Empty shelves at Foodtown: NJ supermarket owners break silence on sad online videos

🍅 Empty shelves at three Monmouth County Foodtown stores sparked closure rumors, but the family-owned supermarket chain says the stores are staying open amid a supplier dispute.

🍅 Foodtown’s CEO apologized to shoppers and blamed the shortages on problems with the company’s primary grocery supplier, promising shelves will soon be restocked.

🍅 Viral TikTok videos and comparisons to recently shuttered Monmouth County stores fueled panic online, prompting local officials to reassure worried customers.

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS — Let’s be clear: Three Monmouth County Foodtown supermarkets are not closing despite social media posts reporting empty shelves and sparking chatter that the next move would be permanent closures.

That’s the word from Circus Foodtown President and CEO Lou Scaduto Jr., who owns the three Foodtown locations in Red Bank, Atlantic Highlands, and Wall.

ALSO READ: Toms River PD seek suspect in stolen debit card case 

Empty shelves at Monmouth County Foodtown stores spark closure rumors

Shoppers have reported empty shelves at these three Foodtown supermarkets and said they looked like the stores in Middletown and Port Monmouth right before they closed.

One postal worker posted a video on TikTok talking about the empty shelves at the Atlantic Highlands location, predicting that this store is going to close.

“It’s gonna be closed in a week. There’s nothing restocked here. They didn’t even have cigarettes. There wasn’t any paper towels,” the woman said.

She went to say she found a similar situation when she delivered mail at the Foodtown in Port Monmouth, and soon after, it closed. That was in October 2025.

Warning: There is some profanity in the video

Foodtown CEO says supplier dispute is behind shortages

But despite what people have read on social media, the Foodtown stores are not closing, Scaduto Jr. wrote in an apology to shoppers.

“On behalf of the Azzolina and Scaduto families, please let us apologize for the unacceptable conditions you are currently seeing in our stores. It is not our intent to operate this way, but our family-owned business is currently in a dispute with our primary grocery supplier that we are actively trying to work through,” Scaduto Jr. said.

He promised to remedy the supply issues and asked shoppers for their patience as they work to get the stores back to normal conditions.

Atlantic Highlands mayor reassures worried shoppers

Atlantic Highlands Mayor Lori Hohenleitner backed Scaduto’s comments on her Facebook page, saying Circus Foodtown has been a stalwart in the community since the 1950s.

“I personally spoke with Mr. Scaduto, and he shared the difficulty they are having with their main supplier,” she wrote.

Hohenleitner also said that Circus Foodtown is committed to continuing to support the Area Association of Community Churches Food Bank generously.

Report a correction | Contact our newsroom