Comments on Efforts to Woo Supermarket
Aug 18th, 2011 | By Carl Dispoto | Category: On tapUpdated 10/14: Foodtown has pulled the plug on these plans.
Secaucus’ long wait for a supermarket may soon be over as the town is in talks with Foodtown.
Added 8/18: Mayor Mike Gonnelli said today that there have been “several positive meetings” with the owner of Foodtown and Xchange to try to encourage Foodtown to bring a store to Secaucus.
He said Foodtown has done some preliminary studies of Secaucus, particularly the southern area of town , and is commissioning a large-scale detailed study to determine if a supermarket based upon their model would be feasible.
Gonnelli said the town has also asked the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to meet with representatives Foodtown and Secaucus in order to review any programs available to make Secaucus a more attractive location for the supermarket.
“Foodtown estimates that they will have the results of their study completed in 6-8 weeks and will be ready to update us on their progress shortly thereafter,” he said. “We are encouraged by Foodtown’s interest and will keep you abreast of our continued progress in the near future.”
The arrival of a supermarket would be a huge addition to Secaucus, which has not had a local supermarket since the closure of Stop & Shop at the Mill Creek Mall in 2008. The Wal-Mart located on Park Place expanded in 2010 to include a supermarket section.
Foodtown is currently in the process of evaluating the viability of Secaucus for a new location. The store would likely be located at the Xchange residential development near the Secaucus Junction train station.
The location of the supermarket is hardly ideal, but would prevent most Secaucus residents from having to leave town for their shopping needs.
To be sure, Foodtown’s interest is in the early stages and efforts to woo a major supermarket in recent years have showed some promise but ultimately fell short. Officials were heartened last year when D’Agostino took major steps toward pursuing an Xchange location, but that push fell apart later in the year.
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How dumb.
Foodtown lasted only a brief period of time back in the Eighties.
I’d rather see an Aldi or a Fairway open a supermarket. Or better yet, a Corrado’s.
Gotta get Corrados in Secaucus!!!! Did we REALLY need a Bobs Furniture Discount Warehouse????
Somebody please.I refuse to shop at wal-mart.
it can’t come fast enough!
Obviously no one here understands business… Of course no one does, we live in Secaucus where everything is expected to be free and every business is expected to be here as a charity for our needs with no compensation.
This is a VERY viable location for Bob’s furniture. A bus stop 25 feet away and offering delivery to NYC. So you are right, maybe WE didn’t personally need a bobs furniture but the store needed Secaucus (see its not always about you).
Walmart sells food… Cheaper than most grocery stores. While you may not like walmart, most people like cheaper prices. It is NOT a viable business to open up .5 miles away from a store that undercuts you by 20%. While at first people will probably go there to get away from walmart, statistics prove over and over again that within 6 months, they will be back to walmart when the new food store does something to infuriate them or they just get tired of paying more for the same exact product. Cheaper prices always win out in the long run.
Lets not forget:
Businesses are not here for your benefit. They are here to make money. When you look at it that way, no supermarket in Secaucus begins to make sense.
The success of the old Acme was the central location. The store was very convenient for Secaucus residents, so price wasn’t as much as a factor. The former Acme location is still an ideal spot for such a supermarket, but right now there is a CVS there. Unless there are enough at the Xchange place to support a supermarket, it won’t work at this location. It is just as easy for most Secaucus residents to go to Wal-mart or Shop Rite at Columbia Park as it is to go to the Xchange.
That space was much too small for the size of supermarkets that are now featured. Same goes for the Acme space.
It’s just as far of a schlep to the proposed new store as it is for Columbia Park and maybe Lyndhurst Shop Rite.
The fact that MalMart is here has a lot to do with the reason why we do not have another real supermarket. They’re known for driving local business away.
ANd it looks like filling in more open space is our last viable solution regarding where to build the new store. Great.
The point is that you need a central location for a supermarket to work in this town. I don’t believe there are enough people living at the Xchange itself to support a supermarket there.
The Acme space is now filled with CVS and the Farmers Market. There would be enough space if the space from the Farmers Market to the Chinese Restaurant were available. The bigger problem though is the parking lot there. There really isn’t a lot of parking there and the parking lot gets really crazy there especially during the peak times.
A Maple: That space is not large enough.
Supermarkets now are huge — we’d need a centrally located space that is easily 3 sizes larger than the entire square footage of the old Acme building and the pakinglot combined.
Small small supermarkets are a thing of the past…unless a group of people is interested in owning and operating a smallish employee owned supermarket. We’d need the entire square footage of the old Acme building for that. I don’t forsee that happening any time soon.
Corrado’s just opened a new location in Fairfield in a building much much smaller than the old Acme. Why can’t we have something similar, too?
SOmebody would have to buy the building, evict CVS and the Farmer’s Market and then turn it back into a supermarket. Expansion into what was the old liquor store would be a plus.
Does anyone else think the Panasonic site would have potential for a large shopping complex that includes a major supermarket?
Carl: Haha, do you actually think that Hartz will let that land be used for a supermarket??? it’s much more profitable for them to put housing on that tract of land when the time comes.
It’s also not zoned for retail/supermarket.
The majority of us didn’t do our main grocery shopping in town, when either the Acme or Stop and Shop/Foodtown/Edwards was in operation.
Use this one instead of the previous!
itsjustme: The old Acme location is ideal only from the standpoint to its location. A lot of modifications would have to be done to this area for it to work. I don’t think the owner of the property would be willing to do them, plus there are already other businesses there already under contract, so at this point it is not feasible anyway.
Carl Disposo: Panasonic could be a possibility? But it will probably face a lot of opposition from the residents in that area.
Panasonic is still under contract until 2013, so it would at least another year after that to convert it. You are looking at 2014 the earliest to even make that possible.
Hartz will never let that piece of property hold a mere supermarket. Not going to happen.
Oster wouldn’t let them expand the Acme — and that Acme is a small piece of land that held a 1950s supermarket. The trend is a much much larger store, like the Rochelle Park ShopRite.
Another good spot would be in one of the the old movie theaters. One that is across bagel plus or the old one that was knocked down by the crown plaza. High traffic at both locations and easy to get to for town residents.
any thoughts??????????/
I believe housing units are being planed for that site.
the old theater by the bagel place is going to be an extended stay hotel and the one by the crown plaza will be 400 apartments and both projects are a done deal
That is ashame..they would have been a good location
town does not need more apartment, schools are already over crowded
WE NEED A SUPER MARKET
Looks like the credit crunch has stalled the new housing unit project where the Loew’s/movieplex used to be, on Meadowland Parkway.
There hasn’t been any activity there in quite some time. They’ve been working on that site on and off — mostly off — since the start of November.
Here was a pretty good idea…but too late now….
Instead of Dennis Elwell getting us another movie theatre, a supermarket could have been built in that parking lot instead. Too late….
Are you kidding, itsjustme?! The Kerasotes movie theater is so, so great. That area is for entertainment/dining not grocery shopping.
I, personally, won’t be happy with any grocery store other than Wegman’s!
That area is for tourists who are either too cheap or too broke to stay in New York. And either way they’re not really going to be doing much grocery shopping.
Wegman’s isn’t coming here. I wish it were a Wegman’s town, but it’s becoming more of a Foodtown kind of town. Maybe someday in the distant future things will change.
So there now is no room for a supermarket in the center of town. That’s the bottom line.
It’s way past time for Mayor Mike to come clean as to why we don’t have a supermarket in town!!! All of our speculation is a waste of time when the truth is known but kept a secret.
What about all of the other businesses that have left town? Frito Lay, Panasonic, the NBA, and countless others? Is the Mayor and Team TBS paying attention? What about Vinny Prieto? What involvement does the Meadowlands commission have in all of this?
I ask these questions because the mass exodus of businesses is just beginning. The extortion of business is a joke! It’s sad when our last Mayor was found guilty and our past tax collector was sentenced to jail yet a large percentage of people here(including myself) feel that much more corruption is yet to be uncovered!
I look forward to the Mayors response!
Isn’t it a well known fact that supermarkets are driven away whenever there is a WalMart in the town?
@jdjustice: we have oodles of business that deserted this town years ago — take a ride down to the back road and see how many buildings are vacant. (the trend now is to lease these buildings in segments to small importers that have only a very small group of people working for the company — translate more foreign businesses coming in to make money and who do not contribute to our economies, either local or national)
It is the same in East Rutherford, Carlstadt and Fort Lee and other towns with business districts that once housed bustling factories and companies and warehouses: buildings are vacant, nobody in them, the companies that were in them booked it a long long time ago. It has to do with the cost of doing business in New Jersey.
The only businesses coming in are data banks. Data banks do not employ all types of workers on all levels. We are out of luck with that, too.
Yeah, Mayor Mike! Come clean already! Let us know why there wasn’t a supermarket here since BEFORE you were mayor. How could you do that to us Mayor Mike? Also, Mayor Mike, why did they cut away at snake hill like they did? And what did you do with all the pig farms? And weren’t there dinosaurs here at one point?
I look forward to the Mayor’s response!
People wake up: pretty soon there will be nowhere to work in New Jersey!
The livable wage jobs we had are going going gone — and when Panasonic takes off, you all know as well as I know not one viable large company with jobs for hire will be taking up residence in that building.
Mr. M…I sure hope the Mayors response has a bit more relevent information than yours does. I understand the loss of the supermarket(s) did’nt happen under this Mayors watch but surely he knows the details and can share them along with why a new market seems to be so hesitant to open shop. And yes I recognize the “Walmart Factor”.
itsjustme…You make some very good points and I agree that the climate for business is not good anywhere in New Jersey. That being said, keep in mind that the businesses I mentioned(including the recent Goya expansion) did’nt outsource or go under. They all moved out of town yet still local. It is also my understanding that several long time businesses are in the process of doing the same by the end of this year.
It seems to me that Secaucus is no longer business friendly to businesses both large and small and I think that is where an explanation is necessary. It would be nice to have some honest discussion to see if the current trend can be reversed or at least slowed down.
We could have used the jobs at Damascus Bakery right about now — everybody was oh so scared that the place would blow sky high and put Secaucus on the moon.
What we had in that building instead, for about 6 months, was the production cast of a TV show that got cancelled. They were here about 6 months. Talk about cutting our noses off to spite our collective faces: permanent solid jobs versus temporary ones where no outsiders will be hired.
How to reverse or slow down the trend of business loss in Secaucus? I have no idea how to accomplish that.
What we do not need is more public money being thrown at a company to get them to relocate to Secaucus. Incentives do not work. Eventually the company moves out, the same way that MSNBC did after they got an incentive to relocate in town.
Lost business is a trickle down effect. Not only is it a monetary loss for locals (lunchtime revenue, revenue acquired in local stores and shops, to name 2) it also kills the spirit of a community.
Now, that would NOT be a bad idea….for a Corrado’s to move into what was at 10 Enterprise Avenue — this was the site that Damascus Bakery wanted and the site that the TV show was leasing.
There’s a shopping area right next door; there’s a bus that lets you right off at the door! That building would be a sweetheart deal for Corrado’s….or for an independent group of owners to buy that building and refit it to contain a supermarket.
10 enterprise ave is not accesible from 5th st except for a couple of hours a day mon thru fri. so it would be inconveinent to drive to. if the gate was left open then the people living on 5th st and the surounding area would be up in arms over the traffic. lets face it there is no place for a supermarket in this town thats convient. also a supermarket wil not move here for that reason. and this town cannot support a large supermarket. there is not enough people in this town to do so. and with walmart no supermarket will touch this town.
Actually Secaucus has more available space and land that would be perfect for a Supermarket than most other towns I know. Of course nothing will ever be as “convenient” as the old Acme location but to say there is’nt an alternative space is ridiculous.
Also, this town once supported 2 supermarkets so why is the perception that we now can’t support one? Secaucus has a diverse demographic base that would surely support a full service market. It was reported that D’Agostino choose not to open in town because of a company decision to close stores and not open new ones. Surely they had completed their own market analysis on the town of Secaucus. Did they share those results with the Mayor? If not can we inquire as to those results?
Walmart certainly scares competition away, but the Secaucus location has proven itself to be a poor substitute for a supermarket. Poor quality and selection of meats especially during the holidays when people are willing to buy a more expensive cut of meat. They did’nt even have fresh Turkeys the week of Thanksgiving. More importantly enough people in this town have stated that they either refuse to shop at Walmart or prefer another market. That’s a pretty convincing argument for a business to service a need and want.
I understand that we can’t force a business to open here. I also understand that to do it right is probably going to take some time. What I don’t understand is the lack of communication regarding the “true” issues and what is really making this town so undesirable to do business in.
@bob j: It’s no big deal to drive through Meadowland Parkway to get to that area. That that gate be open 24/7 need not be a requisite.
Walmart is nothing but a “welfare queen” — they rely on subsidies and incentives (translate: your public money) to get land for their ugly stores and they do not stay long. They move and leave the shell of the big box store behind. Read “The Great American Job Scam” for more information.
The Laurel Hill area isn’t accessable to all — the location is not great and location is key when it comes to opening any type of store. If a supermarket opened there, there’d be shoppers there at the start, just for the novelty of the store and then it’ll be another white elephant nobody shops in.
Mr. M:
LOL!!!! A man after my own heart!
I would like to give everyone an update on our supermarket progress. We have had several positive meetings with the owner of Foodtown and the owners of Xchange to try to encourage Foodtown to bring a store to our Town. Foodtown has done some preliminary studies of the Town, the southern area of Town in particular, and is commissioning a large-scale detailed study to determine if a supermarket based upon their model would be feasible.
We have also asked the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to meet with Foodtown’s representatives and us in order to review any programs that may they may be able to offer make Secaucus an even more attractive location for the supermarket.
Foodtown estimates that they will have the results of their study completed in 6-8 weeks and will be ready to update us on their progress shortly thereafter. We are encouraged by Foodtown’s interest and will keep you abreast of our continued progress in the near future.
jdJustice,
So there you go. Now what are you going to complain about next? What thread will you turn into you next soapbox?
Foodtown was not successful when they were here in the 80s.
And remember: location is everything. The location of that Foodtown is rather invisible.
Most are located a stone’s throw from a highway or major road where there is visibility of the store.
And I am not crazy about filling in open land for a supermarket. It is also almost as far to drive to the Xchange as it is to drive to North Bergen or Lyndhurst to do grocery shopping.
And sure they’ll jump at the subsidy — public money for a rich company to get them to move a store out here — and you’ll see them take the money and run later on, the same as most companies who have accepted subsidies have done. MSNBC did it; they should be made to give back every penny of that public money.
An Aldi, a Fairway or a Corrado’s would be better than a Foodtown.
Hey Are Ya Kiddin…Are you kidding???
While I appreciate the Mayors update he basically re-read what was originally written in the post itself. That certainly does’nt answer the question(s) I asked as to why a supermarket was’nt interested in coming to town after the Stop N Shop closed down and before the Walmart decided to expand. His post does re-affirm what I’ve already thought for all these years and that’s fine. Just don’t be small minded and believe that Secaucus can’t support a business such as a market. History does’nt support that. Also keep in mind that Mayor Mike was not in charge when all of this went down so he and his administration are’nt responsible so any update he can provide is more than we ever got in the past and is appreciated.
Just to clarify…No complaints from me. I’m just fine with shopping in North Bergen and plan on continuing to do so no matter what.
itsjustme…I agree with everything you say. A Foodtown at that location is not the answer and I’m sure their feasibility study will conclude that as well. A Fairway or Corrados would be better but that location is going to be difficult for most markets.
Now onto my next soapbox but too be honest I just can’t get into the “Tree” thread or the “Parade” thread.
This location will only work if there are enough at Xchange place to support it. From what I heard there is only about 20,000 sq. ft. available which is extremely small for a supermarket. The Old Acme was even 60,000 sq ft. This area is probably more suited for a convenience store.
THE BEST PLACE FOR A SUPERMARKET IS THE LARGE PIECE OF LAND BETWEEN THE MALL AND WESTSIDE AVE.I CAN NOT THINK OF A BETTER PLACE FOR A SUPER SIZED SUPERMARKET IN ALL OF HUDSON.I BELIEVE THE NJMC REQUIRES THAT A WESTSIDE AVE ENTRANCE BE BUILT BEFORE THIS PROPERTY CAN BE DEVELOPED.HARTZ IS NOT DOING THIS BECAUSE THEY ARE TRYING TO BUY THIS LAND FOR A CHEAP PRICE.MEANWHILE HARTZ BUILDS MORE AND MORE AT THE MALL WITHOUT THE PROPER TRAFFIC STUDY WHICH IS REQUIRED.A TRAFFIC STUDY AT THE MALL WOULD SHOW THAT THE WESTSIDE AVE EXIT IS LONG OVER DUE.THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL SHOULD REQUEST THAT THE NJMC REQUIRES HARTZ TO DO THE STUDY AS PER THEIR REGULATES. THEN THE 60 ACRES COULD BE DEVELOPED WITH A GOOD CHANCE OF GETTING A SUPERMARKET.RIGHT NOW WE ARE TAKING DONATIONS FROM HARTZ AND LETTING THEM BUILD WITHOUT THE REQUIRED TRAFFIC STUDY.EVERY KNOWS YOU CAN NOT GET OUT OF THE MALL AT RUSH HOUR . THAT IS ONE REASON THE STOP AND SHOP CLOSED,NO ONE WOULD GO THERE AT RUSH HOUR EVEN IF THEY NEEDED SOMETHING FOR DINNER.
“Mr. M…I sure hope the Mayors response has a bit more relevent information than yours does.”
I would hope so too, since he’s the mayor, and I’m just a private citizen replying to your obvious trolling.
I have to correct my last post. The old Acme wasn’t near 60,000 sq ft, more like 15,000. There is enough room there to put in a supermarket the size of the old Acme then.
My guess is that they’ll take out one of the fields to build this thing.
And I think those fields were built — along with a cricket pitch — with Green Acres funds. I have no idea if you can replace a Green Acres funded anything with something commercial or retail.
The supermarket we had in the Plaza was a 1950s sized store. They’re a thing of the past. Supermarkets now are yowling huge and sprawling facilities. Remember the name of the game is MONEY; a rinky dink store won’t do.
Secaucus Alarm Clock: There may be a “no compete” rule involved— remember, there is a Shop Rite not even 2 miles from there, in Columbia Park. And it’s uh…not far from Mal Mart. You think Mal Mart is going to go for that???
And while you are at it, dude, shut off your caps.
(Why the heck did we need a cricket pitch anyway? Think about it)
itsjustme: I think the idea is to use the existing vacant retail space that is already there just to the right of the main gate. A smaller Foodtown would be better than nothing there if they believe they could generate enough business there. If Foodtown doesn’t find it feasible perhaps a convenience store and a couple of other small stores would serve the area better.
The locaton is all wrong, it’s like going to JC to do your food shopping. How many people from Secaucus use the ball feilds back there? only JC people. The administration is faliling on this issue.
yeah we should def. have an aldi here
I believe Secaucus had a super market in the plaza until the money hungry landlord raised rents so high they left. Proof of that is there today. Look at how many empty stores are in the Plaza now. I heard the guy was charging 9K a month for the first dollar store that was there awhile back where KFC is now. No wonder the pizza place there is the most expensive pizza in town, it’s not the great food. I heard the guy who was born into the money from his father who passed away. I’m surprised town hall doesn’t do anything about the one manchild ruining the town. There should be a store in the center of town. The farmers market is actually pretty good, but I even heard they were going to move because they can’t afford it anymore. And do you know that landlord gets 3 seperate rents from that one store. One from FM, one from the flowers, and one from the deli/sushi bar. WOW! The town needs to take over the plaza and get rid of the uncaring landlord, who has nothing better to do but chase town taxis out of the parking lot. How sad of a life is that.
A Whole Foods Market would be nice.
The Xchange store idea is just as dumb. I never go back there and nether does anyone I know. To me it’s like the projects area of a town. They just put those up because its by the water (people like shiny things) and the train station. Get rid of the manchild ripoff landlord of the plaza. Any food store there would do good if they weren’t getting ripped off. Many people in Secacus don’t have transportation and walk to shop, or have to take a bus or taxi to the food store. If a town doesn’t supply it within the main part of town, I will still shop out of town. Towns loss, not mine.
Bobe & Fedup,
Communism much?
I do not like the owner the property either but you people make me laugh. We live in a capitalistic country. Just because someone is making a lot with their business doesn’t mean that we can just go and take it away from them to share it with the community. Lets be real here.
Walmart makes billions. I don’t like them. We should take over the store because they are greedy so that we can run it ourselves. hah
So then i guess our gov is commy? The gov can take a persons property away if they need it, but if someone is ruining a town for greed they can’t? I don’t see anywhere i said share with the community, thats lame. Walmart makes billions because they have alot of big stores. The owner of the plaza makes his money off of draining little shop owners, two different things fyi. As a Secaucus resident I am just concerned as the plaza looks like a slum, and the reason for it is high rent. But according to you anyone should be able to drain as much as they can from someone. You feel that way about rental properties and mortgages to? Reason why we have rent control. Communism?
bobe the town cannot regulate what oster does with his property other than violations. he can charge what he wants for rent and nobody can tell him otherwise.you also mention rentals landlords can charge what they want we do not have rent control unless they get into section 8 rentals. if its not section 8 a landlord can charge 5000k per month for a studio if he wants. all this is the same as when acme moved and the diner sold to the bank, everybody said the town should do something. there is noting the town could do about it . its private property owners can do as they wish. eminent domain is if the town needs a property to do something for the good of the town they can take it butthis is not the case here. if the town took the property by eminent domain what would they do with it, they cant build and run a supermarket and they cant sell it to someone for them to build a supermarket, thats not how eminent domain works.
another thought on supermarkets. this town cannot support a supermarket like they have today. the supermarkets are big today not like the acme or stop an shop. this town couldnt support a supermarket in the past you have seen how many were over in mill creek they just couldnt make money. theres two reasons for this. the town is too small and a lot of townspeople were shopping at the shoprites. another thing is no supermarket will touch this town as long as walmart is here. supermarket dont want to compete with walmart, patmark in north bergen shut down when they started building walmart in no. bergen
Bob J: Perhaps it was just the way Pathmark was run and operated. Target has a pretty sizable grocery section, though you cannot buy meat there.
We have Dennis E to thank for Mal Mart. Mal Mart also has a nice way of moving out and leaving behind their ugly glom of a building; usually nobody moves into it and certainly now in this horrific economy that building would remain empty indefinitely. IT’s an eyesore for us to look at.
Im not sure Foodtown would be the best option. However, Seabras would probably be a better option due to the large hispanic community in Secaucus…
Another Plaza store bites the dust! Good work Oster! Nice job policing Taxi Cabs to. Want to steer away more business from town? I see the future of an empty Plaza with Oster calling police on parked cars there.
Which store is that, bobe?
If I last recall, the recent stores that left the Plaza were the dollar store and the video game store. To tell you the truth, both stores were horrible.
For Planet Games, if you pass by there as often as I do, you will notice that there is one guy in there and he never got any business. Considering that the rent is very high in that area, he had no choice probably but to give up. One of the major problems though with that store was that he sold new games that normally sold for like $50 at Gamestop in Secaucus for like $65. Do you think people are going to really pay $15 extra? He was also not that nice of a guy and everything there was often expensive.
The Dollar Store was an okay store, but I find that they did not have anything really good there. The store was often empty and they did not restock inventory. I guess they were not making business either.
While those stores went out of business, do not forget that we have two additional empty stores: where the liquor store and the Radio Shack used to be. So, there is a problem there. I wish that they would put good businesses there, but I doubt we are going to see anything in the near future unless SERIOUS reform is implemented.
High store prices? Serious reform? The reason for the “crappy” stores is because no normal business would ever pay that high rent unless it’s like a business who works on quantity not quality, and even some of those don’t make it, and most don’t as you see how many businesses come and go there. I here now the food market there is leaving to. The only time I saw the dollar store shelves empty is when they were going out of business. High prices there are because of the high rent being charged. The Pizza place, Bagel Buffet, CVS and the Bakery all higher then any other around. Better food and products? No, higher rent. KFC is there because it works on quantity as well as all the other stores there. 19K a month for a dollar stores rent? LOL! Sad Oster, sad. Thats what happens to many when mommy and daddy die and leave all the money to brat kids. The guy is doesn’t care about the town or anyone one bit. I have never heard anything nice coming from people who know him, nasty, rude, ignorant, selfish, as well as a few others I won’t mention here, is all I have ever heard about him. His life consists of chasing Taxi cabs out of the parking lot. LOL! Give me a break.
[...] optimism from town officials over the summer, Foodtown has ended its flirtation with Secaucus, abandoning pursuit of a [...]
Oh, believe me Bobe, I think that the extremely high rent is just as much of a problem as you. I am pointing out the fact that Planet Games had high prices on video games you could get cheaper at GameStop. As a result, nobody came there and the business was not making money. Since the rent was so high, he was losing so much money and he had to leave. Businesses are not making money because people are not buying, so then they leave.
The serious reform needs to go toward the RENT POLICY. Since Goya and Panasonic is leaving, we definitely would want to try and get jobs here. How are we going to get jobs when places will not go to the Plaza area because the rent is so high? The greedy family needs to lower their prices.
No surprise that Foodtown wouldn’t open up a store at the xchange facility. There aren’t enough people there to support a supermarket. I stated two month ago unless there were enough people at the exchange it wouldn’t work. I also stated that you wouldn’t get many form the rest of the town there since Wal-mart and Shop-Rite are just as easy to go to then that location. Location! Location! Location! Is the key factor to attraction such a supermarket!