Just off of US-46, a shady little plaza shows the A&P in Hackettstown, New Jersey... one of the only options for locals up until 2015, when the store closed with the chain. I visited this store back in July 2018, and it was in terrible condition. I'm hoping to contact the Real Estate agent to get better pictures of this A&P, along with many others, in North Jersey.
This store opened in March 2000 with a sister store in Mansfield Commons, which lasted only two years. Kohl's quickly moved in and removed all A&P aspects of the building. As far as I can tell from aerial views, it was identical to the Hackettstown location we will be covering today.
For reference, technically, this store is in Hackettstown. A&P referred to it as the Budd Lake store. The center recognized it as the Mount Olive store. I'll just add all three to the directory!
A fresh build for the 2000's. Not so fresh anymore, unfortunately.
No more cart corrals. Many A&P locations have had theirs left behind.
Butcher's paper covered up most of the windows. Fortunately, the side entrances weren't.
Pharmacy... Closed. Entrances... Closed.
Not a bad A&P sign! This sure lasted long.
Unfortunately not the paint job. The paint is almost peeling off of the building.
This was in 2015. Nothing has left this location, as far as I can tell.
Trashed vestibule.
Customer Service is just over the window here.
Stained papers... too bad they didn't fall down! Wasn't able to get shots of this end.
Express Yourself self-checkouts from the Fresh era, but no kiosks...
Long-belt self-checkouts with the original 90's lights! All shelving and decor are still in this store. It's incredible that I came at such a great time when the lights were on.
"Food Market" Circle in the back... anyone notice anything? "Food Emporium" font! This was obviously the later rendition of the Foodmarket decor, before the 00's Calligraphy days. If I could ever get in this store (by Real Estate Agent), I'd definitely strip this store of every single last price tag and whatever is in the backrooms... possibly old training video tapes. I'd love to get some up on YouTube someday!
Delivery Bays in the back. There is an angled one on the other side. Unfortunately all the doors were locked... but there was a landscaping company that had opened one of the doors (I saw them through the front)... too bad they were already gone by time I reached the back.
Pylon sign on US-46. My guess is that this A&P will be abandoned for a long time...
(Side note: I took this picture from my car at the other entrance... my Galaxy S9 is working great with these photos. Unfortunately that wasn't the case with my older posts... Galaxy S5 was not good with image stabilization, and Droid Mini was even worse with the Clinton store)
Next stop: anywhere! (I actually visited several A&Ps in my trip here... but not the Sparta store. Cars backed up the exit! It was a very busy day in the middle of July)
And they even left all the gumballs in the gumball machine too. I'm surprised those gumball machines were left behind actually, as I thought those were vendor owned items that would be taken out prior to the store's closure.
ReplyDeleteOne of my friends used to be a vendor for those machines. I actually asked him about these a few weeks after I took those photos. He said that the A&P probably outright bought the machines straight out when they opened, as renting/leasing the machine can be costly over time, especially if A&P was planning to do business there for 20 years, which was (almost) the case at this location. I know that Giant/Stop & Shop rent their machines, if they have them at all. The ones in my local store were taken out many years ago.
DeleteI used to go to this one a lot. Shame how no one's apparently interested in it for anything. Should be noted this and the one in Mansfield replaced another one down the hill on 46, currently a health care thing (that location in turn replaced an older Centennial model which turned into a Blockbuster, which is also now vacant). That plaza also had one of the last few A&P Liquors, which became a ShopRite liquor store somewhat recently.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information, Tim!
Delete951 Mount Olive replaced both 641 Hackettetstown and Bud Lake which is now a home goods, or at least was the last time I was in the area. 641 became a food basics for a few years before closing.
DeleteI had to laugh when I saw the address listed as Naughtright . It is Naughright no T. I remember seeing packages addressed to the store with the misspelling . It has a Hackettstown mailing address but is Mount Olive township in Morris County . It borders Long Valley . I grew up in Long Valley, Schooley's Mountain area yet had the Hackettstown address as well. It all has to do with post office mail distribution. Aside from A&P's demise the location was great . Many people in the area miss it greatly . There are far too many choices for grocery retail in the area for sure but A&P is missed by the local community. It's a big money area though and if A&P was still in operation, this store would have been fine. The old Hackettstown store was a great spot . I was there from '88-'99 . Then Mount Olive '99-'15. There's a Target across from the former Hackettstown location now . Although there are other shopping options in the area, dealing with traffic can be a turn off to get to them . The old Hackettstown store and the old Mount Olive store had location going for them . I recall when Budd Lake closed and the Mount Olive opened, then Mansfield. Would have been better to remain where they were in Budd Lake and Hackettstown . From what I remember they took the new spots because if they did not, another competitor would ( Although A&P did not ever want to compete) Sad situation . As a former employee and customer for years, I know if they were still in operation, they'd be prominent in this area regardless of the Shop-Rite, Weis, Wal-Mart, Target . Just my opinion .
ReplyDeleteGood catch! I mess up spellings of roads a lot.
DeleteA&P was definitely the pioneer of the supermarket industry; they would still be thriving if management didn't give out in the 80's.
The 7 Naughright Road location will be subdivided soon-- a national gym has leased out 15,000 square feet of the space.