Construction activity has started at the site of the upcoming all-new Zallie ShopRite supermarket coming to the Cherrywood Plaza on Blackwood-Clementon Road in Gloucester Township.
This new ShopRite Cherrywood Plaza supermarket is being developed in the space of a former Kmart store which has been empty for several years. Announced 2 years ago, the ShopRite supermarket was approved in the Spring of this year.
Construction fencing and ShopRite trailers have been on site for several weeks but with no activity.
About a week ago construction crews arrived, and currently they are focusing their efforts on the interior of the building… Likely early-stage interior infrastructure efforts such as breaking up concrete in certain areas to install new utilities; underground piping necessary for restrooms and food preparation sinks.
Construction vehicles can be seen parked off to the side of the building with a large construction opening on the side of the building, as well as the front doors open during construction hours.
Currently the Zallie family operates 11 ShopRite locations including the Laurel Hill store located less than a mile away from the upcoming new Cherrywood store. The Cherrywood Plaza ShopRite location when completed will replace the older Laurel Hill location… effectively this is a relocation to a larger and more modern supermarket.
An interesting aspect regarding the size of this supermarket… The Zallie website still lists the project as a 75,000 square foot facility which I believe is based on initial plans that did not include the entire Kmart building.
Based on the blueprints that were approved by the Township, Zallie is now taking over the entire former Kmart building.
And with that the approved plans show the first floor alone as being 98,000 square feet, which depending on how the industry does the math on this… Gloucester Township may be getting the largest ShopRite in the world!
Not to mention that there’s a second floor to this facility also of almost 15,000 square feet… all told this is a massive 113,895 square foot supermarket!
Zallie management has confirmed to 42Freeway that this is the start of active construction.
Considering a project of this size and the possibilities for timeline impacts, they are only committing to an opening date of “in the second-half of 2025”. This matches earlier comments that the project once started would take 10 to 12 months.
This is absolutely considered a retrofit of the former Kmart building, but that really comes down to side walls and roof. Basically everything else is all new construction.
That being said the new front and side façade for the ShopRite are so architecturally different in the new design with two large store entrances protruding out of the front for example… we’ll likely see considerable removal of the exterior front wall, ahead of building out the new multi-layered facades.
This is the next of several large projects for the Zallie family who in the last few years opened an all new construction ShopRite in Woolwich New Jersey, completely rebuilt the Glassboro location, did considerable updates to West Berlin (adding a liquor store)… And have announced an upcoming full remodel and expansion of the West Deptford location.
Additionally the shopping center ownership was also approved to develop a new much smaller ”pad site” building at the front of the parking lot, to by used by unannounced tenants.
Zallie ShopRite Cherrywood Plaa
The new Zallie ShopRite of Cherrywood Plaza will be a modern supermarket featuring all of the latest concepts in the industry.
Likely the best way to understand what is planned for Blackwood would be to visit the recently updated Glassboro store, as the core design elements and features between the two stores (and even Woolwich) will be consistent. I am sharing some images of the Glassboro store in this article.
Probably the most significant visual aspect to shoppers within the store is the large hot food and produce area… which is a large open space found right at the entrance of the supermarket.
Customers will enter on the left side of the supermarket walking directly into the beautifully designed hot food and produce area, which supports the the following aspects and more;
- Hot Food Bar
- International Cheese Department
- Zallie’s Fresh Kitchen Catering
- Wokery & Sushi
- Seafood Counter
- Bakery
The new store will feature a dedicated and much better designed area for order pickup and delivery… which in fact will be a completely separate entrance on the right side of the building.
Links and Location
ShopRite of Cherrywood Plaza (Construction Started)
1468 Blackwood Clementon Rd
Clementon, NJ 08021