TOUR: Fine Fare Supermarkets - Somerset, NJ

Fine Fare Supermarkets

Owner: unknown

Opened: ca. 2017

Previous Tenants: A&P > Fine Fare Supermarkets > Compare Foods Supermarket

Cooperative: Retail Grocers Group

Location: 621 Hamilton St, Somerset, NJ

Photographed: July 2020

Notice anything funny about that Fine Fare logo? How about the fact that it's kind of the Fine Fare logo placed over the Compare Foods logo? This store is just up the street from the slightly larger and much more recently remodeled Tropical Supermarket we're also looking at today, and Tropical seems to be the slightly preferred shopping spot. This store -- which is in 7500 square feet of a former A&P Centennial -- was previously a Rite Aid, later becoming Fine Fare which became Compare Foods which became Fine Fare again. It's unclear whether that's all the same owner or different owners.

Here we can very clearly see the A&P centennial facade, although it's been covered by that awful blue siding. I get that the Fine Fare owners were trying to work with what they already had, but the signs mounted over the Compare Foods logo are very hard to read. What was there previously was much better. In the caption of the picture linked above, Dan Asnis writes that the Fine Fare looks much like how A&P would've looked, which may be true but it's also true that little to nothing in the Fine Fare remains from A&P since it was a Rite Aid in between.

I would be much more inclined, by the way, to say that the flooring is left from Rite Aid than A&P. The cases look old enough to be left from A&P, but are more likely secondhand from elsewhere. We can see here that the interior of this store is significantly dingier than the Tropical Supermarket, and there have been far fewer updates.

Produce and meat line the first aisle, with deli and butcher on the back wall. Dairy and frozen are in the last aisle. Although this store isn't all that much smaller than Tropical, the selection felt much, much smaller.

A closeup of the deli and butcher counters. These cases might be slightly newer than the rest of the store.

This store's aisles are also clearly older than Tropical. Is it possible that the shelving came in secondhand when the store opened? Notice also the irregular flooring patterns, meaning that that's likely left over from a different layout at Rite Aid.

Looking along the back wall at the butcher and deli counters. Let's take a second to examine my stream of consciousness thoughts: Those aisle markers and department signs look like what we saw in the 33rd Street Fine Fare, but they also look an awful lot like what Tropical uses in some of their older stores. Is it possible this store was outfitted with former Tropical decor when they remodeled? Note that the whole section where the logo is, is solid red instead of the more common pile of fruits and vegetables. That suggests that maybe a decal was placed over a different logo. Of course, it could be a Fine Fare decal over a Compare Foods decal over a Fine Fare logo, but it's also quite possible that the interior signage was never switched to Compare Foods and therefore didn't have to be changed back.

Dairy in the back corner of the store, which then extends about halfway down the last aisle. Frozen takes up the front half. Note that at Tropical, each of those departments takes up one full side of the aisle while here they share one side.

Looking up towards the front of the store.

This Fine Fare isn't bad, to be clear, but it's certainly not as good as the Tropical up the street.

A look across the front-end. That wraps up our tour at this Fine Fare, and make sure to check out our tour of the Tropical! Tomorrow we finally jump into the downtown area of New Brunswick with two stores over on The Independent Edition. Stay tuned!