Thirteen years after Pathmark Supermarket closed in Deptford Township, it appears a new grocery is coming to town… Grocery Outlet Bargain Market.
Grocery Outlet is a discount food store who is aggressively moving into South Jersey. A location for Cross Keys opens in June, and another is under development in Gibbstown. Mays Landing opened earlier this month and Delran opened in 2021. Others are planned.
Commercial Real Estate Industry insiders tell 42Freeway that a new Grocery Outlet for Deptford is planned to take over a closed AC Moore location, which is in a strip mall center located at the corner of Clements Bridge Road and Hurffville Road.
The particular unit for Grocery Outlet is between the Forman Mills and Joann Store. Harbor Freight is also located at the far left end, and the front of the parking lot features McDonald’s, Boston Market and Taco Bell.
Grocery Outlet has not officially announced Deptford as a new location, but multiple real estate industry insiders provided details on the project to 42Freeway, which makes me confident in reporting this news.
Adding to that, the leasing brochure for the shopping center does show “In Lease” for the space, but at this time they have not filled in the tenant’s name.
This is very early in the process so it could be some time before we see activity on the project. I am unsure if this effort would need Planning Board approval, but it appears to be a matching use particularly since the adjacent Joann Store at one time was an Acme.
Grocery Outlet
Grocery Outlet calls themselves an “Opportunistic buyer”. They offer name brand products across the full array of grocery shopping experience… but at significant discounts.
The low priced opportunity buys come from a variety of procurement strategies such as excess inventory from packaging changes, marketing overruns or other opportunity deals.
Grocery Outlet’s streamlined distribution to stores coupled with low prices, provides food and product companies with an option to quickly move merchandise out of warehouses and into customer cupboards.
I’ve written several articles on Grocery Outlet since they’ve increased their presence in our area. As mentioned a location opens in Cross Keys Road Gloucester Township at the end of June.
Another location is under development in Gibbstown New Jersey, which has a longer construction lead time as it first required a full remodel of a former ShopRite supermarket into three distinct units.
Just weeks ago a Grocery Outlet opened in Mays Landing, and a Delran location opened back in 2021. Vineland was approved for a Grocery Outlet about two years ago and I need to stop down there to see what is happening!
Deptford And The Elusive Supermarket
As mentioned at one time Deptford was home to a Pathmark full-sized supermarket which was located on Clements Bridge Road. Today Edge Fitness is in that space.
The Joann Store was originally an Acme supermarket! The Cooper Street Walmart was developed on a property that was home to a Thriftway and a 1997 article states a Super G was planned for construction there, but I don’t think it was ever built.
For 13 years Deptford has been without a traditional full supermarket shopping experience.
It’s not that Deptford residents are without grocery shopping options, and in fact that is likely the biggest part of the problem… as there are multiple general merchandise retailers in town also offering food shopping.
Deptford currently has two Walmarts in it’s borders which feature large supermarket sections.
The town also has two warehouse clubs superstores (Sam’s Club & BJ’s) also offering grocery, fresh produce and meats… and in recent years even Target has created a dedicated grocery section.
Factor in that the towns surrounding Deptford have supermarkets including West Deptford, Washington Township, Runnemede…
Well you can understand why a large dedicated supermarket is not interested in Deptford.
While there is no dedicated full-sized supermarket in Deptford, there is significant competition. And only so many shopping dollars to go around!
In a 2011 interview with NJ.com (6 months after Pathmark closed) Mayor Medany had this to say “The two Walmarts are hurting us bad, Because they’re taking X-amount of business, supermarkets wonder if any dollars are left for them.”
A new supermarket construction is likely over $15 million, and to pay the bills for mortgage, employees and inventory… the operator needs to know there are enough food dollars in the community to cover the bills and make a profit.
In fact, a large ShopRite operator actually owns land in Deptford that they hoped to develop a ShopRite on many years ago.. but backed away from those plans when Walmart showed up in town.
But clearly Deptford is a retail shopping mecca, focused on the mall and with a variety of successful shopping centers.
Deptford also benefits from 50 years of infrastructure improvements which puts large highways right through the town including Route 42, Route 55… with access points to basically everywhere.
And clearly getting a supermarket back in town is one of the top requests for residents.
Deptford Mayor Medany and other members of the township have spoken about how attracting a supermarket back to Deptford is a top priority.
That same NJ.com article then goes on to describe the benefits of Deptford… also pointing out the number of shoppers who come in to town for the mall and other centers, who would also shop at a grocery.
So while Grocery Outlet is not a full supermarket experience, it’s definitely a start.
Links and Location
Grocery Outlet Bargain Market Deptford – Early Stages
Hurffville Road & Clements Bridge Road
Deptford NJ