TOUR: Kings Food Markets - Florham Park, NJ

Kings Food Markets

Opened: late 1990s

Previous Tenants: Village Market (closed late 1990s)

Location: 184 Columbia Tpk, Florham Park, NJ

Photographed: November 2020 and August 2021

It's the final day of our greater Morristown group! We are here in Florham Park for two stores, the first being this Kings Food Market and the other being a store that's probably not a former supermarket but oh well, you win some you lose some. This Kings seems to have been constructed by Village Super Market (a ShopRite operator whose Cedar Knolls location we saw most recently) but it's unclear whether or not this was ever a ShopRite; there was in fact a ShopRite in Florham Park just about 1000 feet south as the crow flies at 172 Ridgedale Ave, although it's been demolished and it's unclear whether that was a Village store. So whether or not this store was ever a ShopRite, it did become a Village Market in the 90s along with Morristown and South Orange (the original Village), and Village Market was a higher-end smaller-format store. In the late 90s, the format was discontinued; Morristown and South Orange closed while Florham Park was sold to Kings.

The 21,000 square foot store seems to suffer from a poor location and tough competition, as it's been deserted every time I've been (even for a Kings). It faces the cross street, James St, instead of Columbia Tpk, and the entrance is tucked away here in the back of the store. It's also right next to Trader Joe's, which seems to really have taken away business from this store.

We enter to the produce and cheese department on the right side of the store. We're all familiar with Kings' decor by now, I'm sure. Grocery aisles are to the left of cheese, and floral is to the left of the entrance...

Remember how I said this store is always dead? I wonder why ACME did buy this one because looking at this original store tour, we see just 4 other customers (two in that first image of the grand aisle).

Seafood and meat line the back wall of the store. I can't say enough times that, as attractive as this decor package is, it is deadly boring. There is nothing in the design of the store that suggests the store is as high-end as it is trying to be.

Look, a third customer! I wonder how much of this is left over from Village -- I don't see anything I recognize.

We can see just a hint of newer signage inside with the chalkboard-type sign at the far end in the dairy department. Pretty soon we'll see a Kings with more of that decor, and it's quite nice.

Not a whole lot to see in the grocery aisles, honestly. And this building isn't all that old, so no real relics to see.

Our final grocery aisle in the main supermarket is the frozen aisle. The dairy department is located in a small expansion of roughly 3000 square feet at the far end of the store.

And as we move back into the main supermarket, we transition into the Market Square, where the deli and bakery are on the front wall.

Here's a good example of how cheaply this decor was installed. Notice that the wall is all painted a single color and the text is simply stuck on top of it. There's barely any dimensionality to it, certainly no color variation, and sheer laziness -- the lighting wasn't changed, meaning that the sign itself falls in the shadow. Compare this to the theatrical decor and lighting experience of (especially the grand aisle of) the Foodtown of Port Monmouth.

Note the newer blue signage on the bakery islands, but again you see how the portions of the walls that are illuminated are completely unrelated to the signage.

Above, front end picture from the original tour from August 2021 and below, the same area with one register and the drink case removed for a self-checkout island; the drink case is now opposite on the back of the bakery.

Note that ACME did this work with as little change as possible, suggesting they do not plan large-scale remodels at these stores anytime soon. Now that wraps up the Morristown area, and up next we head to the north for our next group starting tomorrow!