HOME > Chowhound > New Jersey >


New ShopRite in Cedar Knolls

The new Shop Rite, located in Cedar Knolls is open, with a grand opening celebration scheduled for Sun. Nov 10. Interestingly they are calling it Shop Rite of Greater Morristown. I am wondering how Morristown feels, since the owners of the store used to own a Shop Rite in Morristown, (where Staples is not located) but closed it, saying that they just could not make a profit in a store in Morristown. I also wonder how Cedar Knolls feels about that slap in the face. Didn't they offer incentives/tax breaks for the store to be built there?

As far as the new store, it seems they are trying to be just like Wegmans.
(who are supposed to soon open a store, also in Hanover Twp, a mere 3 miles away at Ridgedale Ave and Rte 10, )



Anyone visited the new store? A commenter on one of the articles indicate that the Shop Rite in Morris Plains has closed, anyone know if this is accurate?

  1. Click to Upload a photo (10 MB limit)
  1. My wife went there yesterday. She is not a Shop RIte fan. She said it is remarkable and I must see it!

    1. I went on Thursday night, the store was completely mobbed. It's very nice, they certainly went for that Wegman's look but the quality of the products are not up to par with a Wegmans. They had an Oyster Bar with actual bar stools where you can slurp oysters and cocktails, didn't get a closer look due to the crowds but that alone warrants a trip there imo!

      Still it's a great addition to the area and probably the nicest shop around, and yes, the Shoprite at Rt 10/202 has closed. They had a 25% off sale going the last two weeks, this past Friday it appeared to be shutdown.

      2 Replies
      1. re: taylor04

        Is it a Shop Rite with the "World Class" designation? Those tend to be the more upscale ones.

        1. re: ebchower

          Agree about the "World Class" Shop Rite stores. Shop Rites are pretty much independently owned (though some owners have multiple locations), so the variations in style and quality from store to store can be pretty dramatic.
          One of the great things about those "World Class" stores (owned by the Saker Company) is the house brand of deli meats (and things like sausages, bacon, hot dogs, etc.), which are great products generally far and above quality-wise compared to the other brand offerings in those categories. Their natural casing hot dogs are just about the best around.
          ShopRite also scores extra points with me since don't carry the ubiquitous, overpriced, and vastly inferior Boar's Head line of products that other supermarkets seem locked into more and more.

      2. I wonder how this is going to effect the new Whole Foods that will be moving into the space where the A&P is currently located in Morristown?

        1. Well, I went to check it out, and thought I'd post my experience, observations and thoughts on this store.

          Firstly, the place was insanely busy, so that may have affected my overall experience. The place is huge, and there are two main entrances to the store and one exit, which I find rather odd and a total PITA. If you park near and enter via the western entrance, you will be in for a significant walk after checking out, since all the checkouts for the grocery dept are on the far left (eastern side) of the bldg, and once you check out you are directly funneled to a dedicated exit which is at the very far east end of the bldg. Poor design layout in my opinion. If you enter from the western side, you have to travel though several food stands/stores to get to the groceries. The pharmacy is the first thing you arrive at upon entering the store from the eastern entrance, the produce dept is a sharp turn to the left and backs to the front of the bldg. I was not impressed with the quality or selection, it was not bad, but not as good as WF, Wegmans or Kings. I was disappointed with the selection of produce available as well. I find it very annoying that almost all produce is pre packaged. One cannot purchase a handful of an item from a bulk bin - I wanted to get just enough red/new potatoes for dinner for Daughter & myself, but found they only had 5lb bags. The green beans, shallots, clementines and mushrooms that were on my list were also only available pre packaged. This is definitely not small family or single friendly. 5lb bags of new potatoes and 3lb bags of clementines would mean a lot of waste in my household. The Deli department is next to produce. The counter is rather small and the location of the number dispenser was hard to reach. The deli staff were nice, but communicating was next to impossible as the store music/ad radio was at a very high volume. We had to shout at each other to be heard, and often had to repeat requests. For some unknown reason, the meat that is on display in the deli case is not the meat that is sliced when you order it. There was a rather large nice looking store cooked roast beef in the case, but when I attempted to order some of it, the worker, pulled a small piece of meat from a case in the back of the dept, I had to interrupt the worker and ask to see what he was going to slice for me. It was a different cut of beef then was in the display and was not to my liking. I asked why they did not use the one shown in the case, and the worker just shrugged their shoulder. I asked for a half lb of store roasted "real" turkey, not a processed/pressed loaf. Again, the worker took something out of the case in back and sliced it for me. I was quite disappointed upon getting home and opening up the package to find that their store roasted turkey, ($8.99/lb) was just a pressed loaf they season and bake in house. There were only three (store made?)salads in the deli, but they had plenty of pre packaged Black Bear salads in cold cases adjacent to the deli counter. Across from the deli is a cheese kiosk and across from the produce is the bakery. I picked up a loaf of seeded rye to find none of the bread is sliced, so I took the loaf to the counter for assistance. After having to call to the two workers packaging cookies in the back for assistance, I was told the bread slicer was at the cheese kiosk. Another case of poor planning I thought. The woman who was manning the cheese dept was helpful but when I asked her why there was no slicer in the actual bakery dept, she told me there was a slicer there. I'll chalk that experience up to poorly trained or new staff.

          From the cheese kiosk, I went down the center aisle looking for groceries. Along the top of this aisle on the right is a wine and beer dept. There is other liquor, but the selection is not on par with a Shoprite Wine & Liquor IMO. To the left is the raw bar, and the stools for the bar are right in the aisle. If I am going out to enjoy a nice raw bar, I do not think I'd want to have to yell to place an order to be heard over the in store ads and music (and while I was there a screaming kid), nor getting bumped by passing shopping cart.

          The grocery aisles are laid out parallel to the front of the store and have a large aisle cutting through the middle. This makes for a rather odd flow of things, esp. since in the main aisle are displays, many of which are general merchandise and toys. For instance, the cookies are spread out over three different aisles, and for some unknown reason, the bread crumbs are in the aisle with mayo and cans of tuna fish not by the bread section, which is in the far back right corner of the bldg. Dairy items are also rather broken up and segmented. The meat dept was pretty much a standard run of the mill operation. I am surprised they did not include a prime meats counter. I also did not see a seafood counter and lobster tank, but I did not go searching for one, so they may have it hidden away somewhere.

          The place seems to have a split personality. They are going after the higher end customer with the raw bar, wines, and patisserie, yet no prime meat counter or fish monger. While tThey did have an index card with aisle numbers for some items, but no store map available (though it is in dire need) - to me that is a sign of poor planning and management.

          I do note that this store is not a "World Class" store owned by Saker, rather it is owned by Village Supermarkets and the Sumas Family. The prices are in line with the SR chain as a whole.

          While if I was in the neighborhood and needed to pick up a couple of items I'd visit again, but I certainly would not go out of my way to patronize the store.

          3 Replies
          1. re: PuniceaRana

            Wow...doesn't sound too appealing.
            I like the SopRite stores in my area, but having popped in on other stores I do note that there is a lot of inconsistency. I guess that's just a reflection of the differing 'style' that each individual owner has.
            The Saker owned stores seem to be the best run ones from what I've seen (but they really need to replace they guy doing the P.A. announcements in their Bound Brook store...truly annoying).

            1. re: The Professor

              Semi-related.. the Wegman's in Manalapan has this certain guy hawking a lunch he prepares fresh.. the guy's voice really cracks me up.

              Really old reference.. but anyone remember a cartoon called "Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse"? Well, the "bad guy" was known as "the Frog" and this guy sounds just like him. I can just picture him saying "Calling all cars, calling all cars" LOL

              His voice just really sounds too "put on" to be real.. but that is actually his real voice. Good thing I didn't actually ask him. :)


              Frog at 1:08.

              1. re: MarlboroMan

                If I recall correctly, Froggie's voice was a parody of the actor Edward G. Robinson. You don't say...see here...

          2. I say this as someone who loves checking out grocery stores...it's a Shop Rite. You can dress it up, but it's still a Shop Rite!
            This is why we're all so excited for Wegmans to arrive in NNJ!!!

            1 Reply
            1. re: Curlz

              LOL...thanks for the laugh...if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...OK, enough for now.

              This isn't in my area, but obviously food shopping is important to many people who aren't just buying milk, bread, etc. I always here people say "trader joe's" this and "fairway" that, and so on. If you are buying some of meat, fish, produce, and specialty items -- sure, everyone has their own personal preference. Opinions make the world go 'round.