SuperFresh Food World
Opened: 2016
We are back once again at the SuperFresh Food World in Belleville, NJ. The store completed an exterior and minor interior remodel about three years ago, and since the store opened in a former Pathmark in 2016, they've been making incremental changes to the inside. The latest round has begun with new lighting and shelving inside.
The bones don't appear to be changing, but new lighting has been installed across the store. In the produce department above, you can see the old Pathmark lighting, which was built into the ceiling, is still there but turned off. The track lighting, installed when SuperFresh opened, is still going strong, but you can also see the newer, brighter LED lights surrounding the produce department. The fluorescent tube lighting is gone.
There's some random new shelving around the store such as this black shelving for baked goods, but the big change is that the grocery aisles are all in the process of getting new shelving that matches. In the below picture, you can also see the new and old lighting along the back wall. You can also see that this store could stand to get a new floor. Newer SuperFresh stores from this owner receive much more extensive renovations, including fixtures, lighting, and flooring. It's hard to tell how extensive the scope of this remodel will be, but it seems limited to the shelving and lighting for now.
The produce here has always been absolutely first-rate, and it continues to be. The vegetables, like these leafy greens, are the strongest point in the produce department. The store's high turnover helps here -- this is, last I heard, the highest-volume store in the Key Food cooperative (which now includes about 450 stores).
The fixtures in other departments are largely left over from Pathmark and not aging particularly gracefully. I'd love to see all new refrigeration and flooring here, but it doesn't look like we're going to get that, unfortunately. You can see the Pathmark flooring in the bottom-right corner below. The freezer cases were replaced a couple years after this store opened.
The grocery aisles feel much newer, though, with new lighting and shelving. The transition seems extremely labor-intensive, as the entire aisle has to be loaded onto temporary shelving, the shelves are replaced, and then it's all restocked.
Here's some of the ongoing work in the pasta and grains aisle:
This store's lack of cosmetic upgrades, even as functional upgrades are made, might be a bit of a "if it ain't broke" situation. If this store is very high-traffic, which all signs suggest that it is, perhaps it just doesn't matter what the decor looks like. But as this store approaches 10 years under SuperFresh Food World, it's good to see these investments being made, even if it's little by little.
Pathmark flooring and refrigeration remain in the dairy aisle, but you can see the new (and old) lighting on the ceiling.
Water has been moved out of the grocery aisles to the front-left corner of the store, which used to be bulk packages and sale items. Those, in turn, have been moved to the front-right corner of the store along with kitchenwares.
Owner: Hi Jong (Howard) Lee
Previous Tenants: Pathmark
Cooperative: Key Food Stores
Location: 115 Belmont Ave, Belleville, NJ
Photographed: January 23, 2025
The front-end is looking sleeker than usual -- the sale displays and random merchandise that often clutter this store's front-end are gone, at least temporarily -- and the new lighting is pleasant and bright, but not overwhelming. Still, the store still has the look and feel of a Pathmark, and it doesn't look like even this update will change that. In other SuperFresh news, the Linden store has been sold, and will remain a SuperFresh. While I don't know who the new owner is, as of a few weeks ago when I visited after the sale, the store looks identical and I couldn't detect any significant changes of any kind. I'll keep an eye on it, though, and see if anything does change! For now, here's the other stores we're checking out this weekend...
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