ShopRite of Elizabeth
Owner: Robert Sumas / Village Super Market
Owner: Robert Sumas / Village Super Market
Opened: 1991
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.
Location: 865 W Grand St, Elizabeth, NJ
Photographed: July 2020
The 65,000 square foot ShopRite of Elizabeth, which opened in 1994 in a former factory-turned-bowling alley (Federal Lanes, my Elizabeth native parents are pretty sure it was called). It's an absurdly popular supermarket that also used to be unfortunately one of Village Super Market's most rundown locations despite it being a relatively new one. Simply the amount of foot traffic this store receives had worn it out in just 25 years. You can see the store in a tour here. This store was planned around the same time as Garwood (which then opened in 2001) and so has an almost identical layout. But for years, this was the worn-out inner city store while Garwood was the beautiful spacious suburban store. Oh boy, how things have changed. Garwood's 2008-era decor is beginning to show its age, while in the spring and early summer of 2020 Elizabeth got a total remodel, changing almost everything throughout the store.
The store today looks absolutely outstanding. We can tell in some places the facility is older, but overall it looks amazing. Before we even go in, we can see changes to the exterior with a new paint job (on the front wall only, at the time of my visit), and that the foyer has been built out so that the exit directs shoppers straight out and the entrance sends shoppers in perpendicular to the front wall of the store instead of parallel to it, how it used to be. I'm going to repeat some 2016 photos here to give a comparison.
2016
Heading in, we find that the floral department that used to be randomly stuck next to meat and seafood has been moved to the foyer.
2016
2020
And it looks so nice! As we'll see, this store has been outfitted with Village's latest decor package, but some elements have been carried over from the slightly older decor package we saw in Springfield, for example -- such as this Blooms sign. Moving into the grand aisle, we find the basic department setup similar.
2016
2020
Wow! All the fixtures here have been replaced. As we see, a panel of decor has been added above the produce cases running along the left side of the grand aisle.
2016
2020
I simply caught the store before a sign for the customer service counter had gone up. I also believe there has been a wall installed to the right of the counter, probably to accommodate the new entrance/exit arrangement. We also notice that the first two aisles have been shortened to accommodate a new feature in the store...
2020
A new island has been added featuring sushi, subs, and prepared foods (none of which the store previously sold). The third aisle now also has an express dairy case with basics (milk, eggs, orange juice) along with single-serve beverages. And on a side note, the new sushi vendor that Village uses is exceptional. The sushi here was absolutely restaurant quality. Not cheap, but entirely worth it.
2020
The back of the island.
2020
Notice that this is a slightly newer decor package as the signage like "Springfield Farms" has been replaced by this style. Moving back towards the service departments along the outside wall, we find the bones of the previous decor still intact but nicely updated.
2016
2020
I love everything about this decor. The 3D rounded cake, the lighting, the brick and wood, the simple but elegant category signs. Also, the fixtures are beautiful! Up next is deli...
2016
We mourn the loss of "appy" and of the gloriously awful checkerboard but the decor is so much better now.
2020
And the former kosher counter, just behind the deli, has been replaced with prepared foods cases. Much better!
2016
2020
Looks so much better. Notice also that the prep area is totally walled off from the rest of the store, as would have been required for kosher prep. The area's Jewish population has declined since the store opened, with an increasing Hispanic and Portuguese population. This is reflected in the store's selections, with the grocery shelving opposite the prepared foods now filled with international foods.
2020
International selections continue into the back half of the first grocery aisle. Notice that the international selection has its own dedicated refrigerated case, with organic produce on the other side.
2016
The seafood counter has been cut back significantly (about 1/3 of the size, maybe) likely due to the fact that Food Bazaar two blocks away has a much larger seafood department. Village probably intends to focus on where they can beat Food Bazaar, and they know seafood isn't one of those places.
2020
On the other hand, the butcher counter on the back wall has been significantly expanded. (I find Food Bazaar's meats to be better than ShopRite's, though.)
2016
2020
The back aisle is looking so much better. The grocery aisles have been shortened at the back and in the middle to accommodate more sale displays. This makes sense, given ShopRite's positioning as a value-based store even in its higher end locations. They likely intend to emphasize the low priced items even in the more upscale environment.
2020
The center aisle is much wider than it used to be, a good thing given the quantity of sale display items has stayed about the same.
2020
Unfortunately, the grocery aisles look identical to before the renovation. They are a bit outdated, especially the flooring.
2016
The frozen cases have been replaced on the outside of the aisles.
2020
And as wonderful as the dairy department does look, the awesome Milk Store signage we saw in Union has been modified and is nowhere near as cool.
2016
2020
I don't seem to have pictures of the dairy department before, but let's take a look at dairy lining the last aisle.
2020
There's an odd area in the front with an extremely high ceiling. While I'm not sure why it's there, I do know it looks much better than it ever did before, when it was just blank white all the way around.
2020
"ShopRite of Elizabeth" over an old map of Elizabeth high up on the wall. I love it! I also think I have a paper copy of this exact map somewhere. (A reproduction, of course.)
2020
Notice that the Pharmacy sign remains!
2016
2020
Front end looking so much better. That wraps up our update at this beautiful store! We are moving through the city of Elizabeth starting with some exclusive historical/older photos of a store we previously visited just about a block to the east!
Wow, such an improvement! I used to stop in this store when I worked in the area since it was 24 hours and I worked odd hours. I liked it for their product selection, and it was still nicer than most of the ShopRite stores in my area, like Cherry Hill/Garden State Pavilion and Brooklawn.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a big improvement! Yep, and the store is still 24 hours. Food Bazaar up the street started out 24 hours but eventually cut back the hours slightly.
DeleteThat floating fish in the seafood department is just the coolest thing! The remodel as a whole turned out great, too, although I agree that it's a tad unfortunate the flooring in the grocery aisles remained intact instead of being replaced with something better looking. I suppose with such a high volume store it's difficult to replace the flooring in the aisles though, at least without causing major inconveniences while the store remains open that is.
ReplyDeleteThough you would think it would have been easier to do with everything else last year as so many stores normally open later/longer hours were closing earlier. That would have allowed for enough time overnight to do it, even if it was in stages over several nights, at least it seems?
DeletePossibly for sure. That's how ACME renovated the Kenilworth location in the spring of 2020 during and immediately after the crazy panic buying phase. I think the floor was just deemed good enough for the center store and refinished, especially with the rest of the center store not really changing that much.
Delete