Edgewater's River Road Grocery Run, Store by Store, After the ShopRite Switch

ShopRite has been open at 481 River Road for about five weeks. It took over the 63,966-square-foot Edgewater Commons space that Acme left on August 15, and it opened on September 19 after a 7 a.m. ribbon-cutting, NJ.com reported. The space sat dark for five weeks between the two grocers.

The new store keeps longer hours than any other supermarket on River Road, and that changes how the rest of the strip fits together. ShopRite opens an hour earlier and closes two hours later than Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Mitsuwa Marketplace. That puts the early and late grocery trips at Edgewater Commons. The other three markets each handle a narrower job well, inside a shorter day.

The Box at 481 River Road Keeps Finding a Grocer

This space has held three supermarkets. It started as a Pathmark. When Pathmark's parent, the Montvale-based Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., filed for Chapter 11 in 2015, Acme was one of the companies that bought former A&P stores, and it opened in Edgewater that October. That gave Acme close to eleven years here before it lost its lease this summer. NJ.com reported that the closing affected 115 workers and that Acme said it would try to place as many as possible at other stores.

The new operator is Inserra Supermarkets, which runs ShopRite stores across North Jersey. The shopping center around it is still the errand hub it was before the switch. Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Old Navy, HomeGoods, Five Below, Burlington, Sephora, Skechers, Mattress Firm, CityMD and Outback Steakhouse all share the lot. One parking spot still covers a full grocery shop, a pharmacy stop and a Target run, as it did when Acme anchored the center.

What the New Tenant Brought In

Patch's preview of the grand opening listed a full-service layout: a pharmacy, plus meat, bakery, produce, seafood, sushi, deli and grab-and-go prepared food. The opening weekend ran tasting stations from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days, and Charlie the Singing Mozzarella Chef appeared on Saturday morning.

ShopRite lists its hours as 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. The grab-and-go case and the sushi counter fall inside those hours too. That makes this the one River Road grocery where a prepared dinner is still for sale after 9 p.m.

The River Road Grocery Clock

Here are the four markets in address order, with the hours each one posts on its own store page. Hours change, so check before a special trip.

Three of the four close at 9 p.m. Before 8 a.m. and after 9 p.m., ShopRite is the only one of these doors that's open. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods keep identical schedules at 715 and 820 River Road. Mitsuwa opens last, at 9:30 a.m.

Mitsuwa Runs on a Different Clock Inside Its Own Walls

Mitsuwa Marketplace works as a grocery store and a food hall in one building, and the two parts keep different hours. The market posts 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Most of the hot-food counters start at 11 a.m., and nearly all of them stop serving by 8:30 p.m. That means an evening ramen craving has a tighter window than an evening grocery run.

Here are the hours posted on Mitsuwa's directory for its food counters:

• Santouka, ramen: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., closing at 8 p.m. on Sundays
• Tendon Hannosuke, tempura bowls: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
• Tokyo Hanten, Japanese cuisine: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., closing at 8 p.m. on Sundays
• Wateishoku Kaneda, Japanese cuisine: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
• Tsujita, seafood bento: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Oishinbo, snack bar: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Omusubi Gonbei, rice balls: 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The bakery and sweets counters keep the store's morning hours. Pullman Bakery & Shige Pan and Kobe Fugetsudo both list 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Royce' chocolates runs 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. K.Minamoto, another Japanese confectioner, keeps longer hours on Fridays through Sundays than on weekdays. Kai Sweets has a Japanese crepe café, a mochi donut counter called mochimochi Kai Sweets, and Kai Creamery. Niitakaya sells Japanese pickles from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Mitsuwa Nagomi handles sushi and deli.

Put that next to the table above, and River Road's daytime hours split cleanly. Mitsuwa covers lunch and an early dinner. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods cover the planned shop. ShopRite covers both ends of the day and anything that needs a pharmacy.

A Possible Fifth Market at 3 Main Street

The next change may come from a space off River Road. Boozy Burbs reported on September 28 that Sprouts Farmers Market appears to be moving forward with a store at 3 Main Street in Edgewater, and that no opening date has been announced. The Phoenix-based chain builds its stores around fresh produce and stocks organic, plant-based and gluten-free products.

The Bergen County Girl described the site as a commercial space formerly occupied by HomeGoods. It noted that this would be the first Sprouts in Bergen County, and that the company had not yet added Edgewater to its own store directory. The chain's current New Jersey stores are in Aberdeen, East Windsor, Haddon Township, Marlton, Sewell, West Deptford and Woodbridge. A Hoodline update on October 2 said signage at the property points to Sprouts, but there was still no official opening date and the borough permitting process was unclear.

For shoppers who use HomeGoods, its Edgewater store page currently lists an open store at Edgewater Commons, 489 River Road, in the same shopping center as the new ShopRite.

If Sprouts does open, it would compete for the same daytime, produce-first shopper that Whole Foods and Trader Joe's already serve. After 9 p.m., ShopRite would still be the only grocery open on River Road.

Nearby errands shape daily life in a Gold Coast home just as much as the view does. Knowing which market is a short walk from a building's front door, and which ones still mean moving the car, is part of how we present every Edgewater property. If you're thinking about a home along River Road, or getting ready to sell one, Alena Ciccarelli can walk you through the blocks around it. Arrange a Viewing, and we'll start with the walk to the nearest grocery store.