ShopRite (United States)

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This article is about the North American food distributor. For other companies with the same or similar name, see ShopRite.
ShopRite logo

ShopRite (or its full name ShopRite Supermarkets) is a retailers' cooperative (co-op) chain of supermarkets in the Northeastern United States, in the states of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Based in Elizabeth, New Jersey, ShopRite consists of 43 individually owned and operated affiliates with over 200 stores, all under its corporate and distribution arm, Wakefern Food Corporation.

In recent years ShopRite has renovated, expanded or totally rebuilt many of its older stores, as well as adding new ones. Most stores are larger than before with improved facilities. Some of the older ShopRite stores date back to the 1950s and 1960s. Examples of a newly built giant ShopRite can be found in Wharton, New Jersey, opened in 2001, and a rebuilt one in nearby Succasunna.

Some ShopRite slogans have been "Hey mom, what's for dinner? ShopRite has the answer!", "ShopRite does it Right", "ShopRite and Always Save!", and their current "Always Fresh and Always for Less." ShopRite also uses the slogan "This is Your Neighborhood...This is Your ShopRite" when promoting and supporting community events. ShopRite is also known for its yearly Can-Can Sale, held every January since 1971, and in July 2002 introduced the Summer Can-Can Sale.

In the early 1990s, ShopRite introduced the Price Plus Club Card, which replaced the Courtesy Card. The customer registers free of charge to become a member of the club. The customer gives the cashier the card every time the check out and it adds up to various promotions such as Baby Bucks or Continental Airlines One Pass Miles. The Price Plus card may also save the customer money on items they purchase, depending if they are on sale or not. The benefit of the Price Plus card to ShopRite is that it allows the cooperative to track every purchase and break down consumer purchasing habits based on a variety of variables, even what time of day the consumer prefers to shop.

Wakefern (ShopRite's corporate arm) also owns and operates the PriceRite Limited-assortment chain of stores ([1]) throughout Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. PriceRite is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wakefern.

Since 1999, ShopRite offers the same merchandise on its website, under the service name ShopRite from Home, through MyWebGrocer.com.

Contents

[edit] History

ShopRite logo used prior to 2003
ShopRite logo used prior to 2003

The chain got its start in 1946, when a Del Monte Foods sales representative talked to several independent grocers in Newark, New Jersey who were having problems getting the best prices for wholesale goods. He suggested they try cooperative buying, and they did.

Seven of them eventually went in, and all agreed the experiment was a success. With a $1,000 initial investment from each, Wakefern Foods was incorporated on December 5, 1946.

The ShopRite name was coined in 1951 as a competitive advantage. It not only worked to draw in shoppers; it attracted new members to the cooperative, which grew to 50 members within a year.

In 1958, ShopRite decided to cut prices across the board 10% as an alternative to giving away trading stamps as many other supermarkets in New Jersey were doing. The move was again successful and drew in more customers and members. By 1961, Wakefern had 70 members, was doing $100 million in annual sales and not only had become a major player in New Jersey, it was attracting members from neighboring states.

Things slowed down a little later on that decade when one large member, Supermarkets General, pulled out, halving the chain's size. Its stores became Pathmark in 1968. The remaining members redoubled their efforts, adopted "one member, one vote" as a management principle, and expanded aggressively. By the late 1970s, the volume lost from Supermarkets General's departure had been restored.

Today, it is the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the United States. An interesting result of the cooperative system is that there has been no set format for building architecture, store layout or color scheme of the storefronts. Most stores are the product of the era in which they were opened as well as the whim of the owner. For example, the ShopRite of West Caldwell, New Jersey has a Japanese motif inside and outside of the store (including rickshaws and a sign that says "Sayonara" at the exit). Even some stores owned by the same person look different. For example, the Ronetco family of stores (Netcong, Byram, Newton, Franklin, Flanders, Mansfield, and Succasunna) all look different from one another on the outside (including the shopping carts and Cart Corrals), although inside they have the same general layout. Several Shop Rite stores that have opened up in stores that were once previous stores usually contain elements of the previous occupant. On the other hand, as large corporations buy up stores, recent years have brought a homogenization in building design and store layout.

[edit] ShopRite Operating Companies (Abridged)

[edit] ShopRite Wines & Spirits

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Wakefern members also operate a cooperative chain of stores which offer wine, beer and spirits called ShopRite Wines & Spirits. Most of the stores are located adjacent-to, or inside-of ShopRite Supermarkets; however, there are several freestanding stores. One of the stores (in Pennington, NJ) even offers a bar right inside the ShopRite store.

Members operate 34 ShopRite Wine and Spirits Shops in New Jersey and New York.

Sunrise ShopRites of West Caldwell also operates 2 ShopRite Sunrise Wine-Cellar locations which offer an expanded selection of high-quality and specialty wines.

[edit] ShopRite Garden Center

Foodarama, which operates 26 ShopRite Supermarkets, also operates a 55,000. sq. ft. freestanding ShopRite Garden Center in East Windsor, NJ. The center was built in 2000 for Frank's Nursery & Crafts and combines 23,000 sq. ft. of interior selling space with 32,000 sq. ft. of outside selling area, for a total of 55,000 sq. ft.[1] When Franks went bankrupt in 2004, Foodarama decided to move its tiny existing ShopRite Garden Center (which was really just a shack, operating further down on Route 130) into the brand new Franks building.

[edit] ShopRite Flowers

In December of 2006, Wakefern launched Shopriteflowers.com. It is a service that does home delivery of floral arrangements.

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Frank's Nursery sprouts new branches, accessed November 27, 2006
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