WEST MILFORD – The new Highlands Market grocery store on Union Valley Road is expected to open in early September, Mayor Michele Dale said.
The long-awaited supermarket in the Hewitt segment of the city originally scheduled to open this spring. However, plans to renovate and open the supermarket have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dale said. The official opening date is now set for the end of summer.
“We are working with the owner and operator of this new business to succeed on the opening date of September 4,” Dale said.
The Highlands Market through Shopwell will be the first of its kind, possibly not the last, said Mark Lane, owner of The Lane Group Square. Online shopping and delivery deserve to be presented through the shopkeeper.
The independent shopkeeper is expected to join the area through an affiliated liquor store, Highlands Wines and Spirits. The rest of the area of approximately 50,000 square feet that once housed an attractive AP market will be occupied through a Snap Fitness USA center, according to the archives.
Since 2018, the mall, previously anchored through A-P, and a Sears hardware warehouse, has been repopulated. Dollar General and Tractor Supply Co. occupied the western end of the complex.
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Both have helped revitalize the operations of other small retailers, said Andrew Abdul, owner of Flags and Jewelry, a store in the complex. These retail outlets basically depended on the later workplace as a draw after the closure of A-P in 2015 and the Sears store in 2017, he said.
Highland Market, adjacent liquor store and Snap Fitness Center are expected to occupy the former AP on the east side of the complex.
The city’s Hewitt segment has been out of the grocery store since the closure of A-P in 2015 due to corporate bankruptcy. The absence of the supermarket has reduced the valuation of the site’s assets from nearly $16.9 million to $11 million for fiscal 2017, according to records.
By 2020, it was valued at $11.5 million. The attached tax bill is close to $443,000.
David Zimmer is a local NorthJersey.com journalist. To get an unlimited number of vital news in your local community, subscribe or activate your virtual account today.