TOUR: ShopRite - Bernardsville, NJ

ShopRite of Bernardsville

Owner: Robert Sumas / Village Super Market

Opened: 1970s

Previous Tenants: none

Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.

Location: 93 Morristown Rd, Bernardsville, NJ

Photographed: June & November 2020

It's our third stop in Bernardsville! And yes, these are all on the same day, so make sure to check out the former Kings across the street and the former A&P next door. You can put this into the category of smaller, weirdly-shaped 1970s-era Village ShopRites, much like Springfield which is roughly 12 miles due east.

Rather normal-looking storefront, although like Springfield, the store itself is pretty much a trapezoid. The left side, which is the grand aisle, is the longer end with the last aisle on the right side the shortest aisle in the store. That seems to be a result of assorted additions made right up to the train line that runs behind this store.

I don't know too much of the history of this store, though it seems that the latest expansion happened a little after the time of the Kings opening across the street, roughly 1990. I assume it had the same 1990s decor package as Elizabeth at that time, which is also what Essex Green opened with. Both this store and Essex Green were remodeled extensively between 2005 and 2010, while Elizabeth was not. Then Essex Green and Elizabeth were remodeled again, while this store was not. As we'll see, though, Bernardsville is looking really good today.

We enter to the grand aisle on the left side of the store, which as I mentioned is the deeper side of the store. Bakery is in the front corner, with prepared foods and deli on the left side wall, and seafood and butcher at the back of the grand aisle. Meats and dairy line the back wall, with frozen and the rest of dairy in the short aisles at the far right of the store. Pharmacy and floral are in the front right corner, and in an unusual move for Village stores, each has its own entrance.

I must say that as much as I do like Village's newer decor packages, this one has a certain charm that the newer ones don't exactly. And this store has a rather deluxe version of it for such a small location (Essex Green, for comparison, is about 70,000 square feet.)

I also do enjoy the high ceilings in the grand aisle. That's one of Essex Green's best features.

Bakery is on the front wall to the left of the entrance, and customer service is to the right of the entrance on the front wall.

Back to the grand aisle, we see a very attractively designed deli and seafood area. You can also see very clearly here how the back wall is angled compared to the rest of the store.

Seafood at the back, and the deli islands in the middle here are newer than the rest of the store.

Looking back towards the front of the grand aisle. The hot food bar, sushi, and Blueprint Subs signs to the left of deli are newer, and this area would've originally had a Bistro Street graphic matching the rest of the decor.

Small service butcher along the back wall, and packaged meats line the next part of the back wall.

Because of the store's unusual shape, its aisles are all pretty short, even the ones on the longer side here.

Grocery shelving probably replaced at the time of the latest remodel, probably around 2007.

I'm not sure whether this flooring was replaced at that time too, but I'm fairly certain this is older -- maybe even original to the store.

And around aisle 5, we switch from meat to cold cuts and then to dairy. The ceiling is aligned to the front wall, so you can see there's a pretty significant angle there.

Aisles 10 and 11 are frozen foods, in newer cases.

Note that this flooring looks a lot like what we saw in the 1970s-era Watchung store, which is just under 10 miles to the southeast. That might mean it's original to the store, but it's also quite possible a similar style was used for many years.

Aisle 11 is the second frozen aisle. I assume the middle of 10 and 11 was originally coffin cases, just like Watchung.

Dairy lines the outside of aisle 12, which is pretty short. Pharmacy is in the front corner, with dietitian to the right, and floral on the front wall.

The pharmacy was redone after the latest remodel, too, probably around 2014 or so.

Floral is on the front wall, and as I said, notice that it and pharmacy both have their own entrance doors. Village stores typically have only one entrance and one exit.

And a look across the front end. I like the beam structures on the ceiling, it's an interesting added feature. That's about all, so check out the other two Bernardsville stores here and here today, and up next we're heading out to Mendham for a tour here on The Market Report!