mjhale wrote: ↑12 Mar 2025 20:03
Groceteria wrote: ↑17 Feb 2025 22:56
OK, the Safeway - First National question got me curious so I dug in for some in-depth research.
I was able to identify 53 Safeways in NJ at the time of the acquisition, five of which were under construction. Of these, 44 flipped to First National in 1961. At that point, First National also had five pre-existing stores, four of which had been Mutual Markets.
By 1966, about 29 of the Safeways were still open as Finast, and there were also one store that was built as FN/Finast, and three or the former Mutual Markets, for a total of 33.
By 1970, 18 of the Safeways were still open, along with three new builds and three former Mutual Markets.
By 1977, when Finast finally gave up on New Jersey, there were 15 total stores. Of these, eight were from the original Safeway acquisition, three were former Mutual Markets, and four were original Finast locations (or conversions from some other chain).
I had to piece this together from several sources so there may be a few that are a little "off" here and there, but I think this is substantially correct. I'm sure someone will let me know if it isn't. I'll post a lst of these somewhere tomorrow; I don't have it in me to format it tonight.
Thank you for sharing all of this additional research with us. I did not realize that the Safeway name lasted in NJ beyond the First National acquisition. It was my impression that the Safeway name was phased out pretty quickly. I have been in the Morris Turnpike former Safeway now Shop Rite multiple times. The store has additions all around it. Last I was in the store in late 2019, the original Safeway part and front facade of the store still retained the classic arch architecture. It is a neat store and I'm glad (at least as of late 2019) Shop Rite had kept the architecture of the original part of the store intact. The Morris Turnpike store must have been under development by Safeway but opened by First National. I always thought it was kind of odd that there was this lone obvious former Safeway in NJ. Safeway must not have been very active in terms of building newer stores in the marina style towards the end of their run in the NYC area. Makes sense considering the NYC Safeway stores weren't doing very well based on what I have read here and elsewhere.
I did a lot of research on my own and--as you suspected--ascertained that the current ShopRite of Springfield was never a Safeway. A short version of the relevant history is that Safeway opened a supermarket at 727 Morris Turnpike in 1952, and that the store was destroyed by fire in 1960. Safeway was in the process of building a replacement store (which was of the Marina design) when its New York Division was purchased by Finast in 1961. A new supermarket opened at 727 Morris Turnpike on February 7, 1962 and was a Finast from day one. The newspaper clipping that currently appears on the Groceteria home page shows this, and the ads from the time which I saw (pertaining to the store's opening) only identify the supermarket as a Finast (aka, "First National Stores").
I could not ascertain when the Springfield Finast closed, although it happened sometime after June 5, 1972. The ShopRite opened on April 9, 1975. Below is a more detailed history of the site--along with newspaper clippings one can look at by clicking on hyperlinks--which I wrote elsewhere on this message board:
Located close to the ShopRite of Millburn is the ShopRite of Springfield. Like the chain's Millburn store, the ShopRite of Springfield (in Union County, NJ) is another longtime Village ShopRite located in a building which began life as a different supermarket. Although I realize that the Springfield ShopRite has previously been discussed on this message board, hopefully my research provides some new details about this store's history.
On October 15, 1952, Safeway opened its Springfield supermarket at 727 Morris Turnpike:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143793520/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143793577/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143793632/
This Safeway was remodeled in 1958. While the 1952 ad showed an artist's rendering of the supermarket, the below ad from 1958 contains an actual photo:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143796253/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143796274/
When it comes to supermarkets, I am not that familiar with the history of Safeway, since the chains whose history I am primarily interested in are A&P, Super Fresh, and ShopRite. But I suspect that no Marina Safeways were built as early as 1952. And by looking at both the 1952 and 1958 ads, it is apparent that this Safeway was not a Marina Safeway.
The Springfield Safeway was destroyed by fire on the evening of September 2, 1960:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143792385/
Safeway announced plans to build a brand-new supermarket to replace the one that was destroyed:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143791878/
Per the Groceteria Webmaster. Safeway's New York Division was purchased by Finast in 1961. Consequently, Finast acquired a brand-new store in Springfield which was intended to be--but never was--a Marina Safeway.
Construction was completed on the new supermarket in early 1962. If you look at the Historic Aerials website, you will notice that the 1962 store is much further back from Morris Turnpike than the store it replaced.
On February 7, 1962, the Springfield Finast opened its doors. Hopefully you can see the same free previews which I am able to see (when I am not logged into Newspapers.com), because the grand opening advertisements show an artist's rendering of what this Finast looked like when it was brand new:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143790864/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143790408/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143791079/
I was unable to ascertain when Finast closed its Springfield supermarket. However, it was still open according to this June 5, 1972 ad:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143796699/
The ShopRite of Springfield opened on April 9, 1975:
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 143797257/
Historic aerial images show that the building was expanded twice: the first expansion occurred between 1970 and 1979 and the second happened between 2002 and 2006. Unfortunately, I was unable to learn any information as to exactly when these expansions were completed.
Here is Zachary's profile of the Springfield ShopRite:
https://www.marketreportblog.com/2021/0 ... ld-nj.html
Although Zachary (of the Market Report Blog) mentioned that this ShopRite was a replacement for the chain's Summit location, I could not verify that claim. Zachary also shared a photo of some beautiful mosaics on the outside of the building near the entrance/exit doors. Though I cannot be certain, I suspect that these date back to 1962. In fact, if you look at the artist's rendering in the February 1962 Finast ads, several different works of art appear on the building's exterior (some of which have sadly been obstructed).
As a final note, regarding the mosaics mentioned in the previous paragraph, one section of the grand opening advertisements for the Finast from February 1962 reads as follows:
"SEE THE HISTORIC STOREFRONT MURALS:
'The Village Green' -- Springfield's Historic First Presbyterian Church -- Independence Hall -- George Washington's Headquarters."
Of the two mosaics which are still visible, it appears that one of them is of the Presbyterian church.