TOUR: ShopRite - Stirling, NJ

ShopRite of Stirling
Owner: Robert Sumas / Village Super Market

Opened: ca. 1960s (?)

Previous Tenants: none

Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.

Location: 1153 Valley Rd, Stirling, NJ

Photographed: November 2020

Moving just about half a mile from yesterday's Kings to see this gigantic ShopRite of over 70,000 square feet. If you check out an aerial photo, though, you can see that the store was originally much smaller and has been expanded many times. It appears to be constructed around an original 20,000 square foot pitched-roof section, which I don't have any evidence was ever an ACME though of course I suppose it is possible. Anyhow, that is now thoroughly buried (although you can see it in the exterior picture above), and the store was the very first to receive Village Super Market's high-end "Village Food Garden" renovation back around 2010-12 which has now made it into many other stores, including Union which we saw back in June.

Much like Union, Stirling is simply gorgeous inside. We enter and turn 90 degrees to the right to move into the expansive grand aisle, with produce in the front right corner and then meat, seafood, and deli lining the peninsula along the left side. Bakery and prepared foods are at the back, and there's also an entrance/exit there to the side parking lot. Like Union, there's only one walkway from the grand aisle to the rest of the store, which is in the front and it passes pharmacy and customer service. In the main supermarket, meats line the back wall with HABA in the first few aisles, frozen and dairy to the far left, and the Village Wellness Garden (dietitian and natural foods) on the far left side of the store.

Subs and sushi are displayed in an island near the entrance at the front of the grand aisle, which actually resembles Elizabeth too.

And produce lines the outside of this grand aisle area.

Kings never had a chance. I mean, look at this place. And Kings had a fraction of the services and products even at their height.

And at the back of the produce department is beverages, coffee, and the side entrance/exit.

Celebration Station (bakery) on the back wall here. Worth noting that this store began the now-common Village tradition of separating the artisan breads from the rest of the baked goods, by putting them over in the deli department (or, in the largest stores, in their own department), hence the breadless cake theme on the bakery sign.

Opposite the bakery, prepared foods bars and cheese islands take up the center of the grand aisle.

And the Midtown Direct Deli features the rest of the cheeses, breads, and of course the standard cold cuts...

(Some of those aren't actual NYC subway routes, so I assume the designers were going for something else here.)

Service seafood and butcher at the front of the grand aisle peninsula, which is the only thing that I dislike about this store. The peninsula clogs up traffic in the front, since there's only one way to get over to the main supermarket, and it puts the service butcher weirdly far from the packaged meats.

Floral and pharmacy are opposite the butcher on the front wall.

Customer service and self checkouts are also on this end of the front end.

You get a sense of the age of this supermarket in the main area, which feels much older even though it's been remodeled. The grocery aisles all received new shelving in the 2013 remodel, as seen here in aisle 1...

Remember the service butcher way back there? We're still not at the packaged meats yet, first we have to go past this awkward corner in the back of the store...

Not yet...

Finally! And it does look really good back here, with the new decor and flooring (just wish we could actually see the decor), but the cases are definitely pretty old here.

Beautifully renovated HABA department opposite the pharmacy, just like Union.

Frozen foods are down towards the end of the store, and it looks like the cases were all replaced in 2013.

They take up two aisles here, which is pretty standard in Village stores.

Gotta love The Milk Store's signage! Nonfoods are also down at this end of the store, and you can catch a glimpse of the Village Wellness Garden at the far end.

In the last aisle, we have the remainder of dairy and the Village Wellness Garden, which has organic and gluten free type products, along with the dietitian's office in the back corner.

I don't particularly like separated natural and organic departments, but I must say that the design of this area is pretty awesome.

I see they made a sign just for people like me who don't get that Work Eat Live Love spells well (see Springfield for my revelation)...

Some really great merchandising in this section backed up with great decor. I'm not entirely sure whether this is from Broden or Off the Wall (I believe Broden, though Village's newest stores are done by Off The Wall).

And moving back out to the front-end.

Love that lime green front wall! That's all for the ShopRite in Stirling, and tomorrow we continue about four miles to the northwest for our next tour here on The Market Report!