HOME > Chowhound > New Jersey >


The rumors are true: WholeFoods is coming to Closter, NJ

Been hearing rumors -and only rumors- since stopandshop closed...but it's true...yippee skippee !...sad to be soooo excited about a decent supermarket in the valley area, isn't it???
take that poopy A&P!

  1. Click to Upload a photo (10 MB limit)
  1. I'm also very excited, I read about it in the Journal News a few days ago, my question is where exactly is Closter Square? Is that by k-mart, or annie sez? The JN said it was not going to be ready for at least 1-2 years.

    11 Replies
    1. re: michele cindy

      It's in between K-Mart and Annie Sez, much closer to K-Mart.

      The article says that they are planning on refurbishing the whole shopping center (I guess that's why they are attracting new places like that fancy-pants chocolate shop (-:, which as of now seems out of place.) That's great news for the parking conditions, but I hope they don't get rid of that super cool 'Closter Plaza' sign. Anyway- good news all around, maybe it'll breathe some new life into the town.

      1. re: TongoRad

        Prepare to be underwhelmed. I hope you all don't have to pay for parking?

        1. re: TongoRad

          Agree on the sign...they just don't make that style font anymore...classic..Parking is free,though for all the $$$ this area of BC has, i'm surprised it's taken whole foods so long to get here.

          1. re: TongoRad

            Wow...that's right across the street from the sign declaring: "Closter...it's a great town!". We used to hang out in that parking lot during high school. Finally something interesting in that plaza.

            1. re: rifkind81

              Still trying to get my bearings on this location ---Is it in the strip mall by the movie theater? There's a pizza parlor, a kids party place, a card shop etc.

              1. re: michele cindy

                yes...right next to k-mart...now if only they'd swap target for for the kmart

                1. re: sixelagogo

                  As someone who grew up in Closter, and remembers when the Closter Plaza (and the sign!!!) went up, I am thrilled that the food scene's looking up. Near enough to my dad and stepmom in Grandview that I can sneak down to Whole Foods to fill my car before trip home. In the old days, those stores there included a single screen movie theater, a Finast supermarket along Piermont Road, a Grand Union in the plaza, and something LIKE a KMart (can't remember the name, but remember fainting there on a hot day when I was about 12...) Ah the good old days in Closter... land of superb pizza and exemplary egg rolls, all very exotic back in the 60's

                  1. re: Nancy C

                    Nancy C -- OMG -- I remember going to Finast with my dad when I was little! Thanks for the memory. I also grew up in Closter, and still live here. The store you are thinking of was called Grand Way. I spent lots of time there with my friends buying that junk!
                    Yay, no more trips to crowded Ridgewood on Saturdays!

                    1. re: Nancy C

                      wasn't it Grandway?? i slightly remember that from when i was little..i grew up in c loster and remember going for a movie, woolworths and kmart for a slushy and a pretzel...ahhh to be young again...

                    2. re: sixelagogo

                      I remember the store before K-mart.....It was a Grand Way! What an excellent town to grow up in. I still catch trout in Tenakill Brook. Have been fishing there since 1974!

                      1. re: mcgruff66

                        Went back to Closter a few weeks back and had a sentimental journey at Rudy's pizza with my sister. We enjoyed it, but somehow the memory tasted better... perhaps it was the fact that pizza cost $.25 a slice when they first opened, and was maybe a dollar and change when I moved away... Had a nice visit to the nature center, remembering all those bruises from ice skating! Still seems like a nice town, and I enjoyed growing up there. Enjoy that Whole Foods!

            2. The original comment has been removed
              1. Whole Foods Closter NJ not opening until 2010
                According to Costar Whole Foods originally was to open early 2009 but now the Whole Food's site indicates that the opening is delayed unitl some time in 2010

                1. The original comment has been removed
                    1. re: michele cindy

                      Still a fallow empty space. Various rumors say it's the town, others say WF is hedging. I'd settle for the Grand Union that was there up to 6 years ago, a really good store. Miss GU.

                      1. re: menton1

                        I was just chatting with someone, and we thought it would also be a good space for Wegman's. He said Whole Foods was not going to go there.

                        1. re: michele cindy

                          Whole Foods has it listed on their website as scheduled for Spring of 2011. From talking to shop owners in the same plaza, it seems like WF would not take the space unless there is a complete renovation to the shopping center, which the local A & P is fighting (by way of planning board, zoning issues). Scuttlebut has it that H-Mart would take the space if things fall through, and won't require the renovation.

                          1. re: TongoRad

                            Yes, I've also heard that the A & P is fighting this as well. (A & P is AWFUL). Between the Stop & Shop that closed and that horrible A & P was a choice between horrible and awful.

                            Not a big fan of WF, though, although it is an improvement over A+P. What will probably go in is a large drug chain, Walgreen's or that ilk. Those chains are into overexpansion now, it seems, and seem to pay off the local town boards so that they can create an eyesore that ruins the character of the town, like they just did in Cresskill with a CVS.

                            1. re: menton1

                              what's a matter with you all? Why is A & P or stop and shop so terrible? They're normal supermarkets like any other. At least they're there close by in Closter - don't have to drive so far, and they're affordable.

                              And the CVS ruined the character of the town? That one CVS they built? Nitpicking much? Cresskill is still teh pwnage like Closter and the other small old-timey towns in our area. It would really take a lot to destroy the character of these towns - more than the planning boards or voting citizens would ever let happen. Unless of course you nitpick about every new building, in which case you won't be happy anywhere on earth, let alone Closter/Cresskill.

                              1. re: peanuttree

                                A & P and Stop & Shop are pretty awful supermarkets. But that's IMHO. As far as CVS/Cresskill, what an eyesore! A characterless building with a huge blacktop parking lot and dozens of mercury vapor lights. Makes downtown look like it's on the highway instead. And there's a CVS every 1/2 mile around there anyway, so who needed another one?

                                But the town will say it's good for their tax base, and the hell with appearance...

                                1. re: menton1

                                  not to mention that cresskill already had 2 pharmacies in a small town. that cvs was 100% unnecessary imho.

                                  1. re: yogi70

                                    off topic,but sorta on: instead of filling the void that was left by food basics in Dumont (also former A&P), CVS is building another megacomplex

                                2. re: peanuttree

                                  if closter's a&p is the new normal, we've really taken 5 steps back...