Special Report: ShopRite - Watchung, NJ

ShopRite
Opened: April 9, 2025

Owner: Village Super Market

Previous Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants

Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp.

Location: 1701 US-22, Watchung, NJ

Photographed: April 9, 2025

Welcome to the brand-new ShopRite of Watchung! This state-of-the-art, newly-built store just opened on Wednesday and is holding its official grand opening celebration tomorrow. A ShopRite has been at the Blue Star Mall for decades -- in fact, it looks like there's been a ShopRite here since the 1950s, and under the ownership of Village Super Market since the mid-1970s. It was remodeled in 1981, but then not again since (although it appears to have gotten some minimal painting and cosmetic work). That store closed Tuesday. You can tour it here. And you can see the old ShopRite storefront to the left in the below image.

The old store was much smaller than the new one, at just 35,000 square feet. I don't fully know just how big the new one is -- the property owner, Levin Management, says the store is 72,000 square feet, but Wakefern says it's much smaller, 51,000 square feet. Regardless, it feels spacious, modern, and absolutely top-of-the-line.

You enter on the right side of the new storefront to the grand aisle. Produce is in the front-right corner, with floral on the right-side wall and bakery in the back-right corner. Numerous prepared foods bars run in the middle of the grand aisle. There's a Fairway-branded coffee shop just to the left of the entrance, which is also where the rolls, bagels, and donuts are, along with bulk coffee beans. The island facing the rest of the grand aisle has a sushi counter, a large Gourmet Garage-branded prepared foods department, a Fairway cheese counter, and a small deli. Service butcher and seafood counters are together at the back of the grand aisle, with packaged meats on the rest of the back wall. HABA is in the first aisle, but there's no pharmacy here. Frozen and dairy are on the left side of the store.

This store is similar to, but I believe slightly smaller than, the Old Bridge location, Village's next-newest store. As we'll see as we tour, no expense was spared in designing the store, and the services and features are absolutely top-notch.

I visited on opening day in the early afternoon -- just a couple hours after the store actually opened for business -- which is why you'll see everything looking so pristine. Still, judging by Old Bridge (which I recently returned to), they'll probably keep the store in good shape for some time to come.

What's intriguing to me is that Village is running such fantastic stores, like this one and Old Bridge, but at the same time has stores that are still relatively newly renovated that just aren't up to this level. And it's not just about the decor, which obviously is going to be better in a brand-new store. Village has owned Gourmet Garage and Fairway for years now, but has only brought those specialty selections into a very small handful of new locations.

But focusing on this Watchung store -- this is as good as it gets. Everything, from decor to the actual products offered, was as close to perfect as it'll ever be. That's a good sign: even though ShopRite is far and away the market leader in New Jersey, they're not getting complacent. There's still lots of competition here. Obviously, not every ShopRite is as impressive as this one, but the newer stores I go to are thoroughly impressive.

I love the Gourmet Garage signage on the ceiling here, a feature that Old Bridge also has!

It's nice to see that this decor package has evolved a bit over the years. The earlier version was quite nice, but didn't have the same wow factor that the newer stores and remodels do.

Incidentally, Village is also preparing to replace the ShopRite in East Orange with a newly-built store on the same property, which is probably not too far away from opening. Because of its more urban location, it's a much smaller store than this, but might look similar.

Fairway cheese counter and Boar's Head-branded deli at the back of the grand aisle. There are also several rows of cheese cases in the middle of the grand aisle. This selection is far superior to the vast majority of big-chain supermarkets, and way ahead of even what Village runs at their other stores.

Bakery (minus rolls, bagels, and donuts) in the back-right corner. Like Old Bridge, packaged breads are also here.

And meat/seafood are on the back wall.

Notice the Village-specific signage for each department. And also notice something else interesting: after several years of many ShopRite operators eliminating the ShopRite name from the insides of their stores, Village has actually redesigned their logo to change from "Village Super Market" to "Village ShopRite," a notable change.

HABA is in the first aisle. The previous store didn't have a pharmacy and the new store doesn't either, but it also seems like ShopRite as a whole might be moving away from operating pharmacies. Some operators, such as Inserra Supermarkets, don't even have pharmacies in their stores anymore.

The lit shelving for HABA is beautiful, and the selection here is extensive.

More standard shelving in the grocery aisles, with a very pleasant neutral floor.

Global Flavors in aisle 8, although international foods are definitely not a strength here. Although there are some real international foods in the aisle, you can see here that soup and broth are also considered part of Global Flavors on the right, and on the left, you can see Ortega and Taco Bell items. The main international department is in the front half of the aisle, but it's rather small. Just not something that this store focuses on.

The Milk Store signage will never get old to me! Of course, in some older stores, it was a barn. There have been several variations on this decor package over time.

Frozen foods in the third-to-last and second-to-last aisle.

And dairy lines the outside of the last aisle. I particularly like this blue wall with the Helping Families Live Better signage.

Dairy continues onto the front wall in front of what appears to be offices, with the rest of the front-end to the left of that.

Looking great! I think there are 16 aisles in total here, not counting the grand aisle.

And in a nod to ShopRite's new ad campaign, this sign is posted on the wall as you exit with some historical photos of Village stores and the Sumases. I think they've done a fantastic job of balancing the feeling of a locally-owned supermarket with all the features of your average big-chain supermarket (and then some).

A quick look at the old ShopRite, which will be subdivided into two smaller spaces.

There's a bit of movement in this area's supermarket scene, and this new ShopRite is maybe the largest change but not the only one by a long shot. A LIDL is being constructed in Scotch Plains, basically across the highway, and an ALDI opened in a former thrift store half a mile west in late 2023. A couple miles beyond that, the Asian Food Markets in North Plainfield has just completed a renovation of the inside and outside. But this store most directly competes with a Stop & Shop about 3/4 of a mile west on 22. Although new exterior signage has been installed there, the inside hasn't been redone, so it's still sporting its ca. 2000 Super Stop & Shop decor.

I'm glad to see Village has given all they had for the new Watchung ShopRite, and I'm really excited to see what else Village has coming up. But there's a lot more to see today and tomorrow! Check it all out below...

• ACME finishes a remodel in Westchester County
• SuperFresh opens in Washington Heights as a nearby store switches brands
• ShopRite prepares a new store in northern New Jersey and opens a central Jersey replacement store
• Former Rite Aids become supermarkets in the Highbridge, Belmont, and Ridgewood (Sunday)
• A Key Food moves next door in the Bronx (Sunday)