SOMERSET, NJ–This year’s New Jersey Fall Home Show, a free two-day event produced by American Consumer Shows (ACS), opened on September 19 with only 77 booths inside a small section of the Garden State Exhibit Center.

ACS, a show promoter based in Long Island, organizes about 65-70 shows, including bridal shows, “nationwide” every year, Vice President of Finance, Michele M. Ryder, told New Brunswick Today during a break from asking people how they heard about the two-day event. 

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–McDonald’s corporation will fully transition to cage-free eggs in nearly 16,000 of its restaurants in the U.S. and Canada over the next 10 years, the giant restaurant chain announced on September 9.

“Our customers are increasingly interested in knowing more about their food and where it comes from,” said McDonald’s USA President Mike Andres. “Our decision to source only cage-free eggs reinforces the focus we place on food quality and our menu to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations.

PISCATAWAY, NJ–International supermarket chain Aldi has dubbed August “National Hiring Month” and the “low-price grocery leader” says it’s looking to fill some 2,500 Store Associate, Shift Manager and Manager Trainee positions across the country.

The chain boasts more than 1,300 locations in 32 states, including the Aldi Food Market on Van Dyke Avenue in New Brunswick.

That store is currently looking for store associates and held a recruiting event on August 11.

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ–Linda Wahler has been a member of the UFCW union since 1986, and worked at the local PathMark as a cake decorator until 5 months ago.

Then she was transferred to the A&P in Holmdel where, the company told her, they needed help in the deli and meat department, an area she also had experience in.

But both stores will close soon, perhaps for the last time. The East Brunswick Pathmark is slated to shut down September 18, while the A&P in Holmdel will close the day after, on September 19.

EDISON, NJ—Classic grocer A&P, which also owns Pathmark, Superfresh, and Waldbaum's filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors on July 19, saying it planned to close three stores in Middlesex County, and sell two others to competitor ACME Markets Inc.

The Edison, East Brunswick and Old Bridge Pathmark stores, as well as seven other A&P-owned supermarkets in New Jersey are set to close if the company cannot find a buyer, but some are being bought up by competitors already.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–A historic agreement between Barnabas Health and Robert Wood Johnson Health System will create NJ’s largest health care system, if approved by the government.

The new hospital conglomerate would consist of more than a dozen hospitals with nearly 30,000 total employees in New Jersey.  The chain would be named RWJ Barnabas and representation on the entity's Board of Trustees "will be evenly divided between the two organizations."

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–On July 7, Starbucks coffee shops raised prices on some beverages amid the rising cost of wages and rent, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Asked if the Hub City Starbucks at 351 George Street would increase any of its prices, a Starbucks spokesperson stated: "The price adjustment applies to all company-operated stores across the country, including those in NJ."

The George Street location is company-operated, yet management declined to comment on the new pricing.