Ashley Marketplace
Opened: 2013
A couple towns over from SuperFresh Food World, which we're also seeing this weekend, we return once again to Ashley Marketplace in South Orange. (The first picture, by the way, is from October but the rest are from last month.) While SuperFresh seems to have picked up significant volume since it first opened and is now completing its latest update with new fixtures and lighting, Ashley continues what I can only describe as its yearslong slide into oblivion.
I first noticed the store declining way back in 2022, when certain service departments had closed up and others were decidedly diminutive. Since then, the store has been barely alive, and my most recent visit revealed, well, almost nothing on the shelves. It's really sad to see for the store that had once been a top-notch gourmet market, and what was once, I believe, specialty coffee and tea here in one of the grocery aisles, is just mostly-empty boxes of chips. Random Krasdale items, especially nonfoods items like the bleach you can see here, have been scattered across the store, apparently to fill space.
And even in the areas that aren't empty, there's very little left. This is the ice cream selection, for instance. It's a pretty shocking decline from the store's best days.
Opened: 2013
Owner: Cheol Kim
Previous Tenants: Village Super Market > ShopRite > Village Super Market > Garden of Eden Marketplace
Cooperative: Krasdale Foods
Location: 1 South Orange Ave, South Orange, NJ
Photographed: January 23, 2025
I genuinely don't know why or how the store is still in business, especially given that the space is available. Clearly, they're down to the last weeks or months -- or are they? I thought that when I visited in October, but it continues to look worse. It'll be interesting to see what else happens with this store over time, and whether any other supermarket would move into the space. Here's a look at this weekend's other posts!
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