Original Tenant: unknown (possibly Grand Union)
Address: 1448 Morris Ave, Union, NJ
Opened: unknown
Closed: unknown
Later Tenants: Buy Rite Liquors
Photographed: May 2020
This is a store I've long thought originated as a supermarket, though of course I could be wrong. It bears some similarities to 1950s-era supermarkets, and I am vaguely aware of there being a Grand Union on Morris Avenue in Union (although that could refer to a now-demolished supermarket on Morris Ave in Elizabeth, or perhaps the Grand Union on Morris Ave in Springfield to the west).
If this was ever a supermarket, it's also quite possible it was an independent store or a store without standardized models, such as ShopRite or Foodtown.
This side of the store -- the tower, the brick, and the columns -- really looks like a former supermarket. Can anyone identify it? Anyway, we're going just to the north to Hillside, where we've previously seen a ShopRite, to see the township's smaller supermarket tomorrow on The Market Report!
This was Colonial Drugs and Liquors, a pharmacy, from the mid-1960's through at least 1980. It was named for the nearby Colonial Ave. They even had a TV tube tester. To the best of my knowledge, it was never a supermarket.
ReplyDeleteThere was, however, a small store called the Townley Supermarket a block away at 1422 Morris Ave. It was a small store with 3 or 4 aisles and a butcher behind a window.
Thanks for the history and for tipping me off to the Townley Supermarket! I believe they were IGA-affiliated, I remember seeing something like that on an IGA list.
Delete