Original Tenant: Food Fair
Address: 1157 US-46, Parsippany, NJ
Opened: likely 1960s
Our third store of the day is a very interesting one! It looks like this store was built as a Food Fair in the 1960s with the mall, which also had an A&P at the other end. It later became a Pantry Pride when Food Fair converted most of their stores to that banner, later selling to Pathmark probably around the 80s. The Food Fair also probably was paired with a JM Fields department store. It's hard to tell exactly where the supermarket originally ended, but the space currently occupied by Target is roughly 75,000 square feet and the Pathmark space was probably around that size or slightly smaller. Lots more information and a great picture of Pathmark in business here. Don't forget to check out today's final post at the Patel Brothers across the street here. In the 70s (probably), the Pantry Pride moved down the highway just a little to a new store which has gone through a few other tenants before its current one, which we'll be touring tomorrow on The Independent Edition!
Address: 1157 US-46, Parsippany, NJ
Opened: likely 1960s
Closed: 1970s
Later Tenants: Pantry Pride (1970s) > Pathmark (likely 70s-2015) > Target (2018-present)
Photographed: January 2020
Later Tenants: Pantry Pride (1970s) > Pathmark (likely 70s-2015) > Target (2018-present)
Photographed: January 2020
I was kinda surprised Target did want to open a full-service store in the former Kmart down the road. (Same shopping center as the former Bradlees/Home Depot). This is one of their smaller format stores. Very nice inside but after shopping it a few times, I found the somewhat limited selection to be a bit frustrating.
ReplyDeleteEDIT: Should have said "I was kinda surprised Target did NOT want to open a full-service store the former Kmart down the road."
DeleteI know, and Target/ShopRite/Home Depot is an unbeatable combination of stores, right? I'm not sure why they passed up that opportunity. I agree about the smaller format Target stores, but I do think they work really well in urban neighborhoods that wouldn't fit normal Targets (there are a few in Boston that are really great).
DeleteTo echo what Acme Style wrote, I am surprised the Kmart building that is in the ShopRite shopping center (which is actually the second store Kmart had in Parsippany) is still vacant, as I would have thought either Target or Walmart would have taken that space by now.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned this in the comments section for the Parsippany A&P, but that store was actually built as part of an expansion to the shopping center. As this A&P opened in October 1966 and closed in June 1975, it was in operation alongside the Pantry Pride. However, the A&P closed prior to the Pathmark opening.
The J.M. Fields in the shopping center opened back in October 1963. Though Food Fair most likely opened alongside the J.M. Fields, it had definitely opened by October 8, 1964. Based on my research, it appears that the Parsippany Food Fair converted to the Pantry Pride nameplate no later than March 30, 1966.
Somewhat surprisingly, the Pantry Pride closed before the J.M. Fields. The former store closed in June 1976, while the latter store closed sometime between December 1977 and March 1978.
On September 14, 1978 Kmart opened in the former J.M. Fields building. Kmart would relocate to a larger location in March 1997. The Pathmark opened on February 11, 1979 in the former Pantry Pride building (which I believe was expanded in size).
--A&P Fan
Thanks for the history!
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