New anchor sought for Route 130 shopping center
By Doug Carman, Staff Writer
EAST WINDSOR Ken Forgash’s 99¢ Outlet’s shelves were full, and soft drinks almost filled the entire space in the fridge across from his counter.
He was still trying to sell his “lonely” last Mylar Easter balloon to a woman who came to pick out some other balloons, but as with the rest of his goods, there were fewer shoppers in his store to browse through them, he said.
Closer to the empty space that once was Super Fresh, Tiger’s Deli owner Claudia Aruta made a platter while two customers shared a table on Monday afternoon. As Mr. Forgash said and Ms. Aruta concurred, the smaller stores are already seeing fewer customers at the Windsor-Hights Shopping Center since the grocery’s closure April 16.
And some customers have been frustrated with the loss, leaving ShopRite farther up Route 130 as East Windsor’s only remaining grocery.
”It’s just kind of a shame,” said Shirley Potts, a Bordentown resident who frequents the shopping center as she looked at the empty lot. “I’d like a Super Fresh here, or an Acme, Stop and Shop, any of them.”
The Super Fresh, which is owned by A&P and also is affiliated through A&P with Pathmark and Waldbaum’s, was one of several supermarkets in the chain that shut down April 16 during the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The Super Fresh in Hamilton also closed, making Plainsboro the town with the closest Super Fresh supermarket to East Windsor.
As the traffic ebbed from Windsor-Hights, rumors have flown through the center of a pending deal to fill the space. Property Manager John Schmidt, of Metro Commercial Real Estate, which manages the shopping center, said several businesses have shown interest in the 53,800-square-foot lot, though he declined to name them.
”There’s interest,” Mr. Schmidt said, but “there’s nothing signed.”
East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov said she was in discussions with the property management since they learned of Super Fresh’s pending demise.
”We know they are actively involved in the marketing of the property and seeking tenancy,” Mayor Mironov said, “and we hope obviously that they’re able to do that as quickly as possible.”
Mr. Forgash said he heard about business plans ranging from an Amish country store to a children’s laser tag course proposed for the lot, though he said he doubted the credibility of any of those ideas.
Ms. Aruta said she also heard rumors, though she declined to elaborate on them.
”We just hope something comes along,” she said. “Another empty building in the area’s just bad.”
Mr. Schmidt said Super Fresh had a lease dated from the 1960s, though he believes it had to have moved to Windsor-Hights from another shopping center during that time. Though he did not know the exact date of its construction, he believed the shopping center was built during the 1980s.
With Super Fresh out, Staples is the remaining “anchor store” at the center.
As to the kind of store Metro Commercial was trying to attract, Mr. Schmidt said ideally it would lure another grocery there.
”We’re looking to do the least amount of work possible,” he said. He added that if, for example, a hardware box store were to move there, extensive remodeling and reconstruction would be necessary to accommodate the new business.
Business owners and shoppers there had the same opinion on what should be done with the space.
”There should be something put in here. I’d hate to see empty buildings,” said Luella Scott, who left Staples and was on her way to the nearby Best Cuts while commuting from the Hightstown Elks Lodge to her home in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
But what should go there? Ms. Aruta and Mr. Forgash both said they wanted anything that would generate traffic for their own stores.
Ms. Aruta said she had “no preference” over the specific store.
Mr. Forgash was hoping for a Whole Foods, personally, though he said he was told it wouldn’t be interested in East Windsor’s market.
”I just hope that … they’re going to offer the customers a discount,” Mr. Forgash said of any other potential tenant. “Any kind of discount like a Sav-A-Lot. … Some place where people are going to save money. Evidently their (Super Fresh’s) prices were a bit too high.”

