ShopRite
Opened: 1954
Welcome to the ShopRite of Nutley! This store dates back to 1954 when it opened as the Park Fruit & Vegetable Market here in downtown Nutley, and over time, the store expanded and eventually joined Wakefern. Today, it's around 50,000 square feet, comprising more expansions than I can even count. And although it's always been an extremely well-run store, in my opinion notably better than other area ShopRites owned by other members, it hasn't been exactly state-of-the-art in a long time. The store recently completed a major renovation -- its grand reopening is today, in face -- and I visited the store on Friday as the finishing touches were being put on. It's truly an impressive transformation of the store. I first photographed the Nutley ShopRite back in 2021, when it was a nice but aging and cluttered store. In this post, I've interspersed the 2021 and 2024 photos so you can see how extensive some of the work has been, even though nothing about the layout changed.
In a very unusual setup, the store occupies a narrow strip of land between the main street here in Nutley, and a small hill with houses on it just behind the property. There's a parking lot at each side of the store, which is set up to face Franklin Avenue, along with an additional lot across the street.
The exterior of the store hasn't gotten a whole lot of work, but it did get a paint job and some new faux-stone texturing along the bottom. An interesting change: note that the ShopRite sign for the parking lot across the street has been switched out for a LoCurcio Family Markets sign (obviously, the branding of the store in general remains ShopRite). LoCurcio owns two other ShopRites, in Belleville and Kearny, which they recently acquired.
The main entrance is on the left side of the store, but additional parking is here on the right.
The main entrance faces the main parking lot on the left side of the store. The storefront is looking sharp with a fresh coat of paint.
Now let's head inside! The produce and floral departments are on the left side of the store, with pharmacy in an island in the first few aisles and HABA behind it. Dairy lines the back wall of the store. Roughly in the middle of the store, frozen foods straddles the division between two different eras of the store, with an expansion on the far-right side holding the rest of the perimeter departments. Meat is in the back-right corner, with service butcher and seafood counters on the right side wall of the store. Deli, bakery, and prepared foods counters line the front wall of the store to the right of the checkouts.
We can see from these 2021 pictures that the store was very nice before, but it was a bit dated in feeling. Still, you can see that it's always been kept up nicely -- very clean and well-maintained. In the renovation, floral was moved out of this front corner to an island between produce and pharmacy.
Now for our first look at the new store...
Right away, we can see it looks pretty spectacular! Just about everything is new, and in several parts of the store, the drop ceiling has been removed for a higher ceiling which makes a big difference. Nearly all the fixtures were replaced or refurbished, and the decor is of course brand-new.
A reminder that I was here three days before the official grand reopening, so there was still some small work going on. You can see some temporary floor mats here, which I suspect were only there to protect the new floor while the remainder of construction work was going on.
The store feels much more spacious throughout after its renovation, even though of course nothing really changed about the store's layout or size.
One thing that I do miss is these historical photos of the store and its predecessors throughout the years. They were hung in several places in the store. And there are still historical photos worked into the new design, but it seemed like there were more in the past. That said, I have literally no other complaints with the renovation. It looks truly spectacular.
Here's a look at the storefront not that long ago!
This is a brand-new decor package that I haven't seen in any other ShopRite (or any other supermarket, for that matter). I don't know what design firm was responsible for it, but in my opinion they knocked it out of the park.
I believe they removed a few of these short aisles to the right here, between produce and pharmacy, and placed the floral counter in that space. It feels much more open in front of the pharmacy, too.
The decor is understated in many departments, but it never feels boring. It's also a good thing, to me, because especially when the ceiling is lower you don't want to clutter up the walls with all kinds of busy designs.
Customer service is on the front wall facing pharmacy. Again, I would assume those floor mats are only there for renovation work. The flooring is great, too, throughout the store.
Over to the back wall, the dairy department lines the wall facing the grocery aisles.
You can see that the bones didn't really change that much, and these fixtures weren't even replaced. But it looks like practically a brand-new store.
I also love the consistent colors throughout. A lot of white, back, and gray with the wood accents makes for a subtle but beautiful decor package.
The HABA aisles, before and after...
The shelving might not even be new, but at least it's newly lit. The flooring is new and makes a big difference.
Especially given what the flooring used to look like. Of course, it's clean and maintained nicely, but oh boy...
I'm sure at one point in the 80s this flooring was the coolest thing ever. But these days, not so much.
Still, I've always found this store to be impeccable and significantly better-run than some of the other ShopRites around. Many of the area ShopRites are already very well-run stores.
This store most directly competes with an incredibly mediocre Stop & Shop (I mean, there's nothing wrong with it but certainly nothing to recommend it) at Clifton Commons a mile east.
Here's a look at the grocery aisles post-renovation.
One thing I think was an interesting (and very effective) choice: notice that the walls were actually brought in above the refrigerator cases. It's not actually the wall, just a panel of decor, but it's hung closer to the front of the refrigerator than it was before. That means you can actually see what's on the walls, and what the decor is, whereas before you couldn't see anything above the case.
And they've made great use of that decor space!
Not much has been changed in the freezer aisles, but it's a big difference. Here's one shot post-renovation from the first frozen aisle, since I don't seem to have a picture of this aisle before the renovation:
And now for a look at what's been changed. The cases weren't replaced, but they were painted and fixed up with new lighting. But the new ceiling, lighting, and flooring go a long way.
Even more so in the last freezer aisle where the grocery aisles meet the perishable departments on the right side. It used to be much more cluttered and feel much smaller, but it's been cleaned up really significantly with a new row of low freezers in the middle.
Now that's what a renovated supermarket should look like!
The meat, seafood, deli, bakery, and prepared foods departments are all located in a roughly 10,000 square foot expansion on the far right side of the store. That area has been extensively renovated, too, with the low drop ceiling being raised and the many smaller islands of product in the middle being streamlined into multiple rows of really sleek new cases. All told, it makes the space feel far less cramped and much more appealing. Check it out...
Now that's a real difference!
Gone are the awkward islands and coffin cases and odd corners. Now rows of low freezers display frozen meat and seafood in the middle while allowing a sightline across the whole space.
Meat and seafood service counters are on the far right side of the store.
Recall that I was here just before the grand reopening, so it looks like the area where a department sign was supposed to go was still covered by brown paper at the time. Still, it captures how much of a change it was. Again, it was perfectly fine before, but it's so much better now.
I love this signage, too. The lighting and rope, which is set a bit in front of the wall for a great 3-D effect, are beautiful.
And the deli and prepared foods counters line the front wall of this expansion area. Cheese used to run in a few rows of lower cases in front of the deli, but it's been moved to its own island labeled the House of Cheese.
Clean, modern, and attractive!
I don't recall exactly how this area was set up prior to the renovation, but now between prepared foods and bakery is the House of Cheese.
Great branding on the prepared foods counters, too.
And the new cheese department!
Sushi and pizza between deli and bakery.
The bakery here has always been first-rate. Unfortunately, the decor was a bit clip art-y for me before. It's now much more modern and upscale in design.
The service counter hadn't been stocked yet, possibly because it was early in the day or possibly because it wasn't ready just yet renovation-wise. Still, I love the design of this department and the lights are great.
The large self-serve bakery cases are still a centerpiece, with lots of fresh-baked rolls, really good bagels, and nice donuts.
The LoCurcio branding appears on a few things throughout the store, including all of the store-made items like baked goods, prepared foods, and packaged meat or seafood.
And now for a look at the front-end. There's an entrance and exit at either side of the front-end, although because of that expansion with the deli and bakery departments, the entrance at this side is really about halfway across the store.
It again feels more spacious, although that's likely a visual trick from the dark ceiling (making it disappear and therefore feel higher).
And that's about all for this spectacular ShopRite! I'll definitely be back, and I'll update with the last few things that weren't quite ready yet!
Opened: 1954
Owner: LoCurcio Family Markets
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.
Location: 437 Franklin Ave, Nutley, NJ
Photographed: November 8, 2024
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Also today...
- Big Y opens in a space originally slated for Amazon Fresh near Bridgeport
- Key Food opens in an extensively-renovated former Save-A-Lot near Hartford
- Inserra Supermarkets' first The Fresh Grocer opens in a former Stop & Shop
- Amazon Fresh opens a long-dormant site in north Jersey
- ShopRite completes a major renovation at one of their oldest operating stores (this post)
Do you ever sleep??
ReplyDeleteThis is an extraordinary remodel! Definitely has more of a Whole Foods vibe than ShopRite, which is perfectly fine. The amount of work done to the ceiling is pretty astonishing and the results are spectacular. The design company in charge of this was not fooling around. After seeing the first few shots of produce, I thought the signage was flat but then your one photo reveals it is, in fact, 3D! The letters hanging from ropes is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in supermarket decor.
Quick note about the exterior... I wonder if Nutley has restrictions on signage size. The ShopRite lettered signs seem small compared to other ShopRites that have that much wall space to play with. The circular signs seem small too.
The mats on the floor may be semi-permanent. ACME just put a bunch of them in the Edgewater store. Not attractive but super grounding for one's feet and makes shopping cart wheels smooth and quiet.
I love how ShopRite is now lighting the shelves in HABA. Makes a huge difference and elevates the shopping experience far above CVS or Walgreens. Very smart move IMHO.
The 80s floor stripes are fantastic! The ol' 80s approach... "Just throw some color there. Does it make sense? No, but who cares, it's the 80s."
Interesting how some of the coffin cases are on wheels. I wonder if this is for cleaning purposes or allows for options to rearrange in the future.
The subway tile the departments is truly stunning. This is how things turn out when true designers develop store décor. ACME take note. You can't even get the typesetting of your department signage correct.
The Nutely Artisan Kitchen sign jumps the shark a bit for me. I've never seen anything artisan in ShopRite's prepared foods departments. Maybe I'll check this place out to see if the kitchen lives up to the signage.
Is the store really going to sell THAT many rolls and bagels in a day? I've never seen a supermarket with that volume of bready goodness for grab n' go.
I find the LoCurcio branding confusing especially on the aisle markers.
So the checkout lane signs are repurposed from the previous décor. That's kinda cool but the end result seems to fall a bit flat especially considering all of the spectacular signage around the rest of the store.
Great coverage. Thanks for taking us on this tour!
Appreciate the kind words and feedback, definitely more things that didn't finish until after these photos were taken. Tell ACME to give us a shout, we'll help them out haha.
DeleteAcme Style, yes I do sleep. Occasionally. Not enough.
DeleteI agree with you completely. It's a great remodel and the targeted work on the ceiling makes a big difference. And agreed with your assessment of this vs. other chains -- there's a big, obvious difference when each store is actually designed for itself rather than a simple paint and lettering job.
As for the bakery, I'm pretty confident they sell a lot if not all. This store's bakery has always been a focal point, and from everything I can tell they sell a lot of baked goods.
Concord Companies - thanks for coming by and commenting! I will be sure to be back. Great job!
Definitely check back in, as sections were finished up Friday / Saturday night. Including floral / checkout markers / end cap wraps etc. We appreciate the kind words! This was our 3rd ever remodel ..... up next is our first new ground up store in West Caldwell!
ReplyDeleteOh ok, new checkout markers to come. That makse sense. Although the repurposing of the old ones was very clever and executed well. I have to look into your company. Your 3rd remodel turned out like this? That's pretty amazing. Definitely a store I'll need to visit when all the work is complete.
DeleteWill do -- this was an impressive remodel and I can't wait to see it finished. Can't wait for West Caldwell! Really well done for sure.
Delete