Stop & Shop
Opened: 2001
Welcome to Carlstadt! The small North Jersey town of about 6300 people has just one supermarket, and it's this 55,000 square foot Stop & Shop. The store was constructed around 1999-2000 as a very late Grand Union, then acquired in 2001 by Stop & Shop. And as a matter of fact, this property previously held a Grand Union warehouse. Although Carlstadt doesn't have any other supermarkets, that's not to say there aren't others nearby -- essentially five blocks west is an Inserra ShopRite in Wallington. At around 60,000 square feet, it's a bit larger than this store, but not enormous. Incidentally, the original supermarket on that property was actually also a Stop & Shop built in the 1970s, which became an A&P in 1982 when Stop & Shop left New Jersey. A&P later converted the store to their discount Food Basics banner in the early 2000s, then closed the store in 2012. ShopRite opened in 2015, moving from an older store in Passaic. There's also an Indian supermarket called Grand Bazaar Farmers Market right between this Stop & Shop and the ShopRite, although that store is in yet a third municipality called East Rutherford (and the CVS next to Grand Bazaar was originally an ACME). This Stop & Shop has been all but dead in the water since the ShopRite opened. It wasn't actually remodeled when ShopRite opened, which is what I would have expected, but instead actually in 2011, before Food Basics even closed. You can read up more on this store in the comment section of Acme Style's post, which I linked above. He also got some spectacular pictures of the interior with the Grand Union decor package still intact.
Looking at that Wallington store's history is actually a good reminder -- the current wave of 32 closures, which this store is part of (it's expected to close mid-October), is nothing new. Stop & Shop has exited markets previously, and they've always seemed to be a bit lukewarm in New Jersey. Going back several decades, Stop & Shop in the 1960s and 70s established a medium-sized but solid presence in northern New Jersey, then exited the area in the early 1980s. Some stores went to A&P, others went to Kings, and others simply closed. Then in the 90s, Stop & Shop's parent company Ahold reentered New Jersey under the Edwards name, which converted to Stop & Shop in 2000. And the following year, Stop & Shop greatly expanded its New Jersey presence with the acquisition of dozens of former Grand Union stores in that chain's bankruptcy. In the mid-00s, they pushed south, with stores as far south as Rio Grande. And Rio Grande is nearly as far south as you can go in New Jersey; it's about six miles north of Cape May. A handful of Super G stores in the Philadelphia (not owned by Stop & Shop but later merged into the company) switched to Stop & Shop around 2005 before being sold to ShopRite in 2007. In other areas, Stop & Shop seems to have had a more straightforward trajectory, and a significantly higher market share, but New Jersey has always been uniquely challenging to them -- even compared to very nearby markets like the Hudson Valley or Long Island.
Enough pontificating, we're here to tour the Carlstadt location. This is, as far as I know, one of two late Grand Union stores with this arched roof over the grand aisle, a very nice feature. (The other remaining one is in Toms River down the shore, and is also currently a Stop & Shop.) Inside, the store sports the later version of the yellow and purple decor -- earlier versions of the decor package, which was introduced in 2008 when the logo changed, had white walls around the decor rather than yellow, as seen at this store in Somerset which is also closing -- and is rather attractive if a bit dated.
In the grand aisle, produce lines the left side with floral in the front right corner and prepared foods, deli, and bakery lining the right side. The first aisle is natural foods. Meat and seafood are on the back wall, with dairy and frozen on the far left side. The pharmacy is in the front-left corner.
I most recently visited this store in February of this year, before the closure was announced. It was obvious the store was struggling, though, as it was very quiet and there were odd out-of-stocks. Foot traffic data aggregator Placer.ai estimates that this Stop & Shop gets less than half the foot traffic of the nearby ShopRite, which sounds about right given my observations.
The store -- along with three other Stop & Shop locations that are closing -- is set to be acquired by Queens-based Food Bazaar. The chain, which currently has about 35 locations including five in New Jersey, has previously acquired two other Stop & Shop locations, in Flatbush, Brooklyn and Bridgeport, CT. This (and the Piscataway location, which they're also acquiring) are decidedly riskier for Food Bazaar, as they're quite a bit geographically removed from the majority of their stores and in much more suburban areas than Food Bazaar typically operates in. Still, Food Bazaar has proven themselves remarkably flexible, operating everything from Caribbean superstores to a truly unique location with a waterfront cafe overlooking the Statue of Liberty.
Going by Facebook posts, this Stop & Shop is set to close on October 17th. I have no idea what the timeline looks like for its transition to Food Bazaar. When they acquired the Flatbush Stop & Shop, the store closed only overnight for a very quick reset and then over the next week or so, they restocked the mostly-empty store before beginning a months-long renovation project while the store remained open. But in Bridgeport, the store closed in February of 2024 and reopened as a Food Bazaar in early August after a full renovation. And it's confirmed that Food Bazaar is taking at least these two New Jersey locations -- signage posted in other NJ locations advertises job openings at these stores.
The store here in Carlstadt has been kept clean and bright, but it still feels a bit sleepy. We'll see if Food Bazaar will be able to attract a wider customer base than Stop & Shop could. My guess is they'll try to do so by broadening the international foods selections. This is a very diverse area, and to attract lots of different customers, Food Bazaar will have to nail Polish, Latin, Indian, Italian, and Caribbean foods right away.
Here's the Nature's Promise aisle, the first aisle of the store. I like this flooring.
Many of these fixtures are probably in perfectly fine condition and I would bet, unless the layout is going to change extensively, many of them are probably going to stay just as they are.
Nonfoods on the left side of the store. That's also where seasonal and HABA are...
Clearly, Stop & Shop has replaced some of the fixtures, such as the refrigerator on the left here. But it also looks to me like Stop & Shop hasn't done much to this store since ShopRite opened and was probably just waiting out a lease term.
Frozen foods continue into this alcove in the front corner. Pharmacy is just to the left.
Food Bazaar doesn't operate any pharmacies currently, although an independent pharmacy leases space inside the Trenton Food Bazaar. I don't expect the pharmacy to remain, although you never know.
And a look at the front-end.
For what it's worth, Food Bazaar employees are represented by the same union locals that represent Stop & Shop workers, and it seems like employees of this and the other acquired stores are given the option to transfer to a different Stop & Shop or to apply to Food Bazaar.
Opened: 2001
Owner: Ahold Delhaize
Previous Tenants: Grand Union (ca. 2000-2001)
Future Tenants: Food Bazaar (opens 10/18/2024)
Cooperative: none
Location: 625 Paterson Ave, Carlstadt, NJ
Photographed: February 24, 2024
That's all for this Stop & Shop -- although I'll definitely be back once Food Bazaar is here -- and in the meantime, here's the other stores we're looking at today!
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