Update: ShopRite - Elizabeth, NJ

ShopRite of Elizabeth

Owner: Robert Sumas / Village Super Market

Opened: 1991

Previous Tenants: none

Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.

Location: 865 W Grand St, Elizabeth, NJ

Photographed: August 2021

We return to the ShopRite of Elizabeth, another old favorite, to check out the additional progress on their remodel. In our July update, I had wondered what would be placed next to the customer service counter on the front-end near the entrance, and it turns out the pharmacy was being moved to that spot. This is not an improvement. First of all, there's a very odd setup (which you can see a little of in the below photo) in which the pharmacy counter is actually behind a row of self-checkouts, making flow very inconsistent for customers leaving the pharmacy. Second, the pharmacy is now literally as far in the store from health and beauty items as it can be -- instead, it's opposite a counter for sushi and subs. That doesn't make any sense to me. It does look nice, though. This is the single element of the Elizabeth remodel that Village got wrong.

And so now my question is, of course, what will be going in where the pharmacy was? This corner was already a pretty dead area, so it better be something good. My guess is either that they'll add more grocery shelving in this area, or perhaps extend the dairy department on the outside wall to the front wall; or that this will become an expansion for the ShopRite from Home department which is currently housed behind this section (in an expansion out into the parking lot). That's a very awkward setup and if Village doesn't mind taking some of the sales floor space for that service that really doesn't need sales floor space, this would be a good place to put it.

I'll be sure to check back to find out exactly what's going in here, but for today, check out the other posts here!