Dayton Foodtown to close

   Foodtown on Route 522 is closing its doors for good.

By: Sharlee Joy DiMenichi
   The Foodtown supermarket on Route 522 in Dayton will close its doors for the last time, leaving employees to look for other work and sending shoppers to the store’s competitors.
   A manager for the Georges Road market said the approximately 5-year-old store could not stand up against other chains.
   "With the new area competition, the larger stores, we haven’t been able to compete with the larger stores," said Richard Williams, manager of the store, which employs about 10 part-time and 25 full-time staff members.
   Mr. Williams said a closing date had not been set because store stock must be sold before the market can go out of business. Signs on the door of the market advertise 25 percent off all merchandise except lottery tickets and tobacco, and cases for seafood and some meats are bare.
   One potential shopper offered a similar assessment of Foodtown’s ability to compete. A Highland Park man who came to buy lunch Tuesday at the Liberty Mall, where Foodtown is located, said he prefers to buy groceries at the new Stop & Shop in Dayton because it is bigger and cleaner than the Foodtown.
   A Stop & Shop opened in September 2002 at the intersection of Route 522 and Summerfield Boulevard.
   Some customers at the Foodtown on Tuesday said they had long been dissatisfied with maintenance and customer service at the store and expected it to go out of business.
   "It was only a matter of time. It wasn’t being kept up and it was dirty and the customer service wasn’t there," said Betty Iannuccia of Monroe.
   Another complained of poor service at the market, which used to be owned by the Independent Grocers Association.
   "When it changed from IGA to Foodtown, there was a big change," said Steve Mayer of South Brunswick.
   While Mr. Mayer said he continued shopping at the store because he found the location convenient, he said the Foodtown staff did not serve customers with the same professionalism as the clerks who had worked for the IGA store.
   Others said they wished the store would remain open to offer an alternative to larger supermarkets.
   "I’m not happy because I’m handicapped so this store is much better for me because it’s smaller," said Rosemary Feliciano of South Brunswick.
   Employees had mixed reactions to the store shutting down.
   One worker said the end of her summer job did not cause upheaval in her life.
   "I’m a college student, so I’m just going to take summer classes," said Navjeet Singh of South Brunswick, who staffed the customer service desk Tuesday.
   A cashier who had worked at the store for about 15 months said she was emotional when she heard the market would go out of business.
   "I was very upset and very sad," said Phyllis Mc Laughlin of South River.
   "I love the store. I really do. I love the people who come in here to shop. I made a lot of nice contacts, a lot of nice friends," Ms. Mc Laughlin said.
   Ms. Mc Laughlin said she was uncertain where she will work next.
   Mr. Williams said he planned to work for another supermarket chain out of state and that Foodtown supervisors were assisting staff members by writing letters of reference to help them find new jobs.
   "We have a great team of employees and they will certainly do very well in whatever job they move into," Mr. Williams said.