Stop & Shop to shut store in Ocean County

🔵 Stop & Shop has 8 locations six locations in Ocean County

🔵 Falling sales led to a "difficult decision" to close the store

🔵 The chain trails ShopRite in sales in Ocean County, according to a 2023 survey

JACKSON — An Ocean County supermarket store has announced its intention to close a store in the fall.

Stop & Shop in a statement to New Jersey 101.5 said it has made the "difficult decision" to not renew the lease on its location at Bennetts Mills Plaza on County Line Road in Jackson.

"The store was not meeting financial expectations. Stop & Shop intends to operate the store through the early fall of 2024. All associates will be given the opportunity to transfer to other Stop & Shop locations," the company said in a statement.

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Exterior of Stop & Shop in Toms River (David Lansing)

Stop & Shop less than 2 miles away

The store was opened as a Mayfair in the 1980s and became a Foodtown. When Ahold bought the chain in 1996 it took on the Edwards name before changing to Stop & Shop in 2000.

There are 57 Stop & Shop locations including nearby locations in Brick, Freehold Township, Howell, Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, Toms River and the Whiting section of Manchester.

There is a ShopRite less than two miles away from the current Stop & Shop.

According to the 2023 Food Trade News survey of sales in Ocean County ShopRite and its 9 stores had a 30% share of the market with $640 million in sales. Stop & Shop had $255.30 million in sales at its 7 stores for a 12% share of the market.

The Massachusetts-based chain has closed stores in the Dayton section of South Brunswick, Highland Park and Paramus within the past two years.

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