Special Report: Bloomingdale Supermarket - Bloomingdale, NJ

Bloomingdale Supermarket by Foodtown
Owner: Adam Shapiro

Opened: January 5, 2024

Cooperative: Allegiance Retail Services
Location: 78 Main St, Bloomingdale, NJ

Photographed: January 8, 2024

After what felt like a long period of time with lots of Key Food updates, it seems like this latest round of updates has been heavy on the Krasdale! Here's a look at a store that's neither: Allegiance Retail Services (Foodtown/Pathmark/Green Way/Shop n Bag) has opened its latest store in the small northern New Jersey town of Bloomingdale, a store of just 8,000 square feet (although it may have basement space) that was built in the 1950s as a Big Leader Supermarket, then became a ShopRite in the 1960s, then a Pathmark before the store moved to the Kinnelon location that's now Stop & Shop in the 1970s. (It must have been quite the upgrade to go from 8,000 square feet to the Kinnelon location's original 40,000 square feet.) Other independents occupied the space after that, although it looks like it may have become Food World in the 1970s, a name it retained until the store closed in September 2023.

And Food World is still making its presence known, although Bloomingdale Supermarket by Foodtown opened on January 5th. The signage on the outside is still in the shape of the Food World signage (and you can make out the outlines of the FOOD WORLD letters), which I can only assume is temporary. At the very least, I hope it is. This store underwent a fairly extensive remodel inside between September and January, and is now open under the ownership of Adam Shapiro, who also owns the Green Way Markets in Maplewood and manages the four Jack's Foodtown locations in Caldwell, Bloomfield, North Arlington, and Wayne.

This store's interior feels nearly identical to the Green Way in Maplewood, and looks very similar with a similar but slightly different decor package. It looks like all of the fixtures were replaced, although they have a similar look to the refrigerators Food World installed shortly before they closed.

The produce department takes up the front right corner, with dairy extending down the rest of the first aisle. Meat and cold cuts are on the back wall, with the deli department moved into the back left corner (it used to be in the back right corner). Frozen foods take up the rest of the last aisle. There are five aisles in total here.

As we can see, the store feels much more full, with a lot more in each department and a really impressive selection of center-store items in a very small space. The store uses Foodtown and Best Yet brand products, along with Green Way natural and organic items.

As we can see, the bones are the same but everything else about the store has been changed.

The store looks modern and very attractive. Pricing seemed around the same as the Jack's Foodtown locations.

Shapiro seems to do well operating these small stores in small towns, so I think this one will do well. I think there is a need for a small supermarket in places like Bloomingdale and Maplewood.

The grocery aisles are packed with selection almost to the ceiling.

The flooring throughout the store has been replaced, as has the ceiling, lighting, and all the grocery shelving. There's not much left from Food World, although there is one key thing...

On the back wall, where meat and cold cuts are now, Food World had a large mirror running across the entire back wall of the store. That has been left, although the very cool MEAT signage is gone. That's a good thing, though, as the store looks much better these days.

It's amazing how much more this store has than Food World. Here in the back corner, Food World's former nonfoods/cleaning corner has been turned into what looks like deli/kitchen prep space. There's no bakery, but there are plenty of choices of fresh breads and the like. There's fresh baked cookies and muffins, which may be brought in from one of the larger locations.

There's virtually no HABA here, due to the store's small size, but there's some cleaning supplies here in the second-to-last aisle.

The service deli is at the back of the last aisle, running along the side wall of the store.

There's a fair amount of nice-looking prepared foods in the deli, too, along with a cheese island opposite the service counter.

The freezer cases line the outside of the last aisle.

And here's a look at the front-end, which I believe has two staffed registers and four self-checkouts.

Bloomingdale Supermarket has turned what used to be more of an oversized convenience store into a full supermarket, and it seems to be extremely well-run as the Jack's and Maplewood locations are. That wraps up our look at this store, and I hope we see more stores from this group in the future! Here's the other things we're seeing this weekend...

Saturday

• CTown Supermarkets - Soundview, Bronx, NY
• Future Supermarket - Parkchester, Bronx, NY
• Bravo Supermarkets - Soundview, Bronx, NY

Sunday

• Extra Supermarkets - East Orange, NJ
• Bloomingdale Supermarket - Bloomingdale, NJ (this post)