TOUR: Marrazzo's Market - Ewing, NJ

Marrazzo's Market
Owner: Sam Marrazzo

Opened: 2000

Cooperative: IGA
Location: 1400 Parkway Ave, Ewing, NJ

Photographed: January 2021

We arrive in Ewing, roughly four miles to the northwest of downtown Trenton, for our first stop in the greater Trenton area! This building was constructed in the 1970s (between 1971 and 1979, according to the Historic Aerials) as a Grand Union before closing in the 1980s. It then became a Shop n Bag until 1997 when it became Marketplace, then sold to the current owners in 2000 who were Thriftway until 2016, then becoming IGA. Here's my source on the history.

Notice that the facade actually still has that Grand Union look to it, although it's been covered with the metal siding. It's a little strange that the sign isn't on the main facade, especially since it used to be when the sign said Marrazzo's Thriftway (see the link above).

We enter to the grand aisle on the left side of the store. Bakery, seen here, is in the front left corner of the store with the cafe behind it (if I remember correctly), and floral is between the entrance and the front-end.

Deli, prepared foods, and seafood line the left side wall of the grand aisle with produce to the right. Meats line the back wall of the store with dairy in the last aisle and frozen in an alcove in the front corner. This 35,000 square foot store feels a little larger than it actually is, and it helps that it's packed full of services and mostly taken care of very well.

Although the decor we're seeing is probably original to Marrazzo's opening in 2000, I wouldn't be surprised if it's been painted since. Some of the fixtures have almost definitely been updated.

The grocery aisles are behind this wall. I'm not sure why my phone wanted to make some of these lights really off-colored, but that's really not noticeable in person. Oh well. These produce cases are quite new.

Deli and seafood in the back corner of the grand aisle. Seafood doesn't have a department sign, and between that and the fixtures here, which look brand new, I would assume the seafood department was a later addition.

Small, but full service seafood.

As we transition into the main supermarket, we pass the butcher and meat department, lining the back wall.

Once again, not sure why the lighting looks so strange here.

The grocery aisles are pretty standard, but we do see a little maintenance slipping with a lot of burnt-out lights.

This is one of the largest IGAs in New Jersey, although it's slightly smaller than PQM. This one certainly feels more like a chain type store than a totally independent store.

Storebrands here are IGA, Seven Farms (natural/organic), and LifeGoods (nonfoods).

Here we have the dairy department lining the last aisle. As we can see, we again have some lighting issues here but the store is spotless.

Two very short frozen aisles are up here on the front wall. At this point, it doesn't seem like there's anything much left from Grand Union on the inside. Is that right? Does anybody pick up on something that I missed?

I like the lighting in this area, but I wish the cases were lit better. Why is the lighting in such poor repair here while the rest of the store is in great shape?

Here's the front wall of the store (to the right).

And here we have the front end, looking back over to the grand aisle. I'm dying to know more about this store's state today. I visited on a late Friday afternoon, and as we can see it was deserted. Is this store ever really busy? It's roughly two and a half miles to the ShopRite in Ewing, a Saker store that we unfortunately will not be touring this time around, so does that store really hurt this one's business? (It's also roughly three miles south of the Pennington ShopRite.)

Before we leave Marrazzo's, let's take a look at these awesome paintings in the cafe area. First, we have the original Marrazzo's Market, the Centre Fruit Market, at 350 Centre St in Trenton (1947-1961). Here's the property today.

Then we have Marrazzo's Quality Market, 1091 S Broad St, Trenton (1961-1989). Today, it's a dollar store.

In 1989, Marrazzo's Thriftway opened in Robbinsville, roughly seven miles east of downtown Trenton. The 1091 Washington Blvd location was sold to another Thriftway owner in 2006 and then sold once again in 2009 before closing in 2011. It remains partially vacant today, with Dollar Tree in about half of it. At 50,000 square feet, this is the largest Marrazzo's, and one of the largest Thriftways if not the largest.

And we finish up with a look at 1400 Parkway Ave, this store, which opened in 2000. This also gives us an idea of the original sign, which makes the existing one all the more confusing. Long before Marrazzo's was here, the Grand Union competed with an A&P basically next door, which we are also looking at today here. Tomorrow, we head into Trenton's city limits for a look at a former supermarket in the northwestern part of the city over on Grocery Archaeology!