Original Tenant: A&P
Address: 831 NJ-10, Whippany, Hanover, NJ
Opened: 1960s
Closed: 1980s
Later Tenants: Foodtown (1980s-1991)
Photographed: June 2020
Closed: 1980s
Later Tenants: Foodtown (1980s-1991)
Photographed: June 2020
We arrive at the massive Pine Plaza in the Whippany section of Hanover Township once again after initially taking a look at the closed Farmtastic Supermarket back in 2018. We're revisiting the Farmtastic location today as well, but the older supermarket in the mall is this centennial A&P, built in the early 60s and closing in the early to mid 80s. By the mid to late 80s, the A&P had become a Foodtown, which by 1991 moved down to an expansion of the plaza. Pine Plaza's property occupies nearly 20 acres of land but is completely vacant, awaiting redevelopment. Check out the Farmtastic post for more info on where the development is and what's happened lately. Tomorrow, we have two stores (one here on Grocery Archaeology and one over on The Market Report) to finish out our Greater Morristown group!
I shared this same information over on Part 2 of this blog's coverage of Pine Plaza, but (for those who haven't yet read Part 2) here's the history of the shopping center that I was able to ascertain:
ReplyDelete*A September 22, 1960 A&P advertisement in The Madison Eagle mentioned that its Whippany store had opened the previous week.
*The Whippany A&P closed in May 1975, making it the first Centennial in Morris County to have closed. (An article in the Jul 13, 1975 Daily Record mentioned the A&P closed two months prior. That same article mentioned that Foodtown was considering moving into the former A&P space.)
*This shopping center's first Foodtown opened in February 1976 (per an advertisement in the February 12, 1976 edition of The Bernardsville News). As I cannot find any exterior photos of the A&P-turned-Foodtown, I do not know if changes were made to the store's exterior (other than a sign change) back in 1976.
*There's an excellent article in the September 13, 1991 edition of the Daily Record that discusses the soon-to-be completed massive expansion and renovation of the shopping center. Construction had already been going on for 16 months, and there's a great photo showing the finishing stages of (the newly named) Pine Plaza's construction.
*The original Foodtown's last day of operation was September 14, 1991, per a September 8, 1991 advertisement for an "Inventory Clearance Sale" in the Daily Record. The ad went on to mention that a new Super Foodtown would open in November.
*The shopping center's expansion and renovation was complete when the then-new Super Foodtown opened on November 21, 1991. (I've got to say, I was not a fan of the center's post-renovation exterior appearance.) The November 22 edition of the Daily Record discussed the opening and had a picture of the Super Foodtown. (In addition to the words "SUPERFOODTOWN," the supermarket's sign also had the words "HOT BUFFET" and "COLD BUFFET," albeit in smaller lettering.) Among the cool features of the new store was that on four days each week, live piano entertainment was provided in the supermarket's eatery.
*The Whippany Super Foodtown closed in late December 2001. A February 21, 2002 article in the Daily Record discussed the difficulties faced by the Michas family and also mentioned their desire to concentrate all their efforts on their Cedar Knolls store.
*The Pathmark opened after February 21, 2002 but earlier than May 14, 2002. While I don't know this Pathmark's closing date, a February 15, 2011 article posted on SupermarketNews.com listed the Whippany store as being part of a batch of closings A&P was planning.
*Based on my research, it appears that the Farmtastic opened in May 2014 and that it closed no earlier than July 2015.
*When I drove past Pine Plaza a few months ago, it had been demolished.
--A&P Fan
Thanks for the history!
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