As first reported on TLS earlier this week, the Lakewood ShopRite will be shutting its doors next week. Saker ShopRites – the family-owned operation – provided the following statement to TLS today regarding the closure of their store.
“Saker ShopRites is proud to have served its neighbors in the Lakewood community for more than 50 years. Although the store will be closing effective Tuesday, April 21, 2015, we hope you will visit us at nearby ShopRite locations in Bricktown, Toms River and Jackson, as well as the new, state-of-the-art, 80,000 square foot ShopRite of Howell, which is scheduled to open on Wednesday, April 22.”
Regarding the closure of the Kosher Experience department, ShopRite says customers can find Kosher Experience departments at several other locations.
“While each of these stores offers a broad selection of packaged Kosher products, customers looking for a full-service Kosher Experience department can visit any of our ShopRite locations in Marlboro, Neptune, East Windsor, Lawrenceville, Aberdeen, East Brunswick and Bound Brook.”
[TLS]
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Who in the world will travel to those locations for meat? Something isn’t right here….
We will miss Shop Rite but looking forward to the 3 new supermarkets opening soon! We need a better shopping experience, service and pricing then the big stores in this town.
I am puzzled as to why none of the 4 Shoprite’s which are in the surrounding towns near Lakewood which (Lakewood) has the strongest demand for Kosher items, do not have a Kosher Experience department. Marlboro, Neptune, East Windsor, Lawrenceville, Aberdeen, East Brunswick and Bound Brook have a fraction of the amount of residents that eat Kosher as compared to Lakewood.
Wow. Not a thank you for being loyal customers??????
The statement is a nice gesture but to offer local Lakewood residents the opportunityto schlep to a Shoprite 20 minutes away for their Kosher Experience, borders on ridiculous. The other take-out establishments in town aren’t ttthat bad!
I wonder if the store was that profitable….why close it down and spend the capital to open a new one so close? Although the Lakewood location is/was pretty dated.
In its favor, the area in Howell is maybe less congested than the Lakewood location?>
it seems as though shoprite is no longer interested in catering to the orthodox jews in lakewood.
We don’t appreciate what we have until we don’t have it anymore. I will certainly miss Shoprite as I did most of my shopping there. Their kosher meat and fish department was always fresh and well priced, and their sales were amazing. It was truly a one stop shop for all groceries and more. Let’s hope Gourmet Glatt will be just as good, if not better! As far as traveling to another location if Gourmet Glatt does it right, there will be no need.
to David & everone else
if they keep a kosher experience in the new howell location they are afraid that yidden will still pack the store up with too many people7 not make the others feel comfortable while shopping. they love us as customers & love when we give shoprite business but they don’t want 200 yidden with only 40 others at the same time.
i.e. without kosher experience there it will lower the ratio of people in the store at the same time yidden versus others etc…
Hatzlacha to everyone
#3 you are correct. They have a Kosher Experience in 7 other places that COMBINED do not have 1/4 of Lakewood’s kosher consumers.
Also the new Howell store is bigger than the lakewood store.
Makes me wonder what the REAL reason that they didnt open a Kosher Experience.
Hmmmm
I’m very curious as to why they’re doing this. If anyone has any insight please post.
This is so puzzeling that muz mir zagin that perhaps Shoperite was not making as much of a profit off us like we think. It all boild down to dollars. Pashtus it wasn’t so succesfull as mind blowing as that may sound.
I wonder who take the title of best super market in Ocean County.
I say we boycott Shoprite till they get a kosher experience in the Howell store. The chutzpah to suggest we travel that far for the Archie to buy fleishig from them.
Why not call them and tell them that you want a big Kosher Experience in the Howell Store? I understand the kosher section in Howell will be very small……
Could be they lost business to the new Walmart which has an incredible grocery section and they need to compete? Or with Pathmark and Kmart gone there’s a bigger market in Howell than Lakewood?
Thanks so much for the 50 years of providing a World Class shopping experience for us. I enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere, as well as all the amazingly dedicated employees. I know a few of the cashiers by name and appreciate all the service that was provided. I do hope to stop in at the other locations, the Howell in particular.
We will truly miss you guys as Lakewood will not be the same without “Shoprite Plaza”
I am sure over the years there were rough patches but you stuck it out for the community and we truly appreciate it.
From the bottom of mine and my families hearts; Thank you.
To all you hater’s out there; why would you say such rediculous comments? There are 30 Heimishe take-outs in town and so Shop-Rite realized the KE wasn’t making them money. If you make business decisions not based on profits then I wouldn’t want to invest with you. SR doesn’t owe you anything, it is a Capitalist country. (Google that for definition).
To 6,7,9 and 11; everyone knows what happened. The Landlord raised the lease price to skyrocket rates which simply did not make sense for them. Why would you say they don’t want to work with Yidden anymore?? Again, it is a Capitalist country and they can do as they see most profitable to their bottom line.
They were a great service (always open at 3 AM when I ran out of baby formula, always having fresh bananas at 7 AM for healthy breakfast, picking up fresh bread on Motzai Purim when no other stores were open and on and on). But everyone has to do what’s best for them. . .
Sorry for the long message but I just want to end by wishing the Saker family only tremendous success in their future endeavors!!
Saker’s are wonderful and will always do well wherever thye have their stores. I will miss the flower dept. and the wonderful opeople who worked there. From what I have been told, the entire staff is going to Howell except for their managers. they have sent managers to different locations. I wish Saker’s the best. I will just have to take another route to get to Howell Shop Rite and learn the shelves all over again. Howell is so much bigger that it will take me longer to shop. I wonder what they will do for Pesach? Will they expand their Kosher section for Pesach????? Only time will tell.
They are moving because thier lease expired and the new store is willing to pay more for the loaction.
Lets face it. Stores are open to make $$.
There are enough stores in lakewood that cater to frum yidden. The other 7 location don’t have any frum supermarkets and that’s why their kosher experience will be open in those locations. .
Its just simple business. Don’t take it so personal.
Lost bid
Stores have commercial leases. They aren’t easy to get out of. I would assume their lease was up for renewal, perhaps the Landlord wanted more money then they were willing to pay. Seems like the simplest explanation. If they found a larger store for a cheaper price per foot than its a no brainer.
It’s very simple imo. Majority of Lakewood shoprite shoppers – being frum – wouldn’t purchase a large portion of their inventory. They don’t want to exclusively carry kosher products therefore Lakewood wasn’t the right spot for them. As to why now after all these years…well, non Jews are becoming increasingly scarce in shoprite plaza. Glatt gourmet will make a killing, shop-rite corporate dropped the ball on this decision
I believe that the entire shopping area there will all be closed on Shabbat. Don’t know about the dollar Stores. Maybe they will just push their rent so high that they will just have to move and then the entire shopping area will be observant. Very sorry to see shop rite leave especially for the people who do not have a car, live in the apartments on Kennedy Blvd. and have no other means to buy food except from the smaller stores at much higher prices. I think it is a very bad move on Shop Rites part..
Paradoxically, despite the Lakewood ShopRite being constantly full of shoppers, the store was not profitable. This perhaps (and I say perhaps) can be explained by reasoning that most shoppers shopped exclusively for the sale items. I further believe that like sale items, the Kosher Experience was not a profitable department in and of itself but rather was a ploy to attract frum customers so that they’d shop exclusively in ShopRite. Obviously that didn’t work so ShopRite felt “used” here in Lakewood and moved elsewhere.
As to everyone’s bewilderment about the Kosher Experience department in other ShopRite locations, while it’s true that the other ShopRites don’t have as many frum shoppers they do have more Kosher consumers. I’ve sat in Bound Brook ShopRite on numerous occasions and watched people of all sorts shopping the Kosher selection.
Hope this clarifies some stuff.
They were paid altnpf money to sign over the lease. (10-20 mil)
They just lost my business. I have been shopping there for years and made full weekly shopping there plus frequented their kosher experience a lot. With no kosher experience I will not bother to go there anymore it is not worth my time and gas
Al pi din Torah we should be buying our groceries from only Jewish stores!! B”h we will no longer have the nisayon of shopping in a non Jewish (non Frum) store just to save a couple of cents on some soda bottles.
Now that Target is problematic due to Chometz issues…. All that’s left is walmart…..
Let’s hope the biggest problem some of these so called NY businesses coming to town cause is providing to many new jobs, sponsoring to many local chessed organizations, or help open ten more new schools! That’s what people must be upset about losing shoprite and facing all that opportunity. Just horrible for some I guess. May we all continue to be blessed with strong growth.
The other Kosher Experiences are in towns where they don’t have so many other Kosher stores so there is a real need for Kosher Ex. But, Lakewood has so many kosher take out places and groceries, there really is no need for a kosher Ex. here. I will miss the fish dept. though.
Everyone says it is because we just buy the sale items in bulk. I don’t buy it.
Lakewood needs a nation supermarket store.
Actually their lease isn’t up, they are subleasing to glatt gourmet at a profit.
Thats from an unconfirmed but reliable source
The jews were great customer. look how many dept were not touched. bakery, not kosher meat huge dept. Chinese, dog food, not cholev yisroel items, non kosher items. even if everyone did full shopping, we didn’t touch 75% of their inventory that they paid for. Even if shoprite tried to tailor it and gave kosher exp. just imagine all bakery pas yisroel, cholov yisroel dunkin dougnuts, jewish papergoods,
I asked a long time kosher experience employee today. He said that the initial thoughts were to keep both stores, as they have a lease for another 5 years. So they had no reason to make a kosher experience in howell, as they were going to have the one in Lakewood. Then, they were offered millions to sublet to another group. They decided to grab the money. They may remodel howell to make a kosher experience eventually, but more likely that they will wait until the end of the 5 years & decide what to do with the old site, they may want to come back.
Their lease isn’t up! 17years left.
They are subleasing to gourmet Glatt.
Their lease isn’t either up in shloimys plaza.
They are moving because they can’t afford to have another grocery that size open in Howell after pathmark and Kmart closed.
I will definitely miss their fish and meat department.
I hope all the frum yidden who work there find jobs. They are really special.
Fact is- they paid millions to buy out the lease from Saker. All these stupid comments are false and stupid
Pushut peshat of not having a Shopright is that you can’t shop at 3AM anymore. But if I add a shtikel reb chaim its because the shop rite was not that profitable with all the new kosher supermarkets opening in town nowadays, and the best ryea is that Gourmet glatt is opening on the same spot. Have a gut shaboss
I for one will miss your store in Lakewood, and will for sure miss “The Kosher Experience”. Your other locations are too far to travel to on a regular basis and thus I will be unable to continue shopping at Shoprite. Good luck on your new location. I hope one day soon you reopen “The Kosher Experience” in Howell or reopen in Lakewood. It would be easier to deal with this if there was a Kosher Experience in either Brick, Toms River, Manchester, or Jackson. However I got your message loud and clear. When you realize the folly of your actions it will take alot to regain my business.
Makes a lot of sense to me.If Howell flops and doesn’t attract the non jewish clientel as they were hoping (pathmark never did) then at that point they can always go to plan B and open a kosher experience there, and Lakewood will come running and fill up the store. Smart.
I shop at shoprite all the time. Much of the heimishe food is a little overpriced compared to the frum grocery stores but not everyone in Lakewood buys only heimish or only chalav yisroel. I bought a lot of national brands there like macaroni and alot of their Shoprite brand which is the cheapest anywhere. I can’t afford to only shop in the heimishe stores. I will be following them to Howell!
#16…you are truly a class act!
I dont know why they left etc… but one thing I wanna know where is the flyer?? Pathmark which was is in thethe same plaza sent out flyers. Why wasnt it mailed out to Lakewood residents? its clear to me they are done with us.While it may have been strictly financial why they left but it seems clear to me with no kosher ex and less kosher items and no flyer they are starting a new path I Am very curious to see how this all plays out shoprite in a failed plaza which had a pretty decent priced food store and Goumet Glatt a high end food store in Lakewood where everone in lakewood seems like they are very involved in the prices!
To all those who believe that gourmet glatt had a few extra million dollars just to get access to the lease I have a couple of bridges that I’m looking to lease out
For everyone who thinks they know what & why Shoprite closed…. The Sakers most certainly did not leave you and did not wish to close, but open under a different brand, but the politic of Wakefern would nit allow them to keep the Shoprite name in that location. The Sakers worked hard to keep the site under a different brand but it was voted down. As for the lease, it would be crazy to leave the site unoccupied while continuing to lay rent. It was very considerable that the Sakers are subletting to Gourmet Glatt, but is keeping their kosher commissary on
the site. As for the Howell site, it is probably the most impressive store the saker family has built for all Residents in the area to enjoy, catering to the community in all the surrounding areas.
We need and we want a Kosher Experience in Howell……… NOt just a small section of kosher products. Also, we want the same wonderful people who worked Kosher Experience to be back with us.