Update: ShopRite!

Today's first update is very small. Two things from north Jersey ShopRites, both owned by Village Super Market. In Livingston, the prepared foods department continues to shrink (which is sad, because years ago, this was the most incredible supermarket food court, with everything from a pizzeria to barbecue if I'm not mistaken, at one point there was even a full kosher prepared foods counter). The island formerly used for catering, kosher prepared foods, and sushi has been removed but hasn't really been replaced with anything else yet.

I assume something else will eventually go here, and maybe they'll even return prepared foods to this area (given the massive prepared foods area they put in the brand-new Old Bridge location). In the meantime, the sub shop counter has been replaced by the sushi counter, which used to be in the island and is now much larger. This counter was once the VFG (Village Food Garden, or the brand Village used for the food court) Diner, which had burgers and other grilled items along with hot breakfast sandwiches and such, and the Hydration Station you can see just to the left used to be a pizza counter. I believe originally the prepared foods island had fried chicken or barbecue and another counter or two.

We'll see what the space is ultimately used for! Livingston is a very nice ShopRite but an older one that's been expanded many times. Today the store is around 65,000 square feet, but it feels a little smaller because it's a little bit of an awkward layout due to the various expansions. Still, it's been kept up nicely over the years. But ten miles south, talk about an aging ShopRite. The ShopRite of Watchung has been outdated for years, and Village Super Market is finally progressing with plans to replace the 35,000 square foot store. That involves building a new, much larger building from scratch within the Blue Star Mall...

These pictures, by the way, come to us from our contributor Steve M., who lives nearby. A section of the strip mall has been demolished to make way for a new, 72,000 square foot ShopRite. (The property owner's website says it will be finished by end of summer 2024. Somehow, I doubt that.)

The existing ShopRite is to the left of the blue star tower. Meanwhile, the rest of the mall, which has become a bit dated, is getting a renovation to match the appearance of the future ShopRite.

That's all for today's look at ShopRite, but there's a lot more to see today!

• ShopRite - Livingston and Watchung, NJ (this post)
• Sprouts Farmers Market - Aberdeen, NJ
• SuperFresh - Old Bridge, NJ
• Top Tomato - Old Bridge, NJ
• Amazon Fresh - Eatontown, NJ