TOUR: Whole Foods Market - Madison, NJ

Whole Foods Market

Opened: ca. 2000

Previous Tenants: A&P (1960s-1998)

Location: 222 Main St, Madison, NJ

Photographed: December 2020

It's time for our second Rose City tour! See the Stop & Shop near downtown here. This store is about half a mile outside of downtown. Originally built as a centennial A&P in the 1960s (see the facade? It's been changed but the bones are still there...) it was extensively expanded and renovated to its current 28,000 square feet in the 1970s. At the same time, the store was likely rearranged with the front-end relocated from the wall facing Main Street (seen here) to the left-side wall of the store, which faces the main parking lot. It's also possible that was a change made by Whole Foods upon moving in, it's hard to tell. But anyway, the 62,000 square foot Edwards, later Stop & Shop, up the street was too much for this much smaller and older A&P, which closed in 1998. Whole Foods moved in shortly thereafter, and they completely remodeled the entire space.

This originally was A&P's front wall, though it's now the side of the store. There's a small row of parking along this side, with most of the parking being around the corner to the left.

It's been quite a while since we last toured a Whole Foods, so it's nice to see one again. The entrance and exit are here in this built-out section (which looks a lot like what A&P was putting on new stores in the 70s, so I assume it was added by A&P and not Whole Foods).

Upon entering the store, the first thing we encounter is a coffee and juice bar. Produce lines the back wall of the building (relative to Main Street), with the front end running along the left side wall of the store and cheese, seafood, and meat running along the right side wall. The deli/bakery/prepared foods aisle is the front wall of the store (shown in the first few pictures), and from the front right corner of the store, there's a doorway into the HABA department in a separate room which was previously a separate storefront.

I must say that I think the design of this store is quite attractive. The decor is well done, but the building has also gotten a beautiful treatment. We'll see that clearly in a little bit.

Many of the centennial stores were built with arched or barrel roofs, and this one was no exception. The roof has been exposed inside for a wonderful effect, plus skylights on the back wall.

Beautiful! If you like this, don't worry -- this isn't the last centennial A&P-turned-Whole Foods that we'll see. Remember that A&P's aisles originally would've run perpendicular to the aisles now, front to back instead of side to side.

Beautiful cheese counter in the back right corner of the store, with seafood taking up the next section of the right-side wall...

The grocery aisles in the middle of the store line up beautifully with the high exposed ceiling.

The aisles are divided in half, so there's one walkway running from front to back. I do wonder why that choice was made in a store that's already so small, but I suppose that the middle walkway isn't that wide so not too much selection is lost.

Here looking towards the back wall, we can clearly see the slope of the ceiling. Nice floor here too, it looks like polished concrete but it's actually tile.

Dairy and frozen in the front of the store, with butcher in the front right corner...

Notice the blue sign in the corner there? That's directing people to the HABA room, which is up a small ramp because it was previously a separate storefront. Today, you have to go through the supermarket to get there.

I do love the fact that they left the front windows intact which, as you can see, let in a lot of light to this separate room!

Great merchandising as well. Let's head back into the main supermarket...

The Kitchen (deli/prepared foods) lines the front wall of the store, and again, I love the windows left on the front wall where A&P's front end would've originally been.

The sun glare makes photography a bit difficult here though! Oh, one very strange thing that's only coming back to me now, seeing that shopping cart. About half of the carts in this store were red metal carts from Trader Joe's with the Trader Joe's logo prominently visible on the handle. Why? I've never seen secondhand carts of  any kind at any Whole Foods before.

Here's a look at the front end from the bakery side, and another Trader Joe's cart. There's a small cafe in the corner to the left here, I believe.

And the front end from the produce side. This is a really nice looking store, and it seems to do a very good business despite the Stop & Shop nearby (although the Stop & Shop was not all that impressive, and if you haven't yet, you can tour it here). Tomorrow is our final Great Swamp area day, and we're headed to our final two stores in Chatham -- one store here on The Market Report and a former supermarket nearby on Grocery Archaeology!