Despite a constellation of supermarkets several miles down Route 1, as well as an Asian grocery in town, there has been an outcry ever since Super Fresh vacated Plainsboro Plaza more than two years ago. Nowhere is this more apparent than on “Plainsboro Needs a Supermarket,” a public Facebook page with more than 3,000 likes and an active resident commentariat.
The page was established last July by Bert Mulder, a longtime Plainsboro resident who lives a stone’s throw away from the Plaza in the Village Center. He has posted anything related to the developments on either side of Schalks Crossing Road, including news articles, township updates, and even a collection of photos highlighting the town’s various occupants. In addition to providing updates, the comments in response to his posts reveal an active forum where residents exchange information and rumors, and express their wishes and complaints for Plainsboro Plaza.
“There is a lot of frustration in the community with the slow progress,” Mulder says. “So I decided to get a blog for people to talk. Information is not easy to come by here.”
Scouring real estate resources and the Plainsboro website, including the township’s meeting minutes, Mulder posts any updates onto the Facebook page. Some posts reach 10,000 people, which he sees as evidence of the community’s interest in a supermarket.
At issue is the absence of a general grocery store within Plainsboro in the wake of Super Fresh’s departure, though at times the discussion on the online page has expanded to desires for a gas station (the closest gas station to Plainsboro is on Route 1 in West Windsor). There has also been dismay over the construction delays in the Plaza, as well as the additions of banks and gyms while the former Super Fresh site stands empty.
There are several supermarkets in the area, and most of them are a reasonable distance away on Route 1. Mulder says the shopping commute isn’t so bad if there is no traffic. However, bumper-to-bumper jams await if someone wants to grab a few things for dinner after work. Multiple commentators bemoan the inconvenience whenever last-minute supplies or a couple missing staples are needed.
The CVS in Village Center sells milk and eggs, but no produce. Asian Food Market does operate at 660 Plainsboro Road, but the desire is for a more general store. (One commentator on the group opposed buying meat from a store that smells “like a rotting corpse.”)
“It doesn’t have a wide selection. It serves needs for a group, not everybody,” Mulder says. “Even the Indian population wants a general store.
To his frustration, the owners of Plainsboro Plaza, Onyx Equities, did not respond to a written inquiry.
Onyx is currently in active discussion with three supermarkets, according Joel Dicker, senior vice president of retail leasing and development at Onyx.
“We don’t have a lease signed at the time,” Dicker says. “It was our expectation that we would have secured a supermarket by now.”
Though Super Fresh vacated the Plaza’s anchor space more than two years ago, the lease is still active. A new supermarket, Dicker says, would either serve as a subtenant to Super Fresh or lease directly from Onyx after terminating the Super Fresh lease.
The major components of the renovations are projected for completion by the end of the summer. Four tenants, Indus American Bank, Planet Fitness, Lightbridge Academy, and Crossfit Nassau have moved in since Onyx purchased the property in 2013.
Crossfit will eventually relocate within the Plaza to a 10,000-square-foot space between Lightbridge and Planet Fitness, the site of the old Ace Hardware store. This will open a block of 27,000 square feet, and Onyx is negotiating a lease for a general merchandise retail tenant. The company is also continuing its leasing efforts for other vacancies in the Plaza.
While Mulder does not blame the township for the absence of a grocery store in the Plaza, he questions whether it could do more to attract one. One suggestion is tax incentives to lure a supermarket tenant. In addition, he says the area could benefit from infrastructure improvements, such as road repairs for Plainsboro Road, an access into the Plaza from Scudders Mill Road, and street light repair.
When walking his dog, a Share-Pei Labrador, around the area, Mulder occasionally notes extinguished street lights and notifies PSE&G. However, he says many streetlights do not have identifying serial numbers.
Mulder also notes there is a lack of roadside signage welcoming motorists to Plainsboro, for example on Route 1 and Turnpike Exit 8A. However, earlier in the year Mayor Peter Cantu indicated signage will be installed.
The township’s position is that its influence is limited, and that a farmer’s market or a food cooperative is a not a solution for the empty space in Plainsboro Plaza.
“It’s not something we can directly control except offer encouragement,” Cantu says. “It’s in [Onyx’s] hands, not our direct hands. Whatever comes in has to work. There has to be a business plan for that facility.”
Cantu also said that the township is not able to give tax breaks as an incentive, adding that would not be a wise thing to do anyway.
In a March 17 letter, Cantu announced that the prospects of a new grocery store moving into Plainsboro Plaza anytime soon are slim.
“Negotiations with a grocery store chain that have been on-going have not been successful,” Cantu wrote. “While the parties continue to talk we are left with the impression that a grocery store will not be opening at the plaza in the near future. We continue to press Onyx, making it clear that a grocery stores is essential and is needed in the community.”
Mulder has also spoken with outgoing administrator Bob Sheehan during one of the administration’s semi-annual meetings with homeowners’ associations. (Mulder is a member of his neighborhood’s homeowner association.)
“It’s the same update as the mayor’s letters, not too much news really,” Mulder says. “It can be frustrating, how slow things go. The Plainsboro Village Center has been in the works for a long time, since the early ’90s.”
Is Mulder frustrated enough to get involved politically? He is unsure, though he says “maybe someday.”
Mulder grew up in Groningen, a university city in northern Netherlands. His father worked in construction and his mother was a homemaker. He studied marketing and business at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. While on a study abroad program in Budapest, he met a Jersey girl. After a six-month conscription in the Dutch Army in 1993, shortly before the country ended mandatory military service, Mulder relocated to America and married the Jersey girl.
Bert and Joanne moved to Plainsboro in 1996, staying at Hunters Glen. The plan was to stay for two years before moving back to Europe. In 1999 they relocated within Plainsboro to Brittany Townhomes before moving into Plainsboro Village in 2007.
The original plan to return to Europe fell by the wayside. “Life happened,” says Mulder, who has a son, a third grader at Wicoff Elementary. He is the director of membership and events for the New Jersey American Academy of Pediatricians, and Joanne works in marketing for the Wall Street Journal.
Before Super Fresh there was a Shop ‘n’ Bag store near the Asian Food Market, and Mulder is puzzled how a second supermarket has still not replaced Super Fresh in a township with a population of 23,000.
“I think it’s a good investment to open a grocery store, I’d do it myself but I have no resources,” Mulder. “There’s really a need, the population is definitely here.”
He points out that it is not just the residential population. With numerous corporate offices and hotels in town, the day time population in Plainsboro is high. In addition, Mulder estimates there are 30,000 cars that pass through the intersection of Schalks Crossing and Scudders Mill roads, with Dey Road and Plainsboro Road serving as a connector between Route 1 and Route 130.
While running the Facebook page, Mulder says he was surprised at the number of people who were content without a general grocery store in town. At the same time, he has heard others say they plan to move due to the inconvenience. In addition, he says those without cars are dependent on online shopping.
Perhaps the distance and traffic to various grocers is just enough to be considered inconvenient to residents, while the township’s diverse population is close enough to the same stores to discourage companies from opening a second store in town. Whatever the reason, any signs of life will be noticed by Mulder and available for all to see and discuss on Facebook.
