Coming out of COVID-19, retail business is in a tenuous state in many communities.
Already adversely impacted by the increased number of people doing business with online merchants, the pandemic was a tipping point for many small local businesses, and vacant storefronts are now proliferating across the region.
One exception seems to be the Lawrence Shopping Center and the area surrounding it on Business Route 1.
Lawrence Municipal Manager Kevin Nerwinski recently sat down with the Lawrence Gazette to talk about issues impacting the township.
The first part of the Q&A resulting from that interview ran in the April issue of the Gazette and addressed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the township, the 2022 municipal budget and residential and commercial property values. Part 1 can be found posted online at communitynews.org.
In the second part of the interview, which appears below, Nerwinski talks with Gazette editor Bill Sanservino about the state of retail in the township and the situation regarding recreational cannabis sales in the township, which began on April 21 at Zen Leaf, about a month after this interview took place.
Lawrence Gazette: What’s the situation with retail business in Lawrence Township?
Kevin Nerwinski: We still have some pocket areas that are issues, but one area that was a big concern of ours was across the street from the Lawrence Shopping Center.
LG: Do you mean the area where the Pizza Hut used to be and near the Colonial Bowling alley?
KN: Yeah, I think that that’s coming back. Jammer Doors is taking over a site where I couldn’t imagine who would go there. It had to be a destination place type of business, and I think Jammer Doors it fits that perfectly.
I think the space that the Dollar General store left is going to be reoccupied, and we think the revitalization of the Lawrence Shopping Center will help a lot, especially once the LA Fitness there peeks its head out of the protection of its cubbyhole, and then and decides that the pandemic is far enough in the rear-view mirror that they can start taking their steps forward.
They are still committed to the site, and I think that’s going to be a game-changer, quite honestly. With Starbucks, with the food store, with the other stores all filling up, I think it’s going to have an impact on the other side of the highway.
That Pizza Hut site is perfect for some type of restaurant. It just is, and I think with the general area improving somebody’s going to take a shot at that for sure.
LG: The dynamics of retail are changing, but there are still a lot of uses that can’t be served by online merchants—places that people have to go to in person.
KN: And you know what, our community was—and I’ve said this publicly several times—extremely fortunate that J&J Operating—the owners took this on took a chance on us. because they know what they’re doing.
They know the market. They’ve been doing it for more than 50 years. They know what the stores are that they want to get, and you can’t deny that they’re being successful at it.
Some people are complaining that they’re seeing a certain type of store there. Well, that’s because—like you just said—people who are going to go online and get whatever stuff they’re looking for.
But they know people that want to go to the store touch and feel and see and buy. These are the types of stores that are going to be successful.
LG: I live in Robbinsville across the street from the Foxmoor Shopping Center, which was purchased out of bankruptcy by a new owner a few years ago. At the time they bought it, it was probably 70 to 80% vacant and in a really bad situation.
Well, it was bought by an owner who has several pretty successful strip malls in the area. I drove through it the other day and almost every spot is filled. It’s the like you said, if a company knows what it’s doing it can find the right mix of tenants to get in there and make a center like that successful.
KN: Yeah. And with J&J, they’re going to hold. They’re not going to flip it if they’re making it profitable, I don’t know if it’s still true, but I know that as of two years ago, they do not resell their properties. They are a holding company that improves depressed properties, and that’s good for us.
LG: That center has come a long, and I think that some people didn’t have a lot of hope for it if you look back four or five years.
KN: People have a lot of things to say, but they don’t realize that there are people out there that know what they’re doing and consider much more than they ever considered. We all know what we know, you know what I mean? You have got to weed through all those negative comments and Facebook about it.
LG: That why I don’t go on Facebook anymore, unless it’s for work.
KN: Yeah. It’s a depressing situation.
Cannabis in Lawrence
LG: The state is now in the process of implementing recreational cannabis rules, and we’re getting to the point where dispensaries will be opening throughout New Jersey, including Lawrence. Can you talk a little bit about how Lawrence Township approached cannabis.
KN: We thought it was important for us to get out in front of setting the policy and planning for retail cannabis operators. And the council—I think they were all publicly supportive. There was no argument about whether or not to have it. We were a community that was open to it.
But we but we didn’t want to make it like a free-for-all. So we acted early to set the record and provide the ordinance for a very limited area for the retail sale of cannabis along Route 1, because we did not want it into the neighborhoods.
I’ve been in Massachusetts and some other places, and they have cannabis sites right near houses, like developments, and lines of people walking on in. It just kind of resonated with me. Like, “Wow, this is not a good situation.”
LG: Yeah, that would not work in New Jersey.
KN: Yeah, so we were really mindful to not replicate that at all. One of the advantages of New Jersey not being one of the first to do it is that we got to sit back and see what the problems were in other states and to be able to resolve them.
So, we think we made the right decision in terms of placing it along Route 1, away from housing developments and making it more of a destination site as opposed to a casual walk-by or bike-ride situation.
And we locations where there are retail sales to the public to two. Zen Leaf is one. They’re a billion-dollar company that does these things well, and they know what they’re doing and so far, they’ve done well. We don’t even really know it’s there.
The second is the old Crab Shack site (on Route 1 South near the Route 295 interchange). That property has been vacant for a while now, and we all thought, “Wow, that would be a great site (for a cannabis dispensary), because it’s a destination site.”
It’s really buffered, and it’s larger, so it could be a good site for a dual situation—retail plus also a final-stage type of operator and there’s an agreement in place for a site to be there pending approval from the state.
They were very pro-cannabis people—advocates—who reached out to me and were pushing to have one in the Lawrence Shopping Center. That doesn’t resonate with me. We don’t need that at this point.
So, it’s going to be there (the Crab Shack site) and one of the services there will be a delivery service. So location is going to be less important as opposed to having easy access to it.
LG: A delivery service?
KN: Another business is a delivery service, just like Doordash. You can go online and order and there will be a dedicated company that delivers cannabis.
LG: That’s going to be at the Crab Shack location, or a totally separate one?
KN: No, it’s just delivery—a delivery license. So, it’s not they’re not going to be delivering out of a retail site.
LG: Has anybody applied for grow or manufacturing licenses in town?
KN: Well they don’t apply with the township. The way the process goes is a that a company can identify a location within a town, and then enter into some type of contingent lease agreement.
They tie themselves contractually to this, and then they could go to the town saying, “This is our company. This is where we plan to be.” They need a resolution from the council in support of that to go along with their application to the state for the license. That’s happened twice for us for the retail, and we approved resolutions for those.
We have one manufacturer situation that’s pending. I can’t reveal it to you at this time.
Lawrence Shopping Center.,
