Hackensack Market
Owner: Dilip Patel
Opened: by 2000, 2004 under current ownership
Cooperative: Key Food Stores
Location: 120 Passaic St, Hackensack, NJ
Photographed: July 23, 2023 and June 4, 2022
Welcome to the Hackensack Market! This store appears to have opened in the 1990s -- although a store called the Hackensack Market had existed near the corner of Main and Passaic, a few blocks east, as far back as 1914 and I'm not sure if there was any relation. But this building at 120 Passaic St was an Oldsmobile dealer until roughly the late 1980s or early 1990s, with the supermarket opening around the end of the 90s. It also appears to have been sold in 2004, which is likely when Universal Food Markets bought the store. Although I'm not sure, the Dilip Patel who I see listed as an owner for this store might be the same person as the Philip Patel who owns the
other Universal-affiliated store in town.
I have two photosets of this store, one from the summer of 2022 and one from this summer. In between, the store has undergone a very nice remodel, and I've tried to integrate the two photosets so you can see kind of the most direct before-and-after. The outside has been renovated a little bit, with a new paint job, awning, and sign, and is looking good.
Here's a look at the before and after of the outside. We'll see if they do more to the outside, such as replacing the old and rusty cart corral.
The first thing I noticed upon entering is that the renovation is clearly not yet done. This section right inside the entrance is being reused for something else, although I'm not really sure what. A couple of generations of flooring are visible here, too!
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| During renovation |
The store has a pretty standard layout, with customer service on the left side when you walk in. Next to that is a restaurant with its own seating area, connected to the supermarket but an outside business. Produce is in the front half of the first aisle, with the large butcher counter behind it. Deli and seafood are on the back wall, with nonfoods in the first aisle and then dairy/frozen in the last aisle. This is one of the larger Universal stores, at just over 20,000 square feet, and because it's very deep the aisles are split in half front-to-back.
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| Before |
As we can see, the produce department is looking nice and fresh after the renovation. Like the other Universal in Hackensack, the fixtures were in pretty good shape for the most part, so while some were replaced, many like these here in the produce department stayed as-is. The islands in the middle were replaced.
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| After |
The new flooring looks great, too! Very sleek.
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| After |
If I had one complaint about this area, it's that the decor gets lost a little bit above the refrigerator cases.
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| After |
But it still looks good, especially here where it's installed at the front of the case. The grocery aisles are behind this refrigerator.
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| After |
This sign is great, too! I'm a little confused as to what this area is supposed to be, as it's just kind of empty space between produce and meat. Maybe it'll all make sense eventually.
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| After |
Looking back up towards the front of the store. The same design firm was responsible for this store as the
Universal in Rahway, and we can see some similarities.
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| Before |
This store's meat department appears to be its biggest draw, taking up a huge corner in the back of the store. Notice the separate service areas for the different types of meat and poultry. It wasn't looking bad at all before and is looking even better now...
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| After |
And after the pork counter on the back wall, we move on to the deli.
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| Before |
It's definitely a more upscale look than it used to be. It's simple but very attractive.
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| After |
Deli and a look at the back wall...
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| After |
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| Before |
One thing that hasn't changed is that the first aisle is full of kitchenwares and homegoods, not unlike what you might find at a dollar store. It's certainly set up the same way.
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| After |
The grocery aisles were clean and very well-stocked when I visited last, but now they're looking better with new flooring.
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| Before |
When I previously visited, the store was fully stocked with a somewhat random assortment of Parade, Avenue A, and Krasdale brand products. Except for a few stragglers here and there, this store uses a full line of Urban Meadow, plus a few Essential Everyday items.
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| Before |
So it stands to reason that this store has joined Key Food like the rest of the Universal stores, right? Nope. Although the store is functionally in every way a Key Food store, it has yet to appear on the Key Food website, which is my source for who's who in Key Food.
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| Before |
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| After |
Despite this, we can see the Urban Meadow products on the shelves, plus the Key Food sale tags being used (right) alongside the older Universal sale tags (the pink one on the left). All of the individual price tags in the store have been switched to the Key Food-style blue (sometimes orange) ones we see here.
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| After |
All but three of the Universal stores have joined Key Food -- this one has not, and the two in Elizabeth have not. I have yet to go to those to see if they are similarly operating as basically a Key Food store without fully joining (yet, I assume?).
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| After |
This store packs a lot of selection into a pretty small space. There's a lot to choose from, although it's certainly a smaller selection than a large chain supermarket.
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| After |
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| After |
International foods are in the last aisle, which is a bit of an unusual setup.
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| Before |
A look at the seafood counter, before and after the renovation. I'm fairly certain those seafood cases are secondhand from somewhere (especially with the decals still on them... A&P?) but I'm not sure. The loose seafood in the front looks so much better in the new fixtures than it did in the elegant blue buckets.
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| After |
Dairy has received all new cases, frozen has not.
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| Before |
The new dairy cases are looking great. I hope this store is maintained well, and then it'll be a great little supermarket.
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| After |
A look across the middle dividing aisle, back towards the produce department before and after...
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| Before |
I don't hate the old aisle markers, but they don't look great either. They're also too large.
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| After |
A much cleaner look after, with separate aisle markers for the front and back halves of the aisles.
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| After |
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| After |
While the renovation looks great, I hope this is not an indication of how it will age...
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| After |
Somebody might need to fix that trim piece. Also, some of the freezer cases that weren't replaced maybe should have been, as evidenced by this hilarious sign. Sorry for inconvtion! At least I think that's the most creative spelling of inconvenience I've ever seen.
And I don't seem to have a picture of the front-end before the renovation, but here's a look with the renovation clearly in full swing. The front-end is the one part of the store that's clearly not done yet. I'll be back to check out what happens here!
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| After |
That's all for the Hackensack Market, but there's more to check out today!
Saturday
Sunday (FYI these links won't work until tomorrow)
Welcome to the Hackensack Market! This store appears to have opened in the 1990s -- although a store called the Hackensack Market had existed near the corner of Main and Passaic, a few blocks east, as far back as 1914 and I'm not sure if there was any relation. But this building at 120 Passaic St was an Oldsmobile dealer until roughly the late 1980s or early 1990s, with the supermarket opening around the end of the 90s. It also appears to have been sold in 2004, which is likely when Universal Food Markets bought the store. Although I'm not sure, the Dilip Patel who I see listed as an owner for this store might be the same person as the Philip Patel who owns the other Universal-affiliated store in town.
I have two photosets of this store, one from the summer of 2022 and one from this summer. In between, the store has undergone a very nice remodel, and I've tried to integrate the two photosets so you can see kind of the most direct before-and-after. The outside has been renovated a little bit, with a new paint job, awning, and sign, and is looking good.
Here's a look at the before and after of the outside. We'll see if they do more to the outside, such as replacing the old and rusty cart corral.
The first thing I noticed upon entering is that the renovation is clearly not yet done. This section right inside the entrance is being reused for something else, although I'm not really sure what. A couple of generations of flooring are visible here, too!
And I don't seem to have a picture of the front-end before the renovation, but here's a look with the renovation clearly in full swing. The front-end is the one part of the store that's clearly not done yet. I'll be back to check out what happens here!
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