TOUR: Garden Farm - Old Bridge, NJ

Garden Farm Old Bridge
Owner: Wun Nam

Opened: 2001

Cooperative: none

Location: 3105 US-9, Old Bridge, NJ

Photographed: February 2021

Yesterday we saw the ACME here in Old Bridge, which replaced an A&P which was in turn built in the mid-90s as a replacement for an older 22,000 square foot store here at US-9 and Ticetown Road. About 7400 square feet of that A&P space is now Garden Farm, with the other part being an Advance Auto Parts.

By the way, there's also a former ACME just across route 9, which is our other store of the day here. This Garden Farm is not related to the better-known chain whose Metuchen location we saw a while back. Instead, it appears to be an independent store. There are some fascinating relics around the store, starting before we even get inside with these very old cart corrals. It's possible they're left from A&P, but it's also possible they are from another, now-closed supermarket nearby.

Sadly, no logos (or labelscars of logos) on the cart corral signs.

These carts are likely from the Camden-area Roger Wilco liquor stores (I don't know if there is another Roger Wilco that they could also be from), though there were also other carts from other assorted stores.

Heading in, we see produce taking up the front part of the store; grocery aisles are in the back part. I'm fairly certain there was previously a deli counter in the back, but if there was it has since closed.

As we see, about half of the width of the store is under a lower ceiling, which may have been the grand aisle/fresh department area of A&P (depending on how the A&P was laid out).

Towards the back of the store we have some bulk foods as we move into the grocery aisles. There's a solid selection of the basics and, as we frequently see in these produce markets, a very strong selection of international foods.

A large Italian and Asian selection, in line with the area's demographics, take up a lot of the grocery aisles.

In the back corner is a small dairy department, with additional produce running along the left-side wall of the store.

This wall also has a large mural advertising Happy Farm, which I assume is a past name of the store.

And I saved the best for last... there's a secondhand Grand Union produce sign up here in the front corner!

This is likely from the nearby Parlin location, which we'll be seeing in a few days. But for today, don't forget to see the former ACME across the highway and tomorrow, we'll be touring our next store just to the north along US-9 on The Market Report!