Middletown Mayor: Talks 'Underway' For Old ShopRite Location

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — According to Middletown Mayor Tony Perry, talks are currently underway among "several businesses" to move into the Hwy. 35 space formerly occupied by the Middletown ShopRite.

Perry declined to say which businesses have expressed an interest in moving in there, saying Thursday morning that talks are in the "very early" discussion stages. Also, ShopRite still has to finish moving all of their items out of their old location, he said.

The old store location in Middletown Plaza officially closed its doors at 9:00 p.m. Tuesday.

That property is owned by Brixmar. Saker ShopRite was a longtime tenant.

The Middletown ShopRite moved to the "other" side of Rt. 35; they opened Wednesday morning in their new home in the Kings Commons shopping complex, on the southbound side of Hwy. 35, still at Harmony Road. The ShopRite took over the space formerly occupied by the Middletown Sears.

Doors opened in the new store at 7 a.m. The new store is bigger and has a bigger selection of prepared foods, plus will sell gourmet prepared foods from Dearborn Farms and have a high-end world cheese selection.

This is the Saker ShopRite owned by the Saker family, which operates a New Jersey ShopRite empire: Saker ShopRites owns 32 ShopRite supermarkets, 30 pharmacies, and Dearborn Market in Holmdel. Additionally, the Saker organization owns three liquors in Monmouth County.

Prior: Middletown ShopRite Moving Across Rt. 35 (May 29, 2020)

Be the first to know. Sign up to get Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com