TOUR: ShopRite - Pennington, NJ

ShopRite of Pennington
Owner: Richard Saker / Saker Supermarkets

Opened: 1960s

Previous Tenants: none

Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.

Location: 2555 Pennington Rd, Pennington, NJ

Photographed: January 2021

You know how all Saker ShopRites more or less look the same, such as Lawrenceville which we saw yesterday? Well now it's time to see one of those few Saker stores that look very different. We saw Belmar a while back, but it's closed now as a brand new replacement store opened across the street. There are a few others out there (Edison, Freehold, Bordentown) but the 33,000 square foot ShopRite of Pennington is now the smallest and oldest operating Saker store. It also formerly had a ShopRite liquor store next door, which I believe remains vacant. The Laurenti family apparently owned several ShopRites in the Trenton area (before selling to Big V, which in turn sold some stores to Saker), so it's possible this was one of those stores since we don't see a whole lot recognizable from other Saker stores. Well, we enter on the right side of the store to the small nutrition center in the front corner. Deli lines the right side of the store, with pharmacy, bakery, and seafood in an island facing. Produce and meat are on the back wall; dairy and frozen are in the last aisle with an additional frozen aisle on the front wall.

We can clearly see how small and old this store is, but it's been taken care of nicely. Now are you ready for this decor inside...?

Mirrored ceilings, neon, and tile! Quite the look.

Here we see the first aisle, with deli on the right and bakery/seafood on the left. Not much department signage here, but there are some category signs which look to be several generations of decor old...

Unlike Belmar (which was 6,000 square feet smaller than this store), Pennington actually has a full slate of service departments.

Of course, not all of the neon is working anymore. How much longer can you imagine Saker will keep this store in this condition, at least?

Service deli in the first aisle rather than the last like Belmar. That makes more sense to me.

Packaged deli and a tiny produce department are at the back of the first aisle.

Here we're looking across the back wall, with produce on the right side and meat, then dairy, on the opposite.

Notice that the aisle and category markers have been updated.

We have nonfoods and HABA in the first few aisles, next to the pharmacy. We also see some decor remnants...

My guess is that this was a structure for hanging aisle markers, which were probably backlit. When we get to Bordentown, we'll see something kind of similar.

That structure attached to the ceiling extends across the whole store, if I remember correctly.

Interesting metal siding in the back here. I'd be curious to see what the decor originally looked like; I assume many of the signs have been removed, possibly neon too.

Here we have dairy and frozen in the last aisle, which has a lower ceiling. Frozen continues with two more rows of cases on the front wall...

Here we are looking across the front-end, with the registers beyond the red tile section straight ahead. I would bet the store was previously a little smaller, and may have ended there.

Here's the front area of the frozen foods department.

The ShopRite of Pennington is quite the classic ShopRite! Worth a visit, and not bad for shopping, but if you want a much more up-to-date experience, check out the Pennington Quality Market, our other tour for the day, or the Stop & Shop less than half a mile south. This is our final day in the Princeton area, so come back tomorrow for a look at what's next!