390 US-206, Hillsborough, NJ

Original Tenant: Mazur's Foodtown

Address: 390 US-206, Hillsborough, NJ

Opened: 1969

Closed: 1990

Later Tenants: Cost Cutters (1990s-2008) > vacant

Photographed: January 2021

Just south from today's other store, the Weis Markets on 206 in Hillsborough, is this former Foodtown. A local blogger has a fantastic history of the store here, which you should absolutely go read before we move on.

In the 1990s, as Hillsborough transitioned from a solidly rural community to a solidly suburban community, big-box retail sprung up with the new housing. To the north, Pathmark located itself in the Hillsborough Promenade; to the south, Village Super Market opened a ShopRite in Nelson's Corner, and Edwards set up shop in the Hillsborough Centre. These larger, modern supermarkets collectively put the smaller, older locations of this Foodtown and A&P. Today, everything has changed almost: Pathmark is now Weis; Edwards became Stop & Shop, which then closed and was subdivided with Indian grocery store Patidar Supermarket moving into about half of the location; the A&P was also subdivided into a liquor store and a greengrocer. And this Foodtown, later Cost Cutters (a Dollar General-like discount store), remains completely dead.

Sadly, there's no Foodtown labelscar, but there is a clearly readable Cost Cutters labelscar.

And it's been more than 10 years since Cost Cutters closed up, but there's still some of their decor left inside. Let's take a look...

Looking in through the former entrance door. I assume the bones of this weren't changed by Cost Cutters.

Some very clear interior photos courtesy of my new cell phone...

I'm sure somebody else will move in here soon enough (or it'll just be demolished), but I am very glad I got to capture the store as it was. If you haven't yet, check out our store tour of the Weis, and tomorrow, we're moving a little farther south from here to Nelson's Corner on The Market Report and a smaller store across the street on The Independent Edition!