ShopRite | Woolwich, NJ

 

65 Center Square Road

Welcome to the Woolwich ShopRite!

Welcome back to The Retail Connection! I'm very excited to bring today's post to you. We are at the Woolwich ShopRite, which had its grand opening only a few weeks ago on June 4. The grand opening celebrations were still ongoing during my visit. This stunning new supermarket is owned by Zallie's Family Markets, and is a relocation of the older Gibbstown store which closed in April. The store was insanely busy and I almost couldn't find a parking spot, so obviously everything is going well. Let's check it out!

This store is referred to as the ShopRite of the Center Square Plaza.

We walk into health foods, or "NOSH" (natural, organic, specialty, and healthy). There's a huge cake on display that says "Welcome to your new ShopRite of Center Square Plaza", which you can see in this photo. There was also a balloon animal artist shooting balloons everywhere over here.

This store has a significant focus on prepared foods, as we see here with the large Grilled Selections kitchen as well as to-go foods. There's a cafe in the front left corner of the store with outdoor seating.

There's also an in-store Zallie's Fresh Kitchen as a continuation of the grilled foods area which seems to sell mostly chicken.

International cheeses and packaged fruits are in an island across from the prepared foods kitchens. I love the sign that says "Life is great, but cheese makes it better".

The huge delicatessen is up next past the Zallie's kitchen, with a lot of people waiting in line. I was here on a Sunday afternoon in June right in the middle of the grand opening period, so the store was hopping.

The fresh produce is in the middle of this side of the store across from the service departments. This ShopRite is configured quite similarly to the Millville store, which has produce in the same area.

The fresh bakery and artisan breads are in the corner. I could've sworn I got a better picture of this area, but I guess this is the best I have.

Fresh seafood turned out well, though. I like the subtle wall graphics used in this decor package.

A look past the seafood counter along the back of the store towards the butcher shop.

Some nice meat art above packaged meats. Also visible in this photo are the store's electronic price tags, which ShopRite is slowly rolling out.

An associate was stocking aisle 12, so here's a shot down aisle 15, apparently the "paper products and then also charcoal and fire logs" aisle. I love the triangular aisle markers.

Fresh dairy and frozen foods are along the left side of the store. The regular frozen aisles go horizontally, as seen in the third picture.

The store has a total of 19 aisles, with the last one having a pretty wide variety from organic ice cream to garlic bread. I like the ice cream art on the wall.

The future pharmacy is on the front wall past frozen. It has not opened yet, but all the signage is up and, according to the sign, they've hired a pharmacist, so I'm guessing it won't be too long before it's filling prescriptions. At the time of my visit, there was a ShopRite Pharmacy logo (without the "pharmacy") on the facade, but it's since been replaced by a white panel that says "PHARMACY COMING SOON".

This store has the floral department across from the pharmacy. There seemed to be a service florist, although that may have just been for the grand opening. General merchandise is in the aisle behind floral (seems like ShopRite has a pretty good fabric department!).

As per usual, the checkouts as well as guest services are along the front. I didn't even bother buying anything here as every single lane was open with a line.

There were grand opening signs and banners everywhere in the parking lot.

Other Images of Interest

The former ShopRite

The Gibbstown ShopRite opened in 2000 and was originally a Thriftway. It was operated by the Funari family until 2004 when it was sold to Zallie's. This store closed on April 13, and the new location had its soft opening on May 25. The building is now vacant, but it's soon going to be subdivided, with Grocery Outlet Bargain Market taking over the right third (where the food court was in the ShopRite).

Street View Images

2023

This image was added pretty recently, and shows the store not long before it opened.

2019

The plans for this store date back to 2018, although they didn't break ground until last year.

Nearby competition

2.9 miles away: Acme of Swedesboro

Next week, we'll be touring this Acme just up the road from ShopRite. This is a pretty nice store, but ShopRite has a lot going for it so we'll see if the Acme can defend itself. This store opened in the 2000's, and, until ShopRite arrived, was the only supermarket in the area.

Thank you for reading this edition of The Retail Connection! This was my first time at a grand opening of a supermarket, so I'm not sure what the bar is, but the energy here was very high. There was a live DJ blasting music, a balloon animal artist making balloon dogs for children, free samples everywhere, and employees handing out circulars and coupons. It's safe to say this is the nicest store we've ever seen on the blog thus far. I recommend checking out 42 Freeway's article from the soft opening day for more information and photos. That's all for now -- thank you for reading! The Retail Connection: Check out happy.