ShopRite of Hazlet
Owner: Richard Saker / Saker Supermarkets
Owner: Richard Saker / Saker Supermarkets
Opened: 2013
Previous Tenants: Foodtown
Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.
Location: 3120 NJ-35, Hazlet, NJ
Photographed: January 2021
It's time to tour what I think is our very first Saker ShopRite! I know I've mentioned this owner's stores previously, and we just recently saw a quick look at the one in Aberdeen about two and a half miles away. I don't know how other folks feel about the Saker ShopRites, but I must say that to me, their newest stores (from around 2000 to the present) are simply some of the best supermarkets I have ever been to. The nearly 90,000 square foot store replaced a short-lived Foodtown owned by Circus Fresh Foods, which in turn had replaced Service Merchandise and JM Fields stores. The store moved from an older, 40,000 square foot location on route 36 just to the north.
We enter in the glass foyer area, a common feature in the Saker stores that has been revised a few times over the last 20 years or so. Prepared foods and deli line the right side of the store, with a stir-fry bar and sushi on the front wall, deli/cheese and prepared foods on the right side wall, and bakery at the back. Produce takes up what amounts to the second aisle, with seafood and meat lining the back wall and dairy/frozen at the far side. On the far left side of the store is a bit of an awkward space used for the Nutrition Center, which includes pharmacy, natural foods, and nonfoods/HABA.
Starting off with this not particularly exciting shot of the Asian foods on the front wall (Wok Empire and Omakase Sushi). There's also a Dunkin' Donuts next to the entrance. On a side note, I've gotten hooked on their Chinese food at these Saker ShopRites. It's always really good and freshly cooked. Chinese? No, not at all. Fried, flavorful, and tasty? For sure.
The World Class Kitchens line the right side wall, and that's the gigantic food court/deli area. Saker stores are famous for this section, though as you can see the store in general is enormous. Packaged bread lines the left side of this aisle, with produce in the next aisle to the left.
Sub shop in an island in the middle of the World Class Kitchens.
Cafe in the front corner, with the rest of prepared foods and deli on the wall here. As we'll see in other Saker stores, this decor package has been used in its various forms for nearly 15 years. It's very attractive, though. And if you think these stores look good now, wait until you see how they look with my fancy new cell phone camera. The food court is looking a bit empty because this was a morning stop, and the store was just setting up for the day.
Service gourmet cheese counter on the side wall, with more cheese islands in the facing aisle. Bakery is up next in the back corner...
Just have to say that the Saker bakeries are among the best around, especially for bread. And I'm aware that some folks in the retail fan community are not fans of ShopRite, but I do love most of the stores, especially the Sakers.
Produce here in the next aisle. Seafood and butcher counters are on the back wall at the end of the produce aisle...
Packaged meats along the rest of the back wall here, including in another aisle that runs along the back wall (we can see it to the left above).
Looking along the back wall, we can actually see that the back wall has a few different alcoves as the store was designed to conform to an existing space.
Aisle 4, the water/beverage aisle, is a double-wide aisle.
Meat here in the back again, with frozen meats on the outside wall and fresh packaged meats in the island facing. Saker's fixtures, as we see here, have an older look to them but were newly installed for this location.
The meat section also shows us a bit of the side of the dairy backroom here, and dairy continues along the front of that backroom section and then down the last aisle.
I believe there are one and a half frozen aisles here. The left side of 14 is frozen, with both sides of 15 being frozen and and both sides of 16 being dairy.
Again, these cases have a bit of a retro look but they were certainly new.
Moving into the front corner, we have the entrance to the Nutrition Center (and if 16 aisles seems a little low for a 90,000 square foot store, we have a few more aisles here in the Nutrition Center).
Pharmacy and ShopRite from Home on the front wall, with their own entrance and exit.
The first three aisles of the Nutrition Center are natural and organic foods, and due to the size of the store many of these items are duplicated from the general grocery aisles.
The Nutrition Center only extends about 2/3 of the way to the back of the main supermarket, with backroom space behind it. Baby products line the back wall of the section.
The last aisle (24) is double-wide and displays paper goods.
Now moving back into the main supermarket for a look at the front end before we head out...
Customer service in an island faces the entrance and exit to the left above. Now, we have out next set of two Hazlet stores tomorrow, with the current location here on The Market Report and the now-closed location that they recently moved out of on Grocery Archaeology tomorrow!
My local Saker ShopRite is just really filled with Neon probably hasn't been renovated since early 2000s, ShopRite of Bordentown as an fyi
ReplyDeleteYeah I loved that store (for its historical charm) when I visited, but man that parking lot is annoying. I couldn't figure out how to make a right turn out of the driveway...
DeleteI travel 40 minutes to shop at the Saker ShopRite in Hamilton Square rather than shop at the Ravitz ShopRite literally around the corner from me in Cherry Hill. Hazlet is probably the best of their stores.
ReplyDeleteYeah these new stores are some of my favorites. Both of the Hamilton stores are pretty new, so I imagine those are great too although I think I've only been to one so far.
DeleteLooks good, but it seems off that the glass portion has such an invisible sign (only after magnifying it does the logo become noticeable).
ReplyDeleteMaybe just since the stores around here that have a similar glass section (mostly Price Chopper, but one ShopRite that took over a Price Chopper building) tend to make that the focus with the name sign (ShopRite actually covered the glass to make it look like a giant flag backdrop behind the name).
Yes, the Saker glass logo is definitely understated.
DeleteAnd I have to say that I find that Price Chopper-to-ShopRite exterior conversion (Hudson, right?) incredibly ugly. It just didn't really work for me.
Yes, Hudson (or technically Greenport as you are outside the city - they don't use that name for addresses due to having the Greenport on Long Island).
DeleteNot sure quite why they did that design - Price Chopper just put their name/logo on the glass with the glass plain behind it (very much as it would look here if they moved the red ShopRite from the left side and put it where the inscribed logo is instead).
Sorry to say that I am not a huge fan of the Saker Shoprites. Find even their newest stores to feel dated compared to other chains and... other Shoprites. The atmosphere is a little too warehouse for what I'm looking for in a grocery store. I will say adding the farm murals to the walls years ago completely transformed their stores for the better.
ReplyDeleteI'm most familiar with the one in Montgomery, NJ. And despite being branded "World Class", I find both the produce and bakery to be lacking. They don't even make their own donuts. They're brought in and always look about a week old. Deli salads too are the pits. If mayonnaise is not the main ingredient, they don't carry it. Biggest pet peeve... all the displays of crap along the front-end. Makes it so incredibly congested especially if you trying to navigate a cart to an open register.
That all said, I do love their prices and selection in grocery. I stock up on a bunch of items when I'm there. Just wonder why they don't update the look of their stores and make them a little more world class inline with what other chains are doing these days. Even the brand-new Belmar store has the same ol’ décor. I will say they're doing a great job with consistent branding across their store base but it's high time for a floor to ceiling update!
I guess it's just a matter of taste. My local store in Cherry Hill opened in the early to mid 2000s and looks like it opened in the early 90s.
DeleteThe produce and bakery issues aren't Saker problems, they're ShopRite problems. And, if I'm being honest, the only chain where I see consistently good produce is Wegmans. I've had issues lately with both ShopRite and Acme.
Well there are alot of ShopRites out there with fantastic bakeries. Even Inserra beats the pants off of Saker with baked goods. I will agree though, produce at ShopRite in general isn't great which is strange considering how high-volume their stores are. I buy nearly all of my produce at Whole Foods. Expensive but it just can't be beat. Wegman's is great too but they seem to stop stocking in the afternoon, leaving shelves picked over, if not completely empty, for those shopping after work.
DeleteAcme Style - you are exactly the one I was thinking of when I wrote that some people don't like these stores! I do agree that they've been using the same decor for too long, but I do love it as-is.
DeleteAnd I really can't stand most of the Inserra stores and find their bakeries to be really depressing. There's nothing there and what is there is barely worth buying! Village has consistent and pretty good bakeries, although the best are in the smaller operators (Oakland, Lincoln Park, Brookdale, Nutley/Belleville, Little Falls...)
I don't know about your stores but the produce in my ACME (Kenilworth) has gotten really good lately. Other favorites of mine include: Foodtown (usually a smaller selection but quality is consistently very good), SuperFresh (gigantic selection, great prices, variable quality but usually good), and of course Food Bazaar, my all-time favorite for produce. Agreed the produce at ShopRites isn't always the best, but I think it also varies based on location and owner.
Despite being excellent stores "on paper", Saker Shoprites always leave me feeling a bit cold. They're usually very busy, meaning parking is a chore. The interiors have some nice attributes but nothing completely eliminates the warehouse-like ambiance. Even though the product assortments are massive, the delis lack things I want like Boar's Head cold cuts, and the bakery assortments can vary wildly from store to store (even ones a few miles apart, like this one and Middletown).
ReplyDeleteI have no problem shopping for groceries in these stores but even though they're nearly 100k square feet, I typically end up having to go to my local Acme, Foodtown, or Stop & Shop to complete my shopping.
Sure, that experience isn't for everyone. I love a 45,000 square foot store -- it's a great manageable size. But sometimes I love these giant stores too.
Delete