Stats
Quick Look
Founded: 2015 Stores: 12 Headquarters: Staten Island, NY Trade Region: NJ, NY CEO: Dean Janeway Storebrand(s): Key Food, Urban Meadow Distributor: Key Food Stores Co-Operative Inc. Website: www.superfreshfood.com |
History
A&P Ownership: 1982-2015
Under A&P, larger Superfresh markets with pharmacies and cafés were operated as Superfresh Superstores. This example is located in Philadelphia, PA and has since become a TJ Maxx/Home Goods combo store. Photo from Passyunk Post. Summer 2015
|
Due to disputes in the early 1980s between A&P and the union that represented its workers in the mid-Atlantic region, A&P created a new spinoff banner for their stores in the Philadelphia area, southern New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, northern Virginia, and greater-Washington DC markets. All A&P-owned stores in that region were converted to Superfresh. (A&P also briefly operated Superfresh stores in Canada and Louisiana until about 2003.)
When A&P acquired Pathmark in 2007, it announced plans to convert some of the larger Superfresh stores in medium- and lower-income neighborhoods of the Philadelphia area to Pathmark Sav-A-Center stores. The remaining Philadelphia region Superfresh stores were renovated to the upscale Fresh 3 format, repositioning Superfresh as an upscale store. In A&P's 2015 Chapter 11 bankruptcy, all Superfresh stores closed. |
Key Food's Repositioning: 2016-2017
Key Food Stores Co-Operative was the successful bidder on the rights to the Superfresh name and logo in A&P's bankruptcy auction in February 2016. They rolled out the new banner almost immediately, in March 2016, with a new store in Paterson, NJ, a former Food Basics acquired by Queens, NY-based operator Willie Park.
Key Food announced its intentions of running larger, suburban stores under the Superfresh banner. To this end, additional Key Food stores opened in:
|
Although initially positioned as a suburban banner, the most successful Superfresh stores have been in urban areas, such as this example owned by James Lee in Irvington, NJ. Opened as a Pathmark in the 1990s, it later became the prototype Pathmark Sav-A-Center before closing in 2015. Summer 2017
|
New Banners, New Struggles, and New Plans: 2016-2017
Not all Superfresh stores operate only under the name Superfresh. This store, owned by John Ahn and located in Bloomfield, NJ, is run as a Superfresh Food World. Food World Supermarkets is a preexisting chain with locations in Brooklyn, Queens, and Valley Stream, NY. Image from Urstadt Biddle Properties. Spring 2017
|
Because Key Food is a cooperative, they give their members freedom to name their stores from a selection of banners, or choose their own. Sometimes stores are co-branded with both the operator's name and the cooperative's banner. Under Key Food, this has occurred in three instances. The original Key Food Superfresh, in Paterson, NJ, is co-branded Farmboy Superfresh (between Farmboy Country Markets and Superfresh Supermarkets). John Ahn with Food Jungle, Inc., of Queens, NY operated two Superfresh Food World stores, in Belleville and Bloomfield, NJ, and has since opened two new ones in Garden City, NY, and Roselle, NJ. Kim's planned Superfresh of Belleville was switched to a new banner, Bell Farms Supermarkets, before opening, and is now run by his daughter Stephanie, operationally a Superfresh. Bell Farms uses Superfresh bags and a Superfresh loyalty card.
Kim, a typically urban operator, struggled to run several new stores in New Jersey suburbs. His Garwood, NJ location, a former Pathmark-turned-The Food Emporium, was converted to a Superfresh shortly before closing in early 2017. His Edison, NJ Superfresh also struggled to compete with a nearby ShopRite, and closed in October 2017. Kim's Plainsboro, NJ location opened on Friday, February 23, 2018. |
Locations
Locations Listing
Select a location for coverage on the blog. NJ - New Brunswick - 100 Kirkpatrick St NJ - Belleville - 115 Belmont Ave NJ - Belleville - 414 Main St NJ - Bloomfield - 19 Belleville Ave NJ - Edison - 1185 Amboy Ave (now closed) NJ - Fairview - 289 Bergen Blvd NJ - Garwood - 10 South Ave (now closed) NJ - Glen Rock - 937 Lincoln Ave NJ - Irvington - 471-79 Lyons Ave NJ - Paterson - 465 Getty Ave NJ - Plainsboro - 10 Schalks Crossing Rd NJ - Roselle - 550 Raritan Rd NY - Garden City - 2475 Jericho Tpk NY - Staten Island - 3501 Amboy Rd NY - Staten Island - 6400 Amboy Rd |
|