A Dollar Tree store is being developed at “The Shoppes at Gloucester Township” corner shopping center, to be located next to Sam’s Bar & Grille. (Black Horse Pike and Davistown Rd). This large empty section will be split into multiple storefronts, of which one of them will be Dollar Tree. Read on for some history and other ramblings!
The shopping center sits on the Black Horse Pike at Davistown Road, and over recent years has been going through phases of remodeling and upgrading.
An updated top façade awning had been previously added, a Dunkin Donuts opened in 2017, and parking lot improvements were started but are not yet completed.
We were able to confirm with the property ownership that Dollar Tree is planned, and initial career postings can also be found online.
We do not have an opening date for the Dollar Tree but we would think they are targeting opening before the holiday shopping season. Just from our own observations, while they are remodeling the interior shell of the building it does seem they have more work ahead of them then just “clean up the place, add signage and product”
Dollar Stores Showing Billions of Growth
This Blackwood shopping center already houses a Family Dollar, which is a general merchandise store with products of varying prices (Similar to Dollar General).
Dollar Tree is a different concept as it is an “Everything’s a dollar” store.
Family Dollar and Dollar Tree are part of the same corporation. Dollar General is a different company.
Dollar Tree and the similar general merchandise stores are on a massive growth drive in the USA. Recent reports have said that almost 50% of new stores being developed in the USA are either Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, or Dollar General. It’s not just our area that they are covering with this new “dollar” stores… it’s EVERYWHERE!
Blackwood Property Developed as an A&P in 1964!
Speaking of improvements in the shopping center, less than 10 years ago this section of the shopping center was a locally owned Super Value super market, with a telltale classic supermarket front, and an angled pitched roof.
Today that angled roof is gone.
We tracked down this 2011 photo of the building when it housed a Super Value Supermarket! We found classified ads for the Super Value showing it opened in 2003.
The photo below is used with permission of photographer John, who has an amazing collection of area retail photos from many decades! Go check out his work over at Flickr! I’ve been to his Flickr page before… but I need to spend a lot more time browsing through. I love this stuff!! The Album page is a great place to start
Before this was a Super Value Supermarket, it was an Ultra IGA… and we found newspaper advertisements for the early 90s!
Of course this building and shopping center were developed way before the 90s… and many of us older folks will instantly recognize from the photo above what this building really started out as… an A&P!
We found this 1964 Grand Opening advertisement in an Allentown PA Newspaper, for the brand new Blackwood NJ A&P Supermarket! (yes this placement in an Allentown paper is a long way out of our area,.. but seems they ran the same ad in papers all over the Delaware Valley)
The snippet below from the advertisement shows a line-art drawing of the A&P store in Blackwood on opening day! And of course there is that tell-tale A&P “hip style” roof with center tower and weathervane!
John has a caption on his Super Value photo saying the Blackwood A&P closed in 1975, just 11 years after it opened. While I didnt find an article specifically listing this store closing then, I did find other articles describing some tough times for A&P in the 70s, and that they were closing some underperforming stores.
In the 60s and 70s, these A&P stores were EVERYWHERE in South Jersey!
Sam’s Bar and Grille and Asyla Road
I personally don’t remember Davistown Road being called Asyla Road, as it’s shown in the advertisement above… but into the 70s or longer, it seems a portion was called Asyla and another portion was called Davistown.
It seems that over time, Davistown won out. If you search for Asyla in Google Maps, it won’t list it as a street but will bring you to the post office building there on Davistown!
I also found several bar advertisements from the mid-70s for “James Place” lounge and liquors, which apparently was Sam’s Bar and Grille back then! (Which by the way… Sam’s is one of my favorite local spots for a beer and a bit. Like an old school pub… locally owned and the entire family helps out with the business! Go check out their new shaded outdoor seating! Facebook)
LIDL Grocery is Still Coming (We Believe)
A LIDL Grocery store is planned for the opposite corner of this intersection (across the street), in a cleared lot at Black Horse Pike and Lakeland Road. The LIDL Store was approved by Gloucester Township exactly a year ago in August 2020.
LIDL USA Corporate put out an press release around that time stating “50 new US Store openings by the end of 2021”.
Of course, there has been no activity at the property… but earlier this year LIDL was approved for a one year extension to their project approval.
In October 2020 LIDL appeared before the County Planning Board regarding combining the individual property lots into the larger one needed for the development.
Links and Location
Dollar Tree Store Blackwood (under development)
1011 S Black Horse Pike
Blackwood (Gloucester Township) NJ
