store is Village Super Market's home store, as their offices are here in Springfield. It's been kept up very nicely but, at its core, is a very old store. It's been expanded many times, maybe as many as half a dozen or more, and is now almost exactly a triangle. You enter to the right side of the triangle, with the grand aisle in the right part of the triangle in an expansion. Bakery/deli line the front wall, seafood on the side, and produce on the back of the triangle. Meats line the rest of the back wall, with frozen and dairy on the far side of the store. Pharmacy (previously a liquor store) is in an expansion out of the front wall, in a separate room.

Here we see the pharmacy expansion. This was previously a liquor store, and as I've mentioned before, New Jersey didn't previously allow liquor to be sold in the same store as a supermarket -- it had to be separated in a different room. At some point around 2000, the liquor area was turned into a pharmacy. It's worth noting that this store is only a mile west of Millburn, which is also a very small and old store, two and a half miles northwest of Union (a larger and newer store, which we'll tour soon), and just under 4 miles south of Livingston and five miles east of Chatham, also coming soon to the blog. These stores are all very close together and all owned by Village Super Market, as this is their home territory. It's a measly quarter mile (basically diagonally across the street) from the Kings in Millburn.

This sign, which I mentioned briefly in the original post, greets shoppers heading west on Morris Turnpike. It's very difficult to get into the store, as it's at a very busy and somewhat convoluted interchange between three major streets and a highway. It would've been put up when the ShopRite logo seen here, now obsolete, was brand new (just two years old in 1975). The other side of this sign is a fascinating study of retail history, and a wonderful relic I couldn't believe...

Yes, that's an original Finast sign that was simply painted over and turned upside down! This is probably as close as we're ever going to get to seeing an intact Finast sign today. Let's head in towards the store...

As a side note, I assumed these mosaics come from Village Super Market's second-latest renovation since they match the "village" theme, but I've also read that Marina Safeways were built with mosaics next to the entrance. Is it possible these date back to the store's original construction? The other side of this wall is customer service, bakery, and deli. Heading in...

This store is certainly not a spacious facility, but they pack a lot into a very small space. Here we see Village Super Market's second-newest decor package (installed 2018 or 19) squeezed into a low-ceiling area. Customer service and bakery here on the front wall, and believe it or not, they even bake in store. It's hard to describe just how cramped this area is without seeing it in person.

Although this grand aisle expansion is almost half the width of the store, it only takes up maybe a quarter of the sales floor space because this is the far right corner of the triangle. Nice flooring!

Deli department looking good with a Boar's Head sign. This is one of the relatively few ShopRites that sells Boar's Head products.

Like Millburn, despite the store's small size, there is a fairly substantial seafood department. As you can see, it takes up the corner of the triangle.

Produce takes up most of the grand aisle space. Here we're looking from the corner towards the grocery aisles which are on the other side of the graphics we see here.

The decor we see here is actually just a banner hanging from the ceiling, but it looks great. The same graphics are printed on large-scale decals along the back wall.

The flooring actually runs straight front-to-back, so we can see how the back wall is angled here. Moving into the grocery aisles, the first few are under the lower ceiling in the expansion.

You can see how this part of the store feels a bit claustrophobic (especially since many residents from surrounding towns shop here), but it's still clean and nicely stocked.

There are two aisles along the back wall, the back one being meat with a small service counter, and the other being the regular back aisle of the store. Frozen foods line that part.

All of this is in the expansion out the back, meaning the ceiling is very low. Some of this might also be in former Safeway backrooms.

Here we begin the arched roof, which is beautifully exposed with its wooden beams intact! I think Safeway's sales floor would've ended where the arch ends, with the backroom under the lower ceiling behind it. Where we see the wood texture on the walls, that begins the expansion.

Small relic here in aisle 6. Each aisle would've had these at one point, but they were replaced around 2005 with the Village Market ones we see in aisle 5.

The back wall, which is visible from outside, has a large sign saying "Work - Eat - Live - Love with Purpose." It's a very nice addition from this latest renovation and OH MY GOD I JUST REALIZED THAT SPELLS WELL. Which ties in nicely with the whole wellness concept that is also advertised on the storefront. I'm trying very hard to remember what used to be here but I can't right now.

The arched ceiling is absolutely beautiful inside.

Frozen foods in the second-to-last aisle, in the expansion at the other end of the store.

Dairy lines the outside wall, with additional frozen cases facing. I've always liked this signage on the wall here. It's a bit confusing to me that they didn't update the Village Market aisle numbers hanging from the ceiling in the last renovation. Previously, they would've matched the decor.

Pharmacy and floral are in the front corner here. Look at those wonderful arches!

The pharmacy, as you can see here, is really tucked away into the corner. Let's head in to the pharmacy room...

This is the same basic layout that East Orange used to have (it has been reset). The pharmacy was closed at the time of my visit, because I visited on Thanksgiving day!

Blooms is up next on the front wall. I absolutely love everything about this sign in the context of the arch roof and glass wall, I think it looks beautiful.

This is a beautiful sight! This is the only Marina Safeway I've photographed the interior of, although I have been inside one other that's still a supermarket. But that was out in Denver, CO, and that was well before I started photographing stores.

Unfortunately, that's all the coverage we can have here. Such a great building! Definitely come and check it out... but not at a busy time, because the store gets packed. Up next, we'll be heading a mile and a quarter to the east along Morris Turnpike (which becomes Morris Avenue) to see Springfield's other supermarket! Check it out tomorrow on The Independent Edition!