Update: Kings Food Markets!

Let's take a look at what's been going on at our local Kings Food Markets, starting with the only store that's having any real changes...

Livingston

We begin our return to Livingston Kings with another unsuccessful Summer Entertaining display (remember that last time, it was toilet paper).

And this time it's laundry detergent. Now for the real updates, in chronological order:

July 6: Beverage case in the back between bakery and the future kosher department is beginning to thin out in preparation for its move to the front-end where greeting cards used to be. Below is the new case which was installed behind the self checkouts.

July 8: After briefly disappearing, greeting cards have been moved around the corner from where they used to be. See the track lighting on the ceiling to the right of the wall below? That's where the new beverage case is, and where the greeting cards used to be.

Also July 8: The old beverage case was removed from the back and the kosher department was mostly open except for the tarp. The shelving had not yet been installed.

July 11: Note that some flooring had been removed from the entrance to the kosher department. If they weren't careful about it, it might be necessary to redo some of the flooring. It doesn't look like that's going to happen, unfortunately, because the store needs it.

July 14: Spotted this Safeway truck delivering out back (plus the usual ACME truck to the right; the blank trailer in between is used for storage). Big changes inside...

The shelving had been installed fully and was beginning to be stocked. The tarps have been removed completely. Freezer and refrigerator cases line the outside of the area.

I don't believe the beverage refrigerator was relocated elsewhere in this store. It may have been sent to another store.

And here we see kosher foods beginning to go onto the endcaps, but the aisles are not yet stocked.

July 27: Here we see serious stock coming out onto the shelves, but still no perishables.

July 28: A broken window in the front was replaced. It had been taped up with painting tape for a few days. Not sure if that was accidentally broken in the construction work, or if it was something else. That's all -- as of writing, the kosher department is still not open for business, but I'll update again soon.

Verona

July 6: No major changes at Verona, but the produce department has been reset for the second time since ACME took over, this time with new produce cases in the middle.

Florham Park

July 21: Florham Park's produce department has also been reset, but it doesn't look like the fixtures are new. (As we see, they're a little mismatched.) They were definitely rearranged, but you can also tell they're not new as they have a fair amount of wear and tear. New deli fixtures are in...

While the refrigerators look quite nice and sleek, the floor needs some attention. Those rugs are not only unattractive, but being used to cover flooring that's not quite solid. I very much almost tripped in a hole that's being poorly covered by the rugs.

Mendham

July 8: The "please pardon our appearance" signs we saw at Mendham a few months ago are all gone despite the store receiving almost no updates and, as a matter of fact, looking quite a bit worse for the wear that when I last visited in March.

The produce department has been reset with the new cases, and it looks pretty good. Worth noting that the lighting was never replaced here, and it's in need of replacement. As you can see, the ceiling appears very dark.

Looks like a fair number of fixtures were removed from produce and replaced with... not much. It's very obvious where there used to be fixtures and no longer are...

Over in the deli department, these new prepared foods refrigerators have gone in. While the cases look quite sleek in isolation, in use here they look bulky and awkward because of their positioning in the already fairly cramped space. And again we see rugs covering holes in the floor.

So I don't think whatever renovation might have happened here really did improve the store. If anything, it might've actually made things worse.

Boonton

July 13: For one reason or another, the store's register system was down at the time I visited. An employee posted at the front door was informing customers they couldn't buy anything until it was fixed. After about 10 minutes there was no sign of progress by the time I left. Anyway, we do have a new bread case in the bakery department looking very good, and new deli cases looking nice too. I think they look better here in Boonton because the space is more spacious and there's more room around them.

That said, we still have flooring problems with the rugs covering something (probably holes left from the removal of the old cases). More and more... I'm not convinced that these changes are any real improvements. What we need is some real investment in the stores addressing decor, lighting, flooring, and of course, product mix and pricing. That's all with Kings for today, and tomorrow, we have a special report at a brand-new supermarket in New York City!