BY ERIKA NORTON
WEST MILFORD — West Milford shoppers will have to wait a bit longer for the renovation of the ShopRite on Marshall Hill Road, the town’s only supermarket.
The approval process was set in motion late last year to redesign the main entrance and update the 1960s facade, expand the interior by about 4,000 square feet, as well as improve the parking lot.
The contractor for the project, Michael Feehan of Crossroads Construction, said in December that the renovation could start as early as March, take seven to eight months and be completed by the fall of this year. That is no longer the case.
“The renovation is expected to begin at the end of summer and take approximately nine to 12 months,” said Karen O’Shea, a corporate spokesperson for the retail cooperative and supplier of ShopRite of West Milford, Wakefern Food Corp. “The new store will feature many state-of-the-art improvements and the ShopRite of West Milford will remain open during the renovation.”
Shoppers, including Mike Fritz, are skeptical.
“I go there every week and they are doing nothing. Something is going on with this project that I think the public deserves to know,” he said in an email to The Messenger. “They seemed so sure in the winter that it was going to be almost done by now.
“To make matters worse, I think they are neglecting the store even more now that they anticipate an eventual renovation. The store looks and feels worse than ever.”
O’Shea did not respond to further inquiries about why the project has been delayed. The manager of the West Milford location also declined to comment.
The West Milford ShopRite is a family-owned and operated supermarket, part of the 22-store chain Inserra Supermarkets, Inc. Inserra is a member of the Wakefern Food Corp. retail cooperative.
According to the West Milford building department, Inserra does have permits in to the office, which are currently under review, but they also have some minor issues that have to be cleared up. Depending on when those issues are addressed, it is a possibility that construction may be able to start by the end of the summer.
They reconfigured the parking lot and paved it earlier this year, but no work has been done since.
Inserra first filed renovation plans with the West Milford Planning Board back in 2008.
Amendments to the project were added to the site plan to address their ability to remain open during construction.
The property is approximately 15 acres and currently consists of the ShopRite supermarket, Frank’s Pizza, and a stand-alone building which was a former movie theater but is now a TJMaxx store. After negotiations with Inserra, ShopRite will expand into Frank’s Pizza’s current location, and the pizzeria will move into the space at the end of the plaza, which was occupied several years ago by Just-A-Buck.
The town’s only other supermarket, the Hewitt A&P, permanently closed in 2015. Without an alternate food store, this is considered important for residents.
What do you think of the renovation being delayed again? For the latest on this ongoing story and to share your comments, visit westmilfordmessenger.com.