By: centraljersey.com
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP – Representatives from Bottom Dollar Food painted a picture of its proposed grocery store project Monday for the Bordentown Township Committee.
Jeff Smith, the real estate development manager for Bottom Dollar Food, showed illustrations of the store, its shelving, and the walk-in refrigerated produce area, which he cited as one of Bottom Dollar Food’s signature features.
Bottom Dollar Food intends to use two-thirds of the 30,000-square-foot lot, which is owned by the Nellis Corp. at the intersection of Route 130 and Farnsworth Ave.
Mayor Bruce Hill asked Dino Spadaccini, the lawyer representing the Nellis Corp. what the plan was for the remaining space.
Committeeman Jason Medina followed up on the mayor’s inquiry by asking if the goal would be to establish continuity between the store and businesses that go next to it.
"We’re looking at all possible uses, but it’s not the best possible market out there right now," Mr. Spadaccini answered. "I think that once the Bottom Dollar is there, I think that they’re going to attract many more prospective users as opposed to an empty 30,000-square-foot building."
The grocery chain, owned by the Belgium-based Delhaize Group, has not yet opened any stores in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, but has announced its intent to build 21 new stores in the area. Its first Pennsylvania store opens Oct. 8 in King of Prussia.
The proposed Bordentown store would have 35 to 40 employees, a third of whom would be full time. Mr. Smith estimated that nearly all of these positions would be jobs created for the new store. According to Mr. Smith, Bottom Dollar Food has held job fairs in the past to give local candidates the best chance to apply.
"Our corporation is very, very strongly tied to our communities," Mr. Smith said before talking about the corporation’s involvement with local schools and military. He also spoke about Bottom Dollar Food’s "community ambassador" position. This person will work in the store and will have the responsibility of making connections in the community.
In Delhaize Group’s largest stores, the 42,000-square-foot Food Lion chain, there are approximately 30,000 individual items. The Bottom Dollar Food stores only carry 7,000 items, over 70 percent of which are name brands. The remaining items will fall under the store’s private label.
Mayor Hill asked whether there would be a fresh bakery or deli in the store, to which Mr. Smith replied that it was hard to fit these departments in a store of this size. He added that there would be both prepackaged deli and bakery items in the store.
The plan is to place the store on the side of the lot farthest from Route 130, which means that the 10,000 square feet of unused space will be closest to the highway.
Both Mayor Hill and Committeeman Bill Morelli were concerned about the aesthetics of this, as well as being confused by the marketing logic behind it.
Mr. Smith said there were other construction factors that contributed to this, but that the corporation would look into it further.
After the presentation, Mr. Morelli summed up his feelings about the project.
"I don’t believe that this is the best highest use for that site as a ratable or as the gateway into the city and the township. I think it’s the lowest possible acceptable use for the site, barring an adult store."
He was also displeased with the look of other Bottom Dollar stores and how they would fit into the neo-Colonial architecture of the township Mr. Morelli ultimately described the chain’s design as "pretty garish" by comparison.
"It’s all about the aesthetics (in Bordentown)," Mayor Hill said. "If you’re just going to throw something together and put it up there, people are gonna say, ‘Ah, heck, I’m not going to that store; look at it.’ Because you always judge a book by its cover until you get on the inside. I just want you to think about that."

