Allison Perrine
By Allison Perrine
MIDDLETOWN – After touring the inside of the new Saker ShopRite in Kings Commons along Route 35 and Kings Highway, one thing is clear: This is not your average grocery store.
From aisle planning and layout design to the locally prepared deli meats, fresh cheeses, specialty foods and a 20,000-square-foot wine and spirits section, everyone is sure to find what they’re looking for in this one-stop-shop supermarket, and at the right price.
“Some people envision ShopRite as like your grandma’s grocery store and it’s not – not the Saker ShopRites,” said Amanda DePalma, director of public relations and government affairs with Saker ShopRites. “These are stores that are constantly evolving, bringing the best that’s out there right to you under a trusted banner. There’s a difference when the owners live and work and shop their stores.”
The new location in Kings Commons, next to the Wendy’s fast-food chain and Investors Bank, where Sears used to be, sits across the highway from its former site in the Middletown Plaza shopping mall. Customers had long complained about the busy parking lot so when the 91,624-square-foot space became available, Saker jumped at the opportunity. Now, five months after construction began, it is open for business.
One important thing to know about this supermarket is that quality is important to the Saker family. The store’s “grab-and-go” prepared foods department offers over 1,000 items daily, freshly made from World Class Kitchens and Dearborn Farms, including fresh pasta from scratch, sandwiches with 100 percent all-natural meats, Chinese food, sushi, sandwiches and much more.
The mozzarella is made fresh daily with equipment imported from Italy that Richard Saker, president and CEO of Saker ShopRites, Inc., described as the “Rolls-Royce” of mozzarella machinery. And if mozzarella isn’t your thing, there are over 200 other types of cheeses available, along with a salad and olive bar, hot and cold buffet, coffee station, full-service seafood department with fresh catch deliveries daily, a bakery, locally grown produce, a deli and other delicious treats.
“Food service now is even more popular than it ever was,” said Saker. “It makes it easy. A lot of people like to grab-and-go for dinner.”
Additionally, the store includes a health and wellness nutrition center to provide shoppers with organic and gluten-free products suitable for all types of diets and lifestyles while keeping costs affordable. Dubbed the “store within the store,” shoppers in the nutrition center aisles will find an ample array of specialty goods including raw, natural honey jarred from local beehives; soups; syrups; protein-rich and “keto” products; cereals; rice and grains; natural mac and cheese; organic pastas and much more.
customers a wide variety of products, such as 106 types of yogurt, shown above. Allison Perrine
Another important component to Saker ShopRites is variety, which can be seen in its yogurt selection; they offer 106 different kinds. The store also has three full fridges of regular milk, alongside one fridge of specialty milks, one of lactose free milks and at least four fridges of plant-based beverages, some of which are ShopRite’s award-winning store brand Bowl & Basket. All of these fridges feature energy-saving, sustainable technologies in refrigeration and lighting that reduce the supermarket’s carbon footprint.
New to this location is a 20,000-square-foot wine and spirits store with 10,000 products – wines, beer and spirits and related items. “You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better selection,” said DePalma, adding that the inclusion of the liquor store adds to the one-stop-shop experience at ShopRite. “People want to get their grocery shopping done quickly. It’s about spending more time with the people you love, not doing the things you have to do to survive.”
Saker ShopRites have been in the area for decades. Currently, Saker owns 32 ShopRite supermarkets, 30 pharmacies and Dearborn Market and Garden Center, according to the company. The Saker organization also owns and/or operates three liquor stores in the Monmouth County area. It is a fourth- and fifth-generation, family-owned company that employs more than 9,000 individuals, including about 320 at the new location in Kings Commons. Anyone interested in applying can do so in-store or visit oprite.com/careers.
“We have a long commitment to Monmouth County and Middletown and look forward to opening this new shopping center with our World Class ShopRite as the centerpiece,” Saker said in a press release shortly before the opening. “We thank our customers and the community for their support as we built this new modern market.”
The article originally appeared in the June 24 – 30, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
