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Update: Stop & Shop (closing) - Piscataway, NJ

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By Zachary
Stop & Shop
Opened: 2001
Owner: Ahold Delhaize
Previous Tenants: Edwards (late 1990s-2001)
Cooperative: none
Location: 581 Stelton Rd, Piscataway, NJ
Photographed: September 22, 2024
Closing Date: October 17, 2024
Welcome back to the Stop & Shop of Piscataway, which we recently toured when it was announced the store was set to become a Food Bazaar. Last weekend, I got the chance to return to the store and check it out, so let's see one more set of pre-closing pictures! Food Bazaar is converting one Stop & Shop every two weeks, so Coney Island opened on September 6, Hempstead on September 20, Carlstadt is scheduled for October 4, and Piscataway for October 18. The store in Mount Vernon, which initially was supposed to be included in that group, is on hold due to permitting issues and it's unclear if or when that store will be acquired by Food Bazaar.
Each Stop & Shop closes at 3:00 pm on their set closing day (it's October 17th for this store). Food Bazaar, I'm told, takes possession at exactly 3:01 and immediately begins the massive task of cleaning and stocking and removing any Stop & Shop logos or signs around the store. Food Bazaar then intends to renovate the stores while they're open over the course of several months. As we'll see in this store, the closing process is rather unusual compared to other supermarkets' store closures.
I used the bathroom in the back of this store and spotted a sign for the Food Bazaar job fair for this location -- many Stop & Shop employees are transferring to other Stop & Shop locations, which means that Food Bazaar has to re-staff the stores in short order.
As we can see, even though this store's closure is still several weeks out, it's already pretty empty. It seems like some merchandise has been packed up and moved to other locations (that's corroborated by what I've heard from employees) while other items are left to just sell out. I believe any non-perishable stock left behind on closing day is simply acquired by Food Bazaar, but I don't know that for a fact. But unlike most other store closures, there are no liquidation or going-out-of-business sales. From my observations, that means business at these locations has absolutely dropped off a cliff. Customers can no longer reliably do a whole food shopping -- and that's been the case for many weeks now, as the stores started to clean out merchandise as far back as mid-August -- but there also aren't any store closing sales that draw people in. In the closing stores that I've visited, they've been noticeably empty of stock and also down to extremely low volume. I don't know why Stop & Shop has decided to do the closures this way -- possibly to keep them low-profile and quiet, but everyone who enters the store knows something's up -- but it's definitely very different from what I've seen at other chains.
Edwards decor lives on, for now. I've confirmed with Food Bazaar that all the locations will be getting remodels, and some will be quite extensive. This store is in pretty good shape, but definitely needs some freshening up. One of the first changes made at Coney Island was to scrape the floors down to the concrete subfloor and polish that, something that Food Bazaar and many other supermarkets are doing in newer locations (see, for instance, the SuperFresh in Highland Park in a former Stop & Shop less than five miles away). I have to assume they'll do the same here, especially given the infamous Edwards-era tiles that remain around the store. Aside from being annoying and loud, in several places they're broken and poorly patched.
And even as some parts of the store look pretty normal, others are obviously already done for. I see far less traffic in these already low-volume stores since the closure process began, and I think people have given up on them several weeks out from closure.
The deli, for instance, was basically completely empty except for a handful of deli meats in one small area, but there was still a deli clerk behind the counter (he went to the back for something when I took this picture). It's just such a strange choice to me that the stores are pretending to be fully functional when they're so clearly not. Why not just close the deli and sell those as pre-sliced?
All of the promotional displays and such have been removed from around the store, which makes these closing stores feel much more empty. Below, you can also see some of the flooring problems.
Among the changes I'm sure Food Bazaar will make here is adding full-service meat and seafood counters. Stop & Shop has neither, although I believe the store opened with both.
Some grocery aisles are pretty fully stocked; others are completely empty. You can see on the right below how the stock is thinning out.
As I've been seeing in several stores now, a few aisles are blocked off with bottled water or some other item. There's another few HABA aisles next to this that are completely empty, too, but they're not blocked off.
The meat department is down to about 40% of its full size. Is anyone buying this meat before it goes bad? If you look through my pictures, you can see just how few shoppers there were.
HABA aisles all but completely empty with a very small number of products you can see on the left. Why even bother keeping those out for sale -- and at full price, no less?
The pharmacy has already been closed -- it closed over the summer -- and Marty is gone, too.
Quite a few of the refrigerators and freezers in this store have been leaking -- you can see these cases with the yellow-striped pads underneath them (or are those to hold down loose floor tiles?). Either way, both the flooring and most of the fixtures will need to be replaced here.
And yet dairy looks almost fully stocked. It's a strange way to close a store, if you ask me.
Cold cuts, which are also in the last aisle? Not so much fully stocked...
The bakery doesn't appear to be making anything new, but they're selling out what they have...
And you can feel how much space there is with the promotional displays and everything removed. It'll be interesting to see what Food Bazaar does with the place!
As much as I have time to write, I'm going to try to post more Stop & Shop closures on Sundays. I have posts for almost two dozen of the 32 closing stores, which I'm going to write and post as much as I can while the closures are still happening. Stay tuned, and tomorrow we're back to Worcester!

And don't miss this weekend's other posts!
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