Special Report: Grocery Square - Secaucus, NJ

Grocery Square
Opened: December 13, 2024

Owner: Sachin Goel

Previous Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants

Cooperative: none

Location: 845 1st St, Secaucus, NJ

Photographed: December 15, 2024

The town of Secaucus is probably familiar to most either as a pass-through while on the turnpike, or as a pass-through by way of Secaucus Junction train station (where almost all NJ Transit train lines intersect). But the isolated town -- surrounded on all sides by the marshes of the Meadowlands, the Hackensack River, or highways -- also has 22,000 residents, and until last Friday, no supermarkets. (There is a newly-renovated and high-volume Walmart Supercenter in town, along with a small grocer, Green Farmers Market, in part of a former ACME.) On Friday the 13th, after a long wait, Grocery Square opened up in a 25,000 square foot space previously occupied by a variety of non-retail tenants.

The space is slightly awkward because it wasn't designed for a retail store, but Grocery Square made the most of the setup here with a spacious, beautiful brand-new supermarket.

There's a (small) parking lot on one side of the store, but given its downtown location -- in fact, essentially around the corner from the former ACME -- there's not much else you could've done here.

About a quarter of Secaucus's population is Indian-American, and the owner of this store is, too. According to the Patch article I linked above, he's a partner in various Indian grocers around the state. Grocery Square's main focus is definitely Indian foods, but there's a lot here.

A side note about this image: it, along with some of the illustrations around the store, might be AI-generated. I'm not sure about that, but they have the look of AI illustrations. I think this is actually the first time I'm seeing AI images in supermarket decor (if they are in fact AI). Anyway, you'd hardly know, once you're inside the store, it wasn't built as a supermarket. The renovations, clearly, was extensive and the store looks great. Produce and dairy are on the left side of the store, with frozen foods on the back wall. A very small meat and seafood department (there's no service department) is in a room in the far back-right corner, with a bakery/prepared foods department still in progress on the right side. There are also signs for a halal meat department coming soon.

The supermarket, as you can see from the exterior photos, is at a higher level than street level, so there's stairs and ramps to get into the store.

Response to the store seems to be really positive so far, which is probably a result of the lack of choices in town. A few people have noted surprise that the store was mostly Indian groceries (although not entirely, to be clear; it's definitely a hybrid type of store).

But nodding to the Indian community in town, rows of imported produce are right alongside the usual suspects.

It's possible some of these fixtures were brought in secondhand, but everything looks really good. Here's a look across the back wall...

The grocery aisles are a bit scattered in organization, probably as a result of the combination of Indian and American goods across the store. I did spot a few Krasdale items around the store, but I didn't see any real storebrand program.

The new supermarket is clean, bright, and orderly, though. The Green Farmers Market and Walmart satisfy grocery needs, but there's still less in town than is needed.

We often see stores that have both Latin and American products, or Caribbean and American products. But it's more unusual to see these blends in stores with eastern and southern Asian foods.

A (very) small meat and seafood department is in this small room off the main sales floor, maybe the only sign this building wasn't previously a supermarket.

The selection has only the basics, with this one small case of meat and a few freezers. Green Farmers Market added a meat department not too long ago, and they have a deli and service seafood department.

Looking back out to the main sales floor...

In the last aisle, there's a selection of nonfoods and bulk-pack items along with some other small departments on the outside wall. The doorway to the left below is soon to be a halal butcher, and beyond that is Cafe & Curry, currently selling only a limited range of store-baked goods but soon to expand to prepared foods and hot food.

As we can see, this area is all still in progress, but these will be nice features once they're open.

And in the front-right corner is this space, with bread, baked goods, and rice.

Anybody recognize where those sale bins are from? They look a bit like Winn-Dixie, and it's possible they and some other fixtures or equipment in the store came from an auction as ALDI converts the Winn-Dixie stores.

And a look across the front end. Grocery Square, as we see, is really nice and clearly needed here in Secaucus. It'll be interesting, though, to see if the proportion of Indian to American foods here is right -- it seems some people were not expecting it the way the store is, so we'll see if that changes (or if the store modifies its selection, which is also possible). But for now, it's looking good and was quite busy when I was there.

Plus, don't miss this weekend's updates at Food Bazaar supermarkets in Carlstadt and Piscataway!