Seabra's Market
Opened: February 27, 2025
Opened: February 27, 2025
Owner: Jose Seabra
It's time for a trip back to Old Bridge, where a very short-lived SuperFresh opened in June 2024 and closed in October of the same year. It was an independent member of Key Food Stores (and, as far as I can tell, its owners didn't own any other supermarkets), so when the store closed, it appeared to have been sold within Key Food. Seabra's Market, a longtime Portuguese supermarket chain with locations in Union, Newark, and Elizabeth, took over the 25,000 square foot space and renovated it lightly before opening on Thursday.
Keep in mind that the store was essentially brand-new -- not even a year old -- when Seabra's opened up, so there wasn't a whole lot they needed to do to the building. Still, there's one notable change: Seabra's pulled out the drop ceiling, which SuperFresh left intact (but painted black). Seabra's also opened up the area that SuperFresh was planning to use as a juice bar, but instead turned it into a bakery department.
I was here on day 2 of operation, and it's clear Seabra's was ready for a big opening. The store was crowded and every shelf was absolutely immaculate. More on that shortly.
The cafe and bakery are in what was a neighboring storefront next to the Walgreens, but it's quite a nice setup facing out the corner of the strip mall.
And it's clear that Seabra's is more comfortable with what to do with the space than SuperFresh. The SuperFresh wasn't bad, but Seabra's has nailed the execution here.
Returning to the grand aisle, we see that Seabra's has replaced the rows of sale items running along the right side of the produce department with more produce cases and a few rows of shelves for specialty olive oils. The selection feels much, much larger than SuperFresh even though obviously the store's size didn't change and the general setup didn't even change that much.
And it was definitely a grand opening! Aside from the fact that every department was piled high with foods, there was a DJ and multiple free sample tables throughout the store.
The addition of a row of produce refrigerators has allowed Seabra's to very significantly expand the produce selection here. You can see in some of the pictures a large display of precut produce on the left side, and on the right side they've added an expanded organic, vegetarian, and specialty selection (which SuperFresh had much less of).
The decor is great and the store feels much more lively, although we'll see if the traffic continues after opening weekend. Seabra's main background is Portuguese food, but here, the international food selection is split probably 50/50 between Portuguese and Italian items, along with a full line of all the regular grocery items a mainstream supermarket would have.
And again, even though the setup isn't that different, Seabra's has packed a lot more into the deli department with a robust cheese island, a new olive bar, and a lot more in the service deli counter.
Unlike SuperFresh, Seabra's does have an in-store bakery, along with some baked goods from area bakeries. A towering pile of free sample bread was lined up in front of the bread cases in the back corner of the store. Again, the setup is the same as SuperFresh, but the selection is very different and much more extensive.
Seabra Foods is preparing to open in South River, about five miles northwest. But it's a different, unrelated business owned by a different branch of the same family.
The international aisle here includes significant Portuguese and Italian selections, along with some Latin American foods.
There's still no service butcher or seafood counter, but an announcement in the store when I was there said they'd be adding a service seafood counter "in a few weeks". I honestly can't imagine where they'll put it because, as you can see in these pictures, Seabra's has filled nearly every inch of the store, while SuperFresh felt much more spread out. I imagine they'll probably reconfigure this back corner to add a service counter.
Frozen and dairy in the last aisle.
Once again, though, Seabra's has changed the selection and made it much more specialized. Pastosa ravioli and pasta from Brooklyn, sold alongside fresh pastas made specificaly for Seabra's, here in the dairy department. SuperFresh didn't have anything like that.
While we're on the subject of Old Bridge and Italian food, a sign has been posted on the also short-lived Top Tomato about a mile southeast (open June to November 2024) that Vucciria Food & Gourmet is set to open there. It's an extensive gourmet market that currently has only one location, in Brooklyn.
As you can see, the bones of the store are the same, but I thought Seabra's took it to the next level with a truly unique product mix and a much more specific focus on Portuguese and Italian foods.
It's good to see this space remaining a supermarket, and I think Seabra's did a fantastic job on setting up the store. Let's hope they can keep it that way long term.
Previous Tenants: Food Fair > Drug Fair > Walgreens
Cooperative: Key Food Stores
Location: 2617 CR-516, Old Bridge, NJ
Photographed: February 28, 2025
Don't forget to visit the other stores from this weekend!
Certainly seems like they could move (or just remove) those few cases under the seafood sign and put the service counter right there, seeing as how there is that window under the butcher sign which means there should be workspace behind that wall (that both could probably use, as even some of the bigger chains have done).
ReplyDeleteKinda trippin' on this one. The exterior has all the markings of a former ACME right down to the breakroom and bathroom windows.
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