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SOMERSET COUNTY

Stop & Shop closing in Hillsborough

The store is closing on Aug. 11 because the lease at the site has expired, a store official says

Mike Deak
@MikeDeakMyCJ
  • Stop & Shop's closure will mean there will be two supermarkets in Hillsborough - ShopRite and Weis
  • An official said that the store's closing is "unrelated" to the proposed merger between Stop & Shop's parent company, Royal Ahold, based in the Netherlands, and Belgium-based Delhaize

 

HILLSBOROUGH - Stop & Shop on Route 206 will be closing on Aug. 11.

The store is closing because the lease has expired at the Hillsborough Towne Centre, said Jim Keenoy, director of marketing and external communications for Stop & Shop, New York Metro Region.

All employees at the store will have the opportunity to transfer to other Stop & Shop stores in New Jersey, Keenoy said.

An Indian grocery store will replace half of the former Stop & Shop in Hillsborough.

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READ: Direct bus service from Hillsborough to New York?​


The nearest Stop & Shop to Hillsborough is on Route 206 in the Raritan Mall in Raritan Borough south of the Somerville Circle. The other nearest Stop & Shop stores to Hillsborough are in Franklin, Raritan Township and the Basking Ridge section of Bernards,

Stop & Shop's closure will mean there will be two supermarkets in Hillsborough - ShopRite in the neighboring Nelson's Corner Shopping Center and Weis in the Hillsborough Promenade on Route 206.

Keenoy emphasized that the store's closing is "unrelated" to the proposed merger between Stop & Shop's parent company, Royal Ahold, based in the Netherlands, and Belgium-based Delhaize that will create the fourth largest supermarket group in the United States with a total value of $29 billion.

Besides Stop & Shop, Royal Ahold owns Giant supermarkets. Delhaize owns Food Lion in the Middle Atlantic and Hannaford in New England.

The combined company announced on Wednesday that it will be selling 86 supermarkets to satisfy anti- trust concerns.

Weis, based in Salisbury, Pennsylvania, and operator of a supermarket in Hillsborough, will be buying 58 Food Lion stores.

Three Stop & Shop stores in New York and one in Massachusetts also will be sold as part of the merger.

With the closure of Stop & Stop, that leaves two sizable retail spaces empty on Route 206 in Hillsborough.

The space formerly occupied by CostCutters in Edgewood Properties' Hillsborough Club Plaza at the intersection of Route 206 and Andria Avenue remains vacant, along with some smaller spaces in that property.

The original tenant of the CostCutters space was Foodtown, another supermarket. 

Edwards was the first supermarket to occupy the space at the Hillsborough Town Centre, opening in the early 1990s. The name was changed to Stop & Shop when the Edwards chain was bought by Royal Ahold.

A drive-thru Starbucks has been approved at the southern entrance of Hillsborough Town Centre. The property also includes Wells Fargo, Retro Fitness, Verizon and Gymboree.

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com