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37 Old Route 22, Clinton, NJ

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By Zachary

Original Tenant: A&P
Address: 37 Old Route 22, Clinton, NJ
Opened: 1950s
Closed: 1970s
Later Tenants: Eckerd > Rite Aid > Walgreens
Photographed: June 2020
The original A&P in Clinton, NJ was here at 37 Old Route 22, in a 17,000 square foot store with a barrel roof. I don't have a whole lot of information about this store other than the fact that it closed in the 1970s when a replacement store was built next door. It then became an Eckerd, then a Rite Aid, and most recently a Walgreens, and that information comes to us courtesy of JoshAustin610, who also has a photo of the store as a Rite Aid. I assume the current facade was installed either at the end of Eckerd's life or at the beginning of Rite Aid's time here, but it most certainly does not date back to the A&P era. I'm unclear what this store would've looked like as an A&P; most importantly, was it ever retrofitted with a Centennial-style facade, which wouldn't look all that different from this one? The next-door tenant might offer us a clue...
This ShopRite Liquor Store next door has the brick facade with white top trim and signature triangle we'd expect for a retrofitted older A&P that was renovated in the 1960s to match the newer centennial stores. Well, this liquor store certainly wasn't ever an A&P, but it would make sense for a neighboring storefront to have been renovated into the same design as the A&P back then when A&P was still in business. You can actually see a tiny bit of the newer A&P next door here, and make sure to check out the full post linked above for that store. Tomorrow, we head east on 22 to Readington Township for a look at two stores out there, one on The Market Report and one on The Independent Edition!
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Comments

  1. Retail RegentsFebruary 4, 2022 at 6:29 PM

    I wonder if there was anything in between the time A&P left and Thrift Drug moved in. The modified post-2002 Eckerd facade is the result of Eckerd expanding into about two-thirds of the space sometime in the mid 2000s.

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    1. ZacharyFebruary 18, 2022 at 9:38 PM

      Ah, interesting. There certainly could've been another tenant in there. Foodtown went into a lot of these old chain stores (A&P/ACME especially), but I don't believe they were ever here.

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  2. A&P FanFebruary 6, 2022 at 4:23 PM

    May 1957 newspaper advertisements mentioned that a new A&P had opened on Route 22 in Clinton, NJ. Of course, this store closed in 1979 when A&P relocated.

    This store obviously was not a Centennial, but it may very well have been had it opened just a bit later. I am aware of some Centennials that opened in 1957 (including supermarkets in Madison and Millburn), but I don't know of any that opened during the first half of that year.

    --A&P Fan

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  3. ChrisHFebruary 26, 2024 at 9:08 PM

    The Walgreens side of this building is no more. Major fire last night destroyed the Walgreens and an adjacent thrift store. Fire wall saved the liquor store and a sub shop.
    https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/western-newjersey/clinton-food-pantry-walgreens-working-to-continue-serving-people-after-locations-destroyed-in-fire/article_33828e54-d4f7-11ee-b062-b365d6f08dab.html#tncms-source=Homepage-Top-Stories

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    1. ZacharyMarch 3, 2024 at 7:31 PM

      Oh, thanks for the link!

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    2. Greg "Rusty" SmithOctober 11, 2024 at 9:52 AM

      I was a child living near Jutland when the A&P opened in 1957. Till then we had shopped in the Clinton ACME store, which was a block west of the new A&P on Rte. 22. The Acme was about 1/2 or 2/3 the size of the new A&P. It was also at a right angle to Rte. 22 with the facade facing the parking lot and alley (or side street) on its left. The A&P was wide and big, faced the highway, with a large parking lot out front, and large glass windows across the whole front. As I recall, it was in a modern or contemporary sleek style with no ornament, not in the "colonial" quaint style of many older A&P's. Before either of these stores, we lived in Glen Gardner and shopped at Lantz's (Lance's - ?) general store on Main St. Glen Gardner. There, you waited at the counter while the clerk would fetch things for you from the shelf. No up and down the aisles with a cart.

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    3. ZacharyOctober 16, 2024 at 9:49 AM

      Thanks for your memories of these stores!

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