120 Orlando Dr, Raritan, NJ

Original Tenant: Mayfair Foodtown
Address: 120 Orlando Dr, Raritan, NJ

Opened: ca. 1987

Closed: mid-1990s

Later Tenants: Edwards (mid-90s-2001) > Stop & Shop (2001-2017)

Photographed: January 2021

There's nothing like shopping at one of the Saker ShopRite superstores, and it seems Raritan customers agree. Six years after the Somerville location opened on the site of a former Pathmark, Stop & Shop announced they were closing this 51,000 square foot Raritan location just half a mile away from the new ShopRite. The store dates back to the 80s as a Mayfair Foodtown, which later became an Edwards and then a Stop & Shop, and remains vacant so far.

Tucked away in the back of the Raritan Mall off of Route 206 (but largely inaccessible from the highway), this Stop & Shop had a rough time for quite a while. As early as 2012, Acme Style reported that the store was suffering from the ShopRite's opening. (They had more coverage in 2018 here.) The Hillsborough location, which Acme Style mentions at the end of their post, will be coming to the blog in just a few days!

The Raritan Mall is in pretty sad shape overall. Only a few of the minor tenants along the side of the strip are still in business.

Funny how the ShopRite at 70,000 square feet can feel like a bustling addition to downtown when this empty shell at 51,000 feels like a hulking eyesore. Definitely not about size. I must say, this is not a particularly attractive exterior even for a store in business.

Let's take a look inside from the left side entrance...

Early 00s decor remnants.

Sadly, there's not much visible inside (as it seems that there's not much left on the inside). But we can get a glimpse nonetheless...

At least the flooring appears mostly intact. Hard to tell whether the general disarray is more due to concerted deconstruction or just deterioration over the last four years.

Left side entrance/exit, with a short strip of vacant storefronts to the side.

What a good idea! Let's head over to the entrance and exit doors on the right side.

Not much to see here, unfortunately. I think the produce/grand aisle was on this end of the store, though I'm having a hard time telling for sure even with Acme Style's interior pictures.

Entrance straight ahead, and exit on the left...

The sign out on route 206 directs people to an exit ramp from which you have to turn onto the side street and then you have to turn into the mall from the side street, making it annoying to enter and difficult to exit.

Stop & Shop and Chase Bank covered up at the top of the sign; Subway, Frank's Pizza, and Plato's Closet are also permanently closed, just never removed from the sign. That's all for now (make sure to check out the ShopRite in Somerville too), and tomorrow we're moving just to the west for our final Bridgewater store on The Market Report!