By Robert Moreschi
It’s a Saturday in Robbinsville, a little more than a week before the Christmas holiday, and right in the middle of the busiest time of the year for shoppers and business owners alike. Most shopping centers in New Jersey are buzzing with activity, but in the Foxmoor Shopping Center in Robbinsville the parking lot is half empty. Something is missing.
It’s been that way now for a little over a year, since the Thriftway supermarket closed its doors for good. The closing left the largest space in the shopping center vacant, a gaping hole in the landscape of the Foxmoor Shopping Center that has yet to be filled.
For the past year, Robbinsville residents have been without a supermarket to call their own, and with no immediate answer in sight. But the strain that has put on Robbinsville residents looking for a place to shop in their town is nothing compared to the strain it has put on the surrounding businesses in the shopping center.
Without a bustling supermarket to draw in shoppers, most of the establishments in the Foxmoor Shopping Center have seen a decline in business. One in particular, Rotisserie Flair, has noticed the difference that the absence of the Thriftway Market has made.
Although they opened for business after the market had already closed, it was immediately apparent that the potential which originally attracted them to the area had been greatly diminished.
“When we took the place, the parking lot looked extremely busy, which was our main draw to the area,” said Ashleigh Gomes, general manager of Rotisserie Flair. “Once they left, we noticed that our potential customer base had decreased.”
It’s easy to see how, without a supermarket anchor to draw in a steady stream of shoppers, the other businesses at Foxmoor have almost been forgotten about.
Employees that work in the shopping center have witnessed this firsthand.
“We get a lot of people saying ‘We don’t even know you guys are here,’” said an employee of one of the stores, who wished to remain anonymous. “The grocery store would bring a lot of people into this center, but people aren’t even coming here anymore.”
Of course, there have been rumors of what could be moving into the shopping center to replace the Thriftway since it closed, and names of big chain stores have been floating around for quite a while.
“I’ve heard a lot of rumors,” Gomes said. “I heard rumors about a Best Buy and one about a Whole Foods. Hopefully, it’s another supermarket. The main goal of our business is to be there for families, the working mom, the working dad and people who don’t have time to cook good food at home, to get away from fast food and rely on us.”
The rumors, however hopeful they may seem, are nothing more than optimistic conjecture. Robbinsville economic development director Tim McGough has been working with Mayor David Fried and the owners of the shopping center, real estate company Pettinaro, to find a store to fill the empty space, but to no avail.
“We discussed [Pettinaro’s] efforts to date to get another anchor in the shopping center,” McGough said. “They have spoken to other supermarket companies, but so far, none are interested because the financial model does not allow for an allowable return on investment. The companies have done detailed analyses of all of the food markets in the area: Shop Rites, Acmes and even the [Fresh] Basket, and they have all concluded that the sales from a food store in Foxmoor would not be enough to support the store.”
However, the township and Pettinaro remain confident that the right food store can thrive in the shopping center, and they will continue to work toward a resolution.
“The township is fully committed to helping land an anchor tenant and revitalizing the entire shopping center,” McGough said. “We have already made clear to them that the engineering and building departments will work to expedite all necessary approvals and permit. What we would like to see is a complete facelift in the center, maybe rearranging parking and access as well as aesthetics to make it a more desirable location.”
Without a supermarket, the shopping center has been set adrift like a ship without an anchor, and the importance of replacing the Thriftway Market with something that can rejuvenate the shopping center is not lost on McGough and the rest of the township.
“Every shopping center like that must have an anchor for the center to thrive,” McGough said.
For the residents of Robbinsville, that anchor can’t come soon enough.
