It wasn’t that long ago that the family-run grocery store was an essential part of almost any community.
One does not have to be especially old to conjure the image of an aproned store owner welcoming shoppers by name while strolling around, inspecting stacks of produce and fussing with endcap displays until they are just so.
Like many things in the modern world of commerce, this image is fading fast. Supermarkets these days usually fall into one of two categories: enormous, gleaming, full-service behemoths like Wegman’s, Whole Foods or the many “World Class” ShopRites in our area; or no-frills discount groceries like Aldi and Lidl.
But there are a few stores out there that still maintain the tradition of the local grocery: Marrazzo’s Market in Ewing is one, and Foley’s Family Market, in Hamilton, is another.
At a time when the big chains, including Walmart and Target with their ever increasing grocery sections, appear to dominate the market, some shoppers still value the personal touch offered by a store like Foley’s. And they show their appreciation not only by remaining loyal customers, but also by helping Foley’s win frequent Trentonian’s Reader’s Choice awards, in categories such as best meat market, best deli, best soups, best produce, best catering and best grocery store.
Long-time area residents Joe and Sharon Foley took over the old Paber’s Shop n Bag on White Horse Avenue in 2003 and renamed it Foley’s Shop n Bag. From 1991 to 2002, Joe Foley had been a partner at Lalor Market on Lalor Street. He started his career in grocery stores with Acme Supermarkets when he was a teenager.
He and Sharon saw Shop n Bag as an opportunity for them to own and operate their own store. And in the nearly two decades since, they have also brought their four daughters into the fold: Melissa (Persichetti), Jessica (DaBronzo), Erica (Stefanelli) and Samantha.
After Shop n Bag went out of business, the Foleys joined the IGA, originally known as the Independent Grocers Alliance, and renamed the store to Foley’s Family Market.
“Foley’s Family Market is more fitting for the township,” says Erica Stefanelli, 34, the third Foley daughter, who today serves as a store manager. “We’re a family-oriented business. We have cousins who work here, my uncle (Tim) works here. A lot of family have come and helped out. We like to have that family atmosphere. When people come in they almost feel like part of the family in a way.”
Joe Foley does his part to keep that fading image of the on-site store owner alive. “A lot of people know my dad,” Stefanelli says. “He’s not the type of owner you never see. He stocks the shelves, he’s always talking to the customers. He grew up in Hamilton, and he knows a lot of the elderly that come in. They used to shop at Lalor Market, and now they come here. They followed him here. He says it’s fun to see people he saw shopping with their parents at Lalor Market when they were little kids, and now they shop here with their kids.”
Sharon fills the role of store accountant, while Jessica also helps out with billing and store management. Samantha helps out with stocking, scheduling, and management, while Melissa also pitches in — when she is not focused on her full-time job of vice principal at Nottingham High School.
Uncle Tim runs the warehouse, and store manager Mike Borysewicz may not technically be family, but he has been with Foley’s since the family took it over. “Many employees have been with us 10-plus years,” Stefanelli says. “We have many long-time customers who will wait in line for a specific cashier. I’ll see them and I’ll say, ‘Register 4 is open,’ but some people have their favorite cashiers and don’t care how long they’re waiting.”
Grocery stores are always vital to the community, but the role that they play never seemed as essential as in the earliest days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when people were in a panic about the impact that the pandemic would have.
In March 2020, customers blitzed stores, wiping them out of some inventory such as toilet paper and bottled water. Supply-chain disruption due to the pandemic meant that stores simply weren’t able to restock, and stores also struggled to stay staffed as employees opted to stay home rather than risk coming down with the virus.
Meat and poultry was particularly difficult to come by at the time — and so was information about which stores had some in stock. It was at this time that Foley’s truly shined. The shop updated its Facebook page every day early in the pandemic, updating customers on which hard-to-find items were available, sometimes multiple times per day.
Stefanelli was the one updating the Facebook page — but not from the store. “I was on maternity leave at the time,” she recalls. “I was planning to come back around eight weeks (after childbirth), but that’s when they shut down everything. I ended up working from home with a newborn.”
Her sisters would send her photos of the store and she would upload them to Facebook. “People would call and ask do you have this, do you have that at the store? And I would have to call the store and find out because I wasn’t there,” she says. “I still have a ton of pictures on my phone from that time.”
Though many supply chain issues have resolved, some effects of the pandemic are still being felt by stores like Foley’s. They were able to stay fully staffed through the summer, when students were off from school, but as school gets ready to start up this fall, staffing my yet become an issue again.
Stefanelli says that Foley’s success has much to do with its many loyal customers. “They’re so loyal that you end up forming a relationship with them,” she says. “They also have been so understanding and patient with all of the struggles we have faced over the last two years.”
So loyal are those customers that Stefanelli says Foley’s has not been much impacted by the recent opening of Grocery Outlet — even though that discount chain has recently opened directly across the street, in the former KMart location.
“We expected people to go in and check it out,” Stefanelli says. “But a lot of our customers went over there and came back and said they’re just going to keep shopping here. I don’t feel that’s a store where you can do a whole week’s shopping, but we wish them the best.”
Loyal customers are crucial, but independent stores like Foley’s will always face their share of challenges.
“I don’t know if people really understand just how independent we are,” Stefanelli says. “Say if something doesn’t ring up the right — people will say they want it for free. ‘ShopRite would do it,’ they say. OK, but ShopRite’s huge! They can afford it. We can’t.”
Around the holidays, Foley’s typically does giveaways, rewarding customers with tickets based on the amount of money they spend in the store. Prizes range from toaster ovens to bicycles to televisions.
“We’re not getting reimbursed for those — it’s Joe Foley and Sharon Foley’s money. My parents go and buy the stuff at Walmart or wherever. They try to get it on Black Friday, you know, but it’s their own money they’re spending,” she says.
Because Foley’s is part of the IGA co-op, it is able to stock the shelves with some store-brand items. But when it comes to sales and coupons, Foley’s is on its own — there’s no conglomerate to reimburse them for the cost of the sales.
“Sometimes people will say they want to talk to ‘somebody from corporate.’ I’m like, it’s me and then my dad. People don’t realize that we really are that small.”
For sales, circulars, news and updates, visit the Foley’s Family Market Facebook page.
Foley's Family Market is on White Horse Avenue in Hamilton. (Facebook photo.),
