Original Grocery Tenant: Kings Food Markets
Address: 64 Mountain Blvd, Warren, NJ
Opened: unknown
Closed: January 2021
Very quick return today to the former Kings in Warren, NJ, which I extensively covered a while back here. There's no visible change inside, but a new tenant has signed a lease for the space, and it's confirmed to be a grocery store, although it's not been announced yet just who that is. While I certainly don't have any inside information, I can offer a few observations and guesses.
Address: 64 Mountain Blvd, Warren, NJ
Opened: unknown
Closed: January 2021
Later Tenants: vacant
Photographed: June 2, 2023
Photographed: June 2, 2023
I couldn't photograph it, but I could see it: just inside the entrance is a table with blueprints on it. Sadly I couldn't read what was on them, but that to me makes it likely the new tenant will be an independent or small-chain supermarket, like a Green Way (which has taken over Kings stores in Ridgewood and Maplewood) or some Key Food affiliate. Any larger operator -- like Trader Joe's or LIDL, for instance, would want to gut the store and build it out to their specifications, not leave what Kings left intact. In fact, I would guess Green Way because they've already taken two of the Kings stores and the latest Key Food openings involve a lot of extensive renovation. Of course, I am speculating wildly so who knows. But I'll be sure to get back and check it out when anything does happen! More posts today here:
The outside of this building is quite beautiful, so I hope that any exterior renovations are kept to a minimum. FYI, this building has a very interesting history, which I hope to elaborate on in the near future. For now, I can say that the building was home to a large number of different supermarket chains over the years. An A&P supermarket was indeed one of the former occupants; if I recall correctly (based on research I did a while ago), the A&P was open from 1967 until it relocated in 1979 (to the shopping center where it operated until 2015). But even though the building resembles a Centennial, A&P was not the original occupant. Also, based on what I recall from prior research, Foodtown operated in this building as well.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for going off topic, but I wanted to inform readers of The Market Report family of blogs about another piece of news: on April 21 (two days after a soft opening was held), Uncle Giuseppe's opened its third New Jersey location in the former A&P/Acme in Tinton Falls:
https://patch.com/new-jersey/middletown-nj/italian-market-uncle-giuseppes-opens-monmouth-county
Though I presume that you have not yet had the chance to visit, I very much look forward to reading what you have to say about the new supermarket. From the photos I have seen, Uncle Giuseppe's obscured the original A&P exterior facade and did a very nice job when it came to installing new flooring inside the store.
Thanks for your thoughts on the history and on the Uncle Giuseppe's opening! You're right, I haven't gotten the chance to visit yet but you can be sure you'll hear about it right away when I do! I'm sure they did a nice job, as they typically do.
DeleteI believe the shopping center that housed the former Warren Kings is now known as the Warren Village Center. But when the center first opened, it was called the Bardy Farms Country Square. Here is the history (which I was able to ascertain on Newspapers.com):
ReplyDelete*The first supermarket in this shopping center was the Bardy Farms Foodtown, which opened on September 18, 1962. While there have been some exterior modifications to the shopping center, it more or less looks the same now as it did on opening day.
*The Bardy Farms Foodtown closed on November 27, 1963. The space did not remain vacant for long, as a new supermarket--known as the Bardy Farms Food Center--opened on December 12, 1963. This particular chain was owned and operated by Golden Key, Inc.
*It appears that by February 1964, the Bardy Farms Food Center was simply called the "Golden Key" supermarket. I believe the Golden Key supermarket closed in January 1966.
*I was mistaken earlier when I stated that the A&P in this center opened in 1967, as it actually opened on or around February 2, 1966. It is, of course, not a surprise that A&P operated in this space, since the building looks like a Centennial. What I found very surprising, however, is that A&P was not the original occupant. (I figured that if an A&P had operated in this space, the building would have originally appeared as a run-of-the-mill Centennial and that the alterations to its facade would have occurred later.)
*On August 19, 1979, A&P relocated to the then-new Pheasant Run Plaza. (I believe the shopping center is now known as The Corner Village at Warren.) In the 8/24/79 edition of The Courier-News, there is a photo of the vacant Bardy Farms A&P, with the logo still on the building. FYI, the final logo the Bardy Farms A&P had was the "sunrise"/oval logo.
*In late-October 1979, Plus Discount Foods opened in the supermarket space. (As you probably are aware, Plus was one of several failed discount store concepts by A&P.) The owners of the Bardy Farms Country Square shopping center were very unhappy with A&P, because the owners believed that A&P opened the Plus store simply to keep competition away from the Pheasant Run A&P.
*The Plus store closed in July or August of 1981. A&P then quickly filled the vacancy with a Kwik-Save (which was another one of A&P's discount stores).
*Amazingly, in November 1981, A&P rechristened its Kwik-Save location. The new name given to the store was "Country Farm" (although in a July 1982 newspaper advertisement, the store was referred to as "Country Farm Kwik Save"). A&P continued to operate the store until sometime between April 1986 and the Spring of 1987.
*On April 23, 1988, Foodtown yet again opened in the supermarket building. It probably is a safe bet that the owners of this Foodtown were different from the Foodtown that opened back in 1962. The newer Foodtown closed in February 1995.
*The Warren Kings opened on October 12, 1995. As you reported over on The Market Report, this Kings closed on January 20, 2021.
I am certainly not aware of another supermarket building with as much or more turnover as this space. As I indicated in my first post, I do hope the exterior renovations are kept to a minimum because I think the outside of the building is quite beautiful.
What an unusual and very interesting historical timeline. Thanks for doing that research!
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