NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—The city’s new 24-hour supermarket is changing distributors already, along with seven other stores currently operating under the same brand name in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
FreshGrocer, a market that opened in November across from the train station, operates in a space leased from the New Brunswick Parking Authority on the ground floor of a 9-story parking garage that also includes a fitness center.
Just one of the eight FreshGrocer stores in Drexeline, PA will formally change to a Shop-Rite, but all of them will begin taking deliveries from the Middlesex-County-based co-op best known for supplying Shop-Rite
Wakefern, the nation’s largest retailers’ cooperative, will take over the FreshGrocer trademark but CEO Pat Burns will continue to own the Drexeline Shop-Rite and the seven remaining FreshGrocers.
Wakefern already supplies nearly 50 stores in the Northeast, including Shop-Rites and Price-Rites. Â FreshGrocer officials spoke of plans to expand to Camden, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.
Editor’s Note: The author of this article was a part of the team that opened the FreshGrocer in November 2012, and is no longer affiliated with the company.
Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.
