The Independent Edition

Cosmo's Fresh Market Owner: Wilson Narvaez Opened:  2022 Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location:  1926 Union Valley Rd, Hewitt, West Milford, NJ Photographed:  November 23, 2022 Welcome to Cosmo's Fresh Market! For today's first Special Report, we're checking out the new store that moved in where Highland's Market was previously in West Milford. Highland's Market was owned by an operator whose stores regularly failed quickly (South Amboy, Elizabeth, Middlesex, and this one), and who is now working on opening what might be a Shop Well or possibly a Shop Fresh depending on who you ask in Hackettstown. But Highland's Market in the Hewitt section of remote West Milford, New Jersey, was sold and after some small changes is now Cosmo's. The Narvaez family owns Cosmo's, and they are the family behind the La Placita supermarkets. Clearly, they're much more experienced in the business than the Nassers and have had more success. The executi...

Highland's Market by Shopwell Owner: Nick Nasser Opened:  October 2020 Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location:  1938 Union Valley Rd, Hewitt, NJ Photographed:  December 2021 Anybody here watch the TV show Scrubs? It's a comedy show about a medical student (intern, resident, attending, and so on) going through his training in a hospital with his friends and colleagues. And at least one episode features the interior of a supermarket. It was on the air for many years and is on Hulu now. Well, season 4 episode 13, "My Ocardial Infarction," has our lovable but overly cocky protagonist, JD, gloating about how good he is at figuring out what's wrong with his patients. He calls himself Dr. Diagnosis. That's a rambling way to say that here at Highland's Market, I'm going to play Dr. Diagnosis. The store opened in October 2020 in part of a former A&P, and we first toured it in December 2020 . All of the features that I mention were still coming...

Highland's Market by Shopwell Owner: Nick Nasser Opened: October 2020 Cooperative:  Associated Supermarket Group Location:  1938 Union Valley Rd, Hewitt, NJ Photographed:  July, September, and December 2020 Contributor:  Laura E. (nighttime photos) A store I've been keeping an eye on, Highland's Market opened in October in part of a former A&P here in Hewitt. I visited in July to catch the store under construction, and our contributor Laura E. returned in early September to catch the store near its opening. I finally returned just last week to check out the store for myself. Let's start with a look at the store before its opening... The supermarket and its attached liquor store take up maybe 2/3 of the former A&P space. This store is owned by Nick Nasser, who has revived the defunct Shopwell brand (a New York brand purchased by A&P in the 1980s) as a co-branding to this store. Nasser, a former Pathmark executive, has owned se...