Update: SuperFresh Food World - Belleville, NJ

Superfresh Food World

Owner: Howard Lee / Food World Supermarkets

Opened: 2016

Previous Tenants: Pathmark

Cooperative: Key Food Stores

Location: 115 Belmont Ave, Belleville, NJ

Photographed: August 2021

We're hitting a few old favorites here today! Another is the SuperFresh Food World in Belleville, which has been the site of an ongoing redevelopment. My late-August visit revealed that the store was being renovated itself, and the residences and other retail was nearing completion at the other end of the parking lot.

If I understand correctly, the property owner actually separated the property into two separate lots from what used to be one. The supermarket and its immediate parking lot was sold to the owners of this SuperFresh, while the rest of the property is now owned by the real estate firm which is in the progress of redeveloping it. I believe that part of the sale contract was a stipulation that SuperFresh renovate its exterior to coincide with the new residences and retail.

So we see that in full swing in August of this year, with some new facade elements being built out around what had already been there. Notice this section on the end -- with the new apartments, the main sign over the entrance to the right will no longer be visible.

Looks like they may extend the facade around the corner here, so that it extends along the street. Now, this side of the store is the only one easily visible from the street, so it would make sense that they want to maximize their presence facing Belmont Avenue (which is actually a pretty small street anyway).

I wonder whether the exterior remodel will be used as an excuse to convert this store from a SuperFresh Food World to just a plain ol' SuperFresh. Bloomfield was switched a while back, but it also seems to be under new ownership now. This store seems to do quite well, as it's usually busy when I visit (and sometimes downright crowded) but it also switched yesterday to being open 24/7.

We can see the labelscar as well as the clear presence of the Pathmark stripe shape, and what's interesting is that they are actually widening this facade. That, to me, suggests that they may want to just reuse the existing SuperFresh Food World sign which overhung the two sides of the Pathmark facade (see the sh to the right, which overlapped onto the side). Now heading in to the store...

It's looking quite good mostly, although there is certainly room for improvement. The produce department is looking really good except for the floor and the ceiling, which make the space look much older than it is. And in the front we have the bakery...

I mean the pharmacy, which is so clearly labeled, right next to the liquor store. The pharmacy is in the front corner of what used to be the bakery prep area. There are still baked goods sold here in this area, but no longer store-made baked goods (which actually disappeared soon after the store opened). Notice anything else about this section? They've actually replaced the wallpaper background behind the decor from the colorful one you can see linked in the prior post on this store to a newer wood paneling texture one. It doesn't look bad, but I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it looks good. I think I liked the old decor better, but it's certainly not that bad.

As mentioned in the previous post, the international aisles have been replaced with higher shelving, making them more like the regular grocery aisles.

Aisle markers have also been added to this section, while previously there was just signage affixed to the top of the lower shelving. Notice the beat-up flooring here, which really should be improved.

New spice department in the back of the international section.

The new wood paneling wallpaper has been added around the store, and it appears all the decor was taken down, then put up again on top of the new wallpaper. The deli has seen an expansion in prepared foods options, with a larger hot food bar counter put in along with premade sandwiches and sushi.

Again, we see some nice decor upgrades here along the back wall but the fixtures and flooring really emphasize the store's age. From everything I've seen, this is still a very high-volume store so it's not surprising to me that there's been this much wear and tear, but it's about time to fix it.

Not sure we've ever actually gotten a picture of the service butcher counter, which as I mentioned on the original tour was not installed until a year after the store opened or so.

Looks like the decor might've been redone in the last aisle here a little more recently, since we don't see much merchandise on top of the cases (which I assume was removed to install the new wallpaper).

On the front-end, we see new signage and endcaps on all the aisles. It's unclear to me whether these changes are just a few refreshes around the store or the beginnings of a larger remodel, but I assume they were just cleaning up a bit for the opening of the new development at the other end of the property. I will be back for sure, so stay tuned! For now, here's our other stores for the day.