After filing for Chapter 11 in July, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which owns A&P and Pathmark in Montclair, began the process to close both properties and terminate employees.
The A&P in Upper Montclair listed under agreement with Acme, however the Pathmark in Lackawanna Plaza, which is listed in “Exhibit B,” meaning it is being “actively marketed to sell,” still doesn’t seem to be under contract.
What supermarket company would you love to purchase the Pathmark? Take our poll:
[polldaddy poll=9075902]
The problem is that most of these choices are not realistic. The space is too big for Trader Joes if not divided. ALDI is already opening soon in Bloomfield. It’s not big enough for Stop N Shop. The area is already surrounded with ShopRites.
It would be a shame, but not surprising, if the Pathmark is not actually replaced with another supermarket.
Mitsuwa!! Or some other Asian market. East west is just disgusting.
Lol, after all the chats about not gentrifying the area and displacing the low income population, people, of course, want the most expensive grocery store on the list.
Why does it need to be a supermarket? it’s a giant blank space that can be anything
If it must be a supermarket it should be more Pig and Prince and less Popeyes Chicken.
Also why isn’t Lackawanna Plaza Montclair’s version of The Grove Arcade in Asheville, NC or a mini version of the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Never seen such misuse of a cool historical building.
Park Slope Food Co-op
Winn-Dixie
A cross between https://www.essexstreetmarket.com/#welcome
and https://gnflea.com/about/ would maximize on all of Montclair’s unique characteristics and prevent the out of character strip mall newness that comes with the type of new development that we are unfortunately seeing going up around town now.
So long as it’s BURIED deep into the space, it doesn’t really matter. Not even sure a Wegmans would get me down there.
Yes, a food co-op would be nice.
Completely blow up the existing space and build a version of the Reading Terminal Market in Phila. or something similar.
https://www.readingterminalmarket.org/
We have how many markets within 5 miles? Shoprite, Kings, Kings Verona, Stop and Shop Allwood, Acme Styertown, Whole Foods, Whole Foods-West Orange, Foodtown Cedar Grove, A-P for awhile. That’s nine. Farmers Market on Saturdays makes 10. Rte 46 has many more- Fairway, ShopRite, A-P, et.al. How about a large WalMart and wipe them all out on price? May as well move to Arkansas.
I know it feels good to immediately call for the entire plaza to be “blown up” or “completely buried” but those intuitions are misguided for two reasons.
1) There is virtually nothing there to blow up or bury. As hard as it is to imagine how the town came to the decision that 5.6 acres of a surface parking lot ghost town would be the best use of a prime downtown parcel in the center of town, it certainly makes staring over easy. Lackawanna Plaza is essentially a blank slate, an empty canvas with so much potential due to it’s location and size. Due it’s emptiness it presents far less constraints and “non-negotiable” that come along with already built out parcels full of building of “historic value” that must be preserved.
2) What is there in terms of pre-existing structures is actually good. I know it is hard to see the beauty of the old terminal under decades of plastic, vinyl, shuttered aluminum doors and delapidated Blockbuster Video and Popeye Chicken signs, just look at what Pig and Prince restaurant did with the space by simply mostly leaving it alone. We used to know how to build things that were aesthetically pleasing, and fed the soul instead of destroying it. Buildings like Lackawanna are vestiges from a time in architecture that unfortunately we have zero idea how to replicate. We need to keep those types of structures at all costs and capitalize on them.
The calls for an open market are brilliant and I think everyone has a similar vision for what this space could be. It is the last great under developed parcel we have. It is 8.3 acres in a prime downtown location that is 80% empty surface parking. If we can find a way to get out of our own way and make this a true public space where people want to conregate and “Be” in every sense of the word it will take Montclair to the next level as a destination. Look at what Church St looks like on a warm summer night. People are desperate for the warmth and social medicine that a well thought out public place and streetscaoe can provide. Make this look pretty by incorporating a well thought out green gathering space anchored by a rotating market like experience with a place for public performance and my goodness how exciting and how unique. Fill it with cold, impersonal civic buildings that close at 5 and require tremendous amount of parking and you will have spent hundred of millions to create a newer looking dead space. The choice is yours Montclair.
Please not a Walmart.
Have no fear…the TD Bank, municipal complex is a coming. This town council didn’t hide their wallets for three years for nothing. Besides the monstrosities on the Avenue (which were really envisioned under the Fried regime), this council needs a legacy. Haven’t you heard? The building on Montclair Avenue is expensive to heat and the police department is not ADA compliant. Seems like a good enough reason to build than any.
I agree with bloomfieldave’s comment. Perhaps Montclair should look at the ferry building SF & the food markets in DC! For sure, if this was in Brooklyn it would of been converted.. to something like the Chelsea market on 14th street. We talk about how cutting edge Montclair is..let’s show people this is a creative town with forward thinking ideas!
Lol, after all the chats about not gentrifying the area and displacing the low income population, people, of course, want the most expensive grocery store on the list.
Does no one else see this? What am I missing here? How many families depend on being able to walk to a grocery store that sells staples at reasonable prices, not farm-grown starfruit imported from Fiji, lavender oil and fancy olives? Need baby formula? Guess they’ll have to start taking a cab to Shop Rite which is only adding to their overall cost of living. Believe me, I’d personally love a TJ’s, or Fairway (as long as they can sell wine, it would save me a trip to West Paterson!) but the reality is neither of these fits with the demographics. However, if the desire is to change those demographics…then imho a specialized, high-end market would certainly start that process.
I love the idea of a making the space into a version of Reading Terminal. That way small, independent food purveyors – of which there are many in Montclair – could have some bricks and mortar real estate without having to pay the exhorbitant rents that some spaces are charging. It wouldn’t need to be restricted to food of course. Home furnishings, antiques, etc. could also work there.
At the same time, businesses like that may not serve the needs of the existing community, which probably wants and needs a supermarket more than anything. If there’s empty space anywhere else in town, perhaps a Reading Terminal-type idea might work there.
Wegmans
I am not expecting a miracle transformation and just want a place to get groceries locally instead of driving to Bloomfield’s Shop Rite.
Also I don’t want to see the property get overly pig and prince’d as that’s not fair to the surrounding neighborhood.
Keep it real and reflective of All of the people who live in Montclair.
I agree with the Reading Terminal/Chelsea Market direction – but it needs to be a balance of high/low. The supermarket needs to be reasonably priced for the surrounding population but the pop-up market stalls could stell those artisan cheeses or antiques or whatever.
But a reasonably priced supermarket is essential for the current demographics living in the immediate neighborhood – not a Wegman’s.
I could go with a Wegman’s if the space inside the terminal is too large for a Trader Joe’s. Ultimately I would love to see the Terminal go with a Chelsea Market styled makeover. I really like the way Lackawanna Plaza itself has the Bobbi Brown store, the Zen place, the photography shop and other esthetically pleasing storefronts there. Things are shaping up nicely in the area.
Or, we could have a township jitney to the Acme in U Mtc….including the poor souls in the 2nd Ward that don’t even rate a grocery store.
It would be nice if they ripped out all the “store fronts” in Lackawanna Plaza – tore down the brick wall facing the small surface parking lot and put in folding glass doors. This way, with a Chelsea Market/Reading Terminal style set up, with booths, people passing by on the street or coming off the bus could see right into Lackawanna Plaza.
As for the topic at hand – Lackawanna still needs a grocery store.
You people are insane
Thank you, mtc4life. Duly noted and ignored.
Weegman’s current model is very large stores, over 100,000 sf in some new VA stores. With acres of parking.
But, if they’re interested in trying out a smaller floor plan for urban locations, Montclair would be a good test bed. Whole Foods used that technique for their urban stores in NY.
I think the Fresh Market would be a very good fit for Lackawanna Plaza. The store in Livingston is in a former Pathmark. I’d love to see them alongside Pig & Prince.
Based on our lack of unanimity here, no one store brand would dare try for the space and expect a crowd of customers. They better do their own research.
My choice wouldn’t be for what brand of store to have at Lackawanna Plaza. Any of the mentioned stores are good as far as i’m concerned. Instead, I just hope that all of the people who work at Pathmark come back. They are so nice. Thats why I like shopping there. I also hope that the friendly atmosphere, the rhythm and blues music and all of the generous support to community initiatives returns with the new store.
We need a supermarket in the area, one that’s more affordable than Whole Foods. I think Trader Joe’s would be perfect, and also bring traffic from other towns, it’s a great supermarket!