Now that’s a jam packed headline… and it’s all for Blackwood Clementon Road! The big lead story… ANOTHER Super Wawa is proposed for Gloucester Township, this one is planned for the old Entenmann’s Bakery building and Rita’s Water Ice Property! We also give an update on three other stories… Chipotle, Giant Fitness and Keep It Shrimple!
And don’t forget that last fall a new Dollar General opened on Blackwood Clementon Road!
To be clear, Rita’s Water Ice is still open at the corner property and Entenmann’s relocated to another location as a store only, near the Starbucks. This Wawa project could take years before the property is cleared.
I know there has been a long running rough patch for this commercial district, but this is a LOT of exciting projects all coming together! Add in Royal Farms, Republic Bank and Favorites a few years ago… things are looking up for Blackwood Clementon Road!
Super Wawa
The June 23rd Zoning Board Meeting will hear a proposal to build a new Super Wawa at the corner property which currently houses the former Entenmann’s Bakery and the Rita’s Water Ice
The meeting will cover all of the bases, as the developers are looking for preliminary and final approval.
The new Wawa will feature the now familiar pattern of a convenience store and gas station pumps.
Almost a year ago Wawa gained approval to build a store in the Erial section of town at the site of a former bank, located across from the Gloucester Township District 6 Fire station.
Gloucester Township is already home to several “Super” Wawas (which include the gas station), including one just a mile away near Camden County College.
A competing Royal Farms store opened back in 2019 on Blackwood Clementon Road, just a 1/2 mile from this newly proposed Wawa.
Keep It Shrimple
Just a few months ago in March, we made readers aware of a new restaurant coming to Blackwood Clementon Road, across from Highland High School… Keep It Shrimple.
The building was most recently The Big Cheez Pizza shop.
We had an inside look on the construction and the plans back in March, which include a full liquor license!
Back in May the official liquor license change was posted, and as we expected… Keep it Shrimple has purchased the license previously owned by Amanda’s Bar None.
The folks at Keep It Shrimple have had to change their opening date, but recent Facebook posts say they are targeting opening next month! July 2021!
As we reported back in March, Keep It Shrimple is being developed by the same family which operates Cherry Hill’s super successful Boiling House restaurant!
With this new restaurant, they are changing up the concept and making this more of an entree based seafood restaurant (as opposed to the large shared seafood boils)
As an added bonus, they will offer be offering a Seafood Market on the right side of the store!
Keep It Shrimple Facebook
Giant Fitness
Back in June 2020, 42Freeway listened in on the Planning Board meeting to hear how the owners of Commerce Plaza II were looking to split the property into different tax lots… specifically to make the large building in the back it’s own tax property (and therefore have different ownership from the rest of the property).
While not listed in advance of the meeting, we learned the reason for this is Giant Fitness was looking to move from their Black Horse Pike location and set up on Blackwood Clementon Road.
After seeing large storage boxes in the parking lot, we stopped over and saw that some demo activity is taking place…. and it’s clearly obvious that a gym is coming and weight machines are clearly visible near the front windows!
Oh to clarify the location, this is the mostly empty large building behind the Cherrywood liquors (and the closed Friendly’s). Favorites horse track betting is directly across the street.
We don’t have a timeline on their opening, but this does help confirm that they are coming to Blackwood Clementon Road!
Chipotle
Just last fall we reported that a Chipotle was being proposed for Blackwood Clementon Road, on the site of the now closed Denny’s restaurant.
This location is directly across from the Royal Farms, and Republic Bank is across the side street.
Recently, construction fencing was put in place around the entire property.. presumably ahead of the start of demolition.
Chipotle is on a growth plan in our area, as they recently opened a store in Washington Township, Glassboro, and a location will be under development in Bellmawr!
Burger King?!
In May 2019 a new Burger King was proposed on the empty lot where East Side Mario’s used to be many years ago, and next to Filomena’s
This new BK was to replace the existing store which is located just a but up the road.
So far we haven’t seen any activity on this project, but of course its been a rough 18 months for construction.
