Popular grocery chain is opening its second NJ store

Supermarket chain Stew Leonard’s will be opening their second New Jersey store in Clifton. The planned opening date is in 2024.

My family and I just made a deal to have a new Stew Leonard’s take over the Seasons market in Clifton,” President and CEO Stew Leonard Jr. told Winsight Grocery Business on Thursday. “We are excited because we’ll be able to sell both food and wine in the store as we plan to move Stew Leonard’s Wines & Spirits of Clifton into the new location.

The liquor store is separate from the grocery stores right now and is operated independently; it will be brought under the roof of the new store in Clifton.

The only other Stew Leonard’s in New Jersey is in Paramus, which opened in 2019. The Clifton store will be the eighth overall for the chain.

Located in the Styertowne Shopping Center on Bloomfield Avenue, kosher supermarket chain Seasons lost its lease after seven years as a tenant and is expected to close sometime next month.

Founder Stew Leonard Sr., who started his chain in Connecticut, died last week.

The company is known for its unique shopping experience, which includes animatronic characters, petting zoos, and costumed characters. As a matter of fact, it’s known as the “Disneyland of Dairy Stores.”

The stores have more of a boutique feel; according to Winshight, unlike traditional grocery stores that sell an average of 45,000 items, each Stew Leonard’s store carries only 3,200 items.

The first Stew Leonard’s opened in CT in 1969 and has expanded in the Northeast.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

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