SuperFresh
Opening: June 12, 2024
Owner: unknown
Previous Tenants: Food Fair > Drug Fair > Walgreens
Cooperative: Key Food Stores
Location: 2649 CR-516, Old Bridge, NJ
Photographed: June 1, 2024
Back in 2022, we saw a former Walgreens space in the Browntown section of Old Bridge
being prepared for a SuperFresh. I hadn't heard really any updates since then, although some pictures
posted to Google Maps last fall tipped me off that the store was progressing. I went back yesterday to check on the progress and found the store very nearly ready to open for business. The entire store is outfitted with fixtures and decor, and shelf-stable products have begun to go out on the shelves. I spoke briefly with a manager who was on site (I believe doing job interviews), who told me the store is set to open on June 12. As far as I can tell, that hasn't been announced elsewhere, so you heard it first here, folks.
I really like this decor, although I wish they'd taken out the drop ceiling rather than just painting it. Still, the space looks good. Despite the dense concentration of supermarkets here in Old Bridge (and
some clearly doing better than
others), I think it's likely SuperFresh will do well here. This is the only supermarket in Old Bridge that isn't on route 9, a major highway with strip malls, big box stores, smaller businesses, and loads of traffic. Instead, this SuperFresh is in Browntown, roughly a mile west of route 9 in a mostly residential neighborhood. My guess is it'll pick up traffic from people who need groceries but don't want to deal with route 9.
Don't forget, too, that Key Food's headquarters are here in Old Bridge (or Matawan, depending on who you ask). They're about four and a half miles northeast in an office complex, but they don't have much of a presence in this part of New Jersey, save for a
Food Emporium in Marlboro. (I don't know who'll own this SuperFresh, but it's possible it's the same owners as that store.) I expect over time Key Food will fill out its presence in much of New Jersey where they don't have stores now. By my count, they currently have just over 40 stores in the state, which is a very solid presence (for context, ShopRite has around 150, Stop & Shop has around 55, and ACME has about 70). Not every store Key Food opens in the state will succeed, but the trend over the last decade or so seems to be more strongly in the success direction than the failure direction.
The addition to the left side does appear to be a juice bar and possibly a small cafe, as I guessed in my original post. One small oddity -- notice these hiring signs in the front windows list an email for a CTown Fresh. I don't have a good explanation for that (was this originally supposed to be a CTown? The first announcements I saw, years ago, were for SuperFresh), but it's clear that this store will be a SuperFresh, not a CTown. Notice the register screens which are already displaying SuperFresh messages. Several Urban Meadow posters (Key Food's storebrand) were also up in the front windows. I also saw Urban Meadow products on the shelves.
You can be sure I'll be back when this store opens! In the meantime,
here's the other posts for today!
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