First Glimpse Inside Route 37 ShopRite

The frozen food aisles have heated floors and there are chefs manning a Chinese wok. Ask the staff of the gourmet cheese shop what to pair with cranberries, or head over to the cigar shop for a couple Monte Cristos.

Or just run in to stock up on cans of chicken soup.

Sal Gauzzo, store manager for and 166 set to open Wednesday, lead us around the store during an afternoon ribbon-cutting, showing us some of the features for the 29th store in the Saker ShopRite family.

Gauzzo and Saker ShopRite President Richard Saker both described a store that aims to be in tune with the community's needs, providing customers with a wide variety, at low prices and of high quality.

That means giving them the ingredients to prepare an amazing meal themselves, or helpng them take home freshly prepared or heat-and-eat selections, Gauzzo said. Store staff are hoping the store will be there for the spectrum of needs you'd expect from a "World Class" supermarket.

A large portion of the store is comprised of stations, such as those focuses on hard-to-find cheese or artisan breads. There's everything from freshly prepared pizza to just-rolled sushi to a Caribbean grill in other food stations. Or grab a container and grab what you want from a salad bar, and antipasto bar or a Mediterranean olive bar.

"We have a lot," Gauzzo said. "It's your staples, it's gourmet, it's organic, it's a restaurant experience — we're really embodying 'World Class.'"

World Class is the concept driving the family of stores, as the ShopRite brand is also named "World Class" foods, but it also embodies what Saker executives said is the mission statement for the stores, to exceed customer expectations.

Gauzzo said there needs to be an element of "Wow" that customers experience in their supermarket.

"We had given someone a tour and took them around, and we started to hear the 'wows', and that's really what it should be down every aisle," Gauzzo said.

The store comes in at 75,000 square feet and more than 100,000 different products, he said.

"We make a mean sub," Gauzzo said. His favorite is the Italian. He anticipates the sub station to be one of the more popular options of prepared-for-you foods. There's classic hoagies but also wraps and paninis. Grab a made-to-order burger or a set of sliders or rotisserie and fried chicken. "We even have a smoker," he said.

Gauzzo said the store is anticipating around 31,000 customers a week. During the ribbon cutting ceremony, some customers began to show up thinking the supermarket had already opened. It's official opening day is Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7 a.m.

"We've had people come by, wondering if we've already opened," Gauzzo said. "We've seen for store openings people do line up an hour or two before."

He said the store is prepared for an extremely busy first day.

"Crowd control, it's definitely going to be a big part," he said. "But we'll have every register open and all our merchandisers at work that day."

With ongoing construction around the rest of the Crossroads Center, store security and Toms River Police will be on hand to help direct traffic around construction fences.

The store is planning to be open daily from 5 a.m. to midnight and can be reached at (732) 286-4500.

Check out the attached photo gallery and video offering a glimpse inside the store.