Original Tenant: Two Guys
Address: 240 NJ-10, East Hanover, NJ
Address: 240 NJ-10, East Hanover, NJ
Opened: 1960s
Closed: early 1980s
Later Tenants: Pathmark (early 1980s-ca. 2000)
Photographed: March 2019
Closed: early 1980s
Later Tenants: Pathmark (early 1980s-ca. 2000)
Photographed: March 2019
This 121,000 square foot space at the back of the Hanover Commons was built as a Two Guys department store, which closed by the early 80s. At that time, the left 51,000 square feet of the space became a Pathmark while the right half became a Bradlees.
This is the side that became Bradlees, and the division between Dick's and Marshalls is approximately the same as where Pathmark/Bradlees would've divided.
This Pathmark was replaced around 2000 by the Whippany store to the west and the Livingston store to the east, which opened in 2000 and 2001 respectively. The facade of the strip mall has been remodeled a few times since these new anchors opened; Kam Man Market is also across the street (New Murray Rd). There's not much to see along the front here given the extensive facade renovations, but don't worry, this post won't be boring.
So let's head around the side of the store. New Murray Road takes us back to Murray Road, which in turn brings us out to Ridgedale Ave, and Murray Road is primarily light industrial with what seems to be a long-abandoned spur of the Morristown & Erie railroad crossing it in multiple places. (Farther up the spur the space is used for railroad equipment storage sometimes, which is always entertaining to see. Always fun to drive down Ridgedale Ave and see the front of an ancient locomotive sticking out from behind the trees.)
Speaking of ancient equipment, check out what's still here on the store's side loading dock!
See, I promised you this would be an interesting post. It's an original leftover Pathmark truck that's been painted out gray (but is severely fading/peeling now).
Great relic of the Pathmark Freshness truck here! Here's a look at something like what this trailer would've looked like previously.
Unfortunately, not really any Pathmark relics are left behind on the back wall of the store. That's all for this former Pathmark, but don't forget to check out the former ACME across the highway here, and the former Foodtown in downtown East Hanover here. Tomorrow, we move up to 46 in the eastern part of Parsippany with one store here and one over on The Independent Edition!
I guess that occurred during a time when Stop & Shop was not in that area (given that Stop & Shop and Bradlees were often paired, being parts of the same company)?
ReplyDeleteSame occurred here as S&S never made it to this part of NY, so the Bradlees were paired with Price Chopper instead (at least the three local to the Albany area that I know of, even the one in a mall had a supermarket in the mall as well).
That was a really cool Pathmark relic that the webmaster found!
DeleteIn answer to your question, Billy, Stop & Shop announced its New Jersey exit in August 1981, which is a bit before the Bradlees and Pathmark opened.
Based on my research, the East Hanover Two Guys opened in the fall of 1962. A store closing sale began in November 1981 when Two Guys decided to close 37 of its 49 locations (including the store in East Hanover). FYI, the 12 remaining Two Guys stores closed in February 1982.
The Bradlees opened on March 17, 1983 and closed on January 30, 1988. This Bradlees was subsequently divided between Lionel Kiddie City Toys and Marshalls, both of which opened in November 1988. The chronology of the Kiddie City portion of the building then becomes somewhat confusing: It appears that Kiddie City closed in late 1992 or early 1993 (but before the liquidation of the entire chain). The space was then taken over by Today's Man, which opened on 3/25/93. I don't know if this particular Today's Man location lasted until the chain's 2003 demise, but it was replaced by MJM Designer Shoes on 10/1/04. I was unable to ascertain when MJM closed and was replaced with Burlington, but based on Google Maps, it was sometime between October 2011 and August 2018.
The Pathmark opened after July 21, 1983 but before September 19 of that year. The store definitely closed before August 2, 2002, and Dick's Sporting Goods opened in 2003.
One thing that's very perplexing is that Bradlees opened a superstore not too far from the location it shuttered back in 1988. This "new" Bradlees was located at 140 Route 10 and opened on October 2, 1994. Not surprisingly, Bradlees failed a second time in East Hanover, as this superstore closed in October 1996. This vacant Bradlees was replaced by Costco on October 25, 1997.
--A&P Fan
I just wanted to add that pictures of the East Hanover Two Guys store can be found at this link:
Deletehttp://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com/2007/10/tale-of-two-guys.html
--A&P Fan
Thanks for the history, A&P Fan!
DeleteBillyGr - A&P Fan answered your question, which is just that the Bradlees opened after Stop & Shop left NJ.
The Murray Road buildings were partly used by Vornado as warehouses. Once a year, Two Guys would have a big warehouse sale where one of the warehouses was open with bargains for sale.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the history!
Delete