Super Foodtown of Bayville Set to Close Feb. 25

The SuperFoodtown of Bayville, which has been a fixture at Baywick Plaza on Route 9 for more than 20 years, will cease operations as of Feb. 25. 

Lou Scaduto Jr., president of Food Circus Super Markets, the parent company of the Bayville and Toms River stores, said the decision to shutter the store was simply an economic one, reflecting ongoing struggles of that store.

"It's unfortunate," Scaduto said. "We've been there for more than 20 years. But when you have a location that's struggling, you have to do what is best for the health of the company."

The Middletown-based, family-owned company, which has been in business since 1956, also is closing its Hazlet location, which will leave the company with eight stores in Ocean, Monmouth and Middlesex counties.

For a time, the Bayville Foodtown had been the store of choice for many within the area, overshadowing the A&P Supermarket that had been located at Berkeley Plaza, just down Route 9. The A&P closed in 2002, and for nearly two years Foodtown had little competition.

That changed in 2004, when opened a new, larger store that encompassed the site of the former A&P. Competition for the Foodtown increased with the opening of a Walmart Supercenter in nearby Lacey Township - which included groceries - in late 2009.

Though the Foodtown added the availability of a liquor store to its offerings in cooperation with Buy-Rite Liquors, that wasn't enough to draw a significant number of customers back to its store.

Customers lamented the news of the impending closure.

"I don't want it to close because it's convenient to all the places I have to go in my life every day," said Barbara Holland of Bayville. "The Rite-Aid is right next door for my mother's prescriptions, and my son and husband go to Tong Dragon (Martial Arts school). I'm here almost every day.

"I'm really sorry to hear this," Holland said, as she headed to Rite Aid before making a stop at Foodtown on Friday afternoon.

"This means more people without work," said Laura Rickards as she loaded groceries into her car. The store employs 75 people, Scaduto said. Some will be transferred to other stores but there will be some layoffs, he said.

"It's unfortunate," Rickards said. "It decreases variety and competition and creates a monopoly."

Several employees yesterday said they were going to apply to other area supermarkets.

"There's 75 of us," one woman said. "We can't all go to Toms River."

What will become of the site is uncertain. Rickards was an occasional shopper at the Foodtown, in part because the lighting was so dim, she said, that it gave the store a dingy feeling. She hopes to see it replaced by a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe's, both of which are known for carrying a variety of organic offerings and specialty foods.

"It would be nice to know where I could get tahini," Rickards said, noting the item -- the key ingredient for making hummus -- has been difficult to find locally.