Changes at James Street and Route 166 are just the latest in an ongoing traffic project on the state highway that will see a new traffic light, dividers and turning lanes for one of Toms River's busiest corridors. A new traffic pattern made it illegal to turn left from Route 166 southbound onto James Street, the street across from one of the Crossroads Center entrances. Also, James Street traffic can only turn right to head north onto Route 166. You can't make a left turn onto Route 166 from James Street. Toms River Township Planner Jay Lynch said the traffic changes are part of the State …

With the opening of the new Saker ShopRite at the Crossroads Center on Route 37 and 166, another player on the supermarket scene fills the long-vacant spot once held by a Perlmart ShopRite. Across the street, a Food Circus Super Foodtown sits in one of the older supermarket locations in Toms River. And the Middletown-based company recently announced its Bayville location will close. How will the new ShopRite affect what looks to be a burdened supermarket industry? Toms River Super Foodtown Doing Well, VP Says  Louis Scaduto, Jr., the vice president of Food Circus, said the Toms River location…

The Old Staples is down, Presidential Boulevard is redone, ShopRite is bustling, Party Fair has moved in — there's a lot of activity at the Crossroads Center. Coming soon: the opening of Spirits Liquors at the front of Crossroads Center. Where the Old Time Tavern once stood, the foundation for an unnamed restaurant tenant is being lain. Here's some images as Staples came down and Party Fair opened, the latest chapter of the reboot of the Dover Mall.

Since February, the demolition of the Dover Mall into the Crossroads Center at Route 37 and 166 has been taken shape with widespread demolition and rebuild of 100,000 of combined square feet of retail space. Emerald Apartments tenants have been living right next door to it all. A ShopRite went up to the south. A large-scale stormwater basin for the plaza was dug yards from the backyard fenceline. The ShopRite construction is over, but there's still a restaurant pad to build and the realignment of Presidential Boulevard. There's customers coming to ShopRite and Staples. We asked some local …

Toms River Mayor Thomas Kelaher cuts the ribbon on the Route 37 ShopRite, the southernmost Saker ShopRite property in New Jersey. Joining him in front of the 75,000 square-foot supermarket is Dan Donofrio, owner of Dan-D development, which owns the property, and some of his staff. Saker ShopRite president Richard Saker and his family join Kelaher in the ribbon cutting.

Our gallery of images from the last several weeks as the Saker ShopRite prepares for its grand opening this week.

The metal benches are out. The boxwood is planted. The milk and eggs are on the way. Saker ShopRite announced it will cut the ribbon at its Route 37 and 166 location Monday, and will officially open for business 7 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16. The former Dover Mall, now known as Crossroads Center, will open a long-awaited tenant with the new ShopRite. The supermarket sits toward the back of the property on Route 37, and road construction is reconfiguring Presidential Boulevard to be the access road to ShopRite from Route 166. This week, the final touches are underway for a grand opening. Giant …

Forever, it's been the Dover Mall. But with the ongoing construction at the plaza, corner of Routes 166 and 37, last month a new plaza sign emerged calling it Crossroads Center. Tenants ShopRite, Staples and Spirits Unlimited Liquors — their names will grace the tall signage with "Crossroads Center" at the top. The developer, Dan-D, owned by the D'onofrio family, said the name of the mall is being changed to reflect the fact that the town is no longer known as Dover Township, but as Toms River Township. "Routes 37 and 166 are a crossroads, so that is the reason for calling it Crossroads …

It was a chilly February day when the construction equipment first rolled onto the Dover Mall property, Routes 37 and 166. The empty Bradless still stood as an eyesore and vacant storefronts awaited wrecking crews for a plan to totally revamp the aging mall into one with five self-standing structures, including a Staples, Shop Rite, and Spirits Liquors as confirmed tenants. Down went the Bradlees with a crash. Next went the line of shops ending with the movie theater. Its sign still stands on the Route 166 side of the property. Thereafter fell the old furniture store, formerly a shoe store. …

Since February the complete rebuild of the Dover Mall at Route 37 and 166 in Toms River has been one of demolition. First Bradlees, then the side mall and movie theatre, next the self-standing furniture store before ShopRite came down. All that’s left to fall is the portion now only containing Staples, and even that is slowly coming down although the store will remain open throughout it all. Staples, which is in the middle of the remaining portion, is sandwiched between empty stores that once was a casino school and a Jason’s Furniture, most recently. The Jason’s Furniture portion was the …

The big yellow signs along Routes 166 and 37, one of the most traveled intersections in town, tell of things to come: a Super ShopRite, to be exact. Saker ShopRite plans to open a new "state-of-the-art" supermarket in the Dover Mall, according to Ed Turkot, Senior Vice President of the company. "The store will bring nearly 300 jobs to Toms River-- we look forward to having a positive impact on the community. Saker ShopRites have a longstanding tradition of serving the needs of its loyal customers in Ocean County," he said in an email. Matt Casey of Matthew P. Casey & Associates studies the …

Cleanup in aisle everything. The demolition of the Dover Mall's longest-vacant property began mid-March, with the long-shuttered ShopRite and Spirits Liquors store in the back of the mall. By this week, the supermarket was a pile of rubble, awaiting construction equipment to cart it off and level the ground for a new ShopRite in its place. At a recent township council meeting, Toms River Councilman and Planning Board member George Wittman announced that the ShopRite was planning a late October grand opening. A free-standing location, the new ShopRite would again be separate from the portion …

Heaps of rebar, concrete and the now-indistinguishable remains of Bradlees sit amid the construction site of Dover Mall, Route 166 and 37 in Toms River. The mall began demolition about two weeks ago to make way for a Super ShopRite on the property. Though Staples remains open, many of the other storefronts went vacant for years. Check out our gallery of images and video during the demolition.

Whether you look at it as valuable real estate or just another rundown shopping center, you probably have an opinion about Dover Mall. Located at the corner of Routes 166 and 37, it was once home to a Bradlees department store, a liquor shop, Halloween Headquarters and Wolfie’s Restaurant, among many other businesses throughout the years.But as crews work to demolish the long-shuttered Bradlees, the local retailers once housed in Dover Mall praised the town for finally cleaning up the “eyesore.”“This is long overdue,” said Steve Gioia, owner-operator of Halloween Headquarters, which became …

The small blue sign seems harmless enough; it’s even kind of inviting, encouraging all business owners interested in joining the “New Dover Mall” to call the number listed. And while the oddly configured grouping of retail space at the corner of Routes 166 and 37 that constituted the original Dover Mall has been half empty for the better part of two decades, I’m deeply concerned that the developers behind this sign are going to level everything and insert some pretentious “lifestyle center” with big name anchor stores that sell two hundred dollar sauce pans or other unnecessarily expensive …

Planning for the complete reconstruction of most of the Dover Mall was approved last night, as the Toms River Planning Board reviewed the proposed final architectural and landscaping plans. Approved via unanimous decision, the plans entail the demolition of the current complex in favor of erecting newer buildings to take their place. Project Architect Eugene D. Wright Jr. of the Lederer & Wright Partnership and Attorney Harvey L. York presented a more concrete vision of the future Dover Mall, going into detail about the external aesthetics of the new buildings and some changes in the overall …

The long-shuttered Bradlees at the Dover Mall, Routes 166 and 37 in Toms River, will forever disappear today as demolition work began late Wednesday morning on a project to put a new Shoprite there. The piece of retail history is crumbling down into a pile of rubble as the claws of construction equipment grab at the roof, support beams, ductwork and overhead stock shelves of the empty store. Chain link fence and caution tape outline a work area stretching from the Dover Mall’s closed movie theater to back behind the former Bradlees portion of the mall, encompassing the entire easternmost …