Trader Joe's Coming To Brick Plaza

BRICK, NJ — It's official: Trader Joe's is coming to Brick Township. Mayor John Ducey confirmed Tuesday that a permit has been issued to convert the former Ethan Allen store at Brick Plaza to the grocery store.

Getting a Trader Joe's to come to Brick has been something residents have repeatedly brought up, especially as other grocery store chains have shut down in the township. Brick has a ShopRite (in the shopping center across Route 70), a Stop 'n' Shop on Brick Boulevard near the Toms River border, and an Aldi on Route 70 east of the Laurelton interchange. Walmart (east of the Laurelton interchange) and Target (on Route 70 near Lake Riviera) also carry groceries.

But shoppers have been clamoring for a Trader Joe's and its unique offerings for some time.

"It's a great thing," Ducey said Tuesday afternoon. "It's many years in the making."

The addition of Trader Joe's gives Brick Plaza its first grocery store since A&P went out of business and closed down in late 2015.

Talk that the grocery store may come to the township had been rumored for weeks, with Mayor John G. Ducey mentioning the possibility during an appearance at St. Dominic School. Kenya Friend-Daniel, the public relations director for Trader Joe's, confirmed the company was in discussions to bring the store to the township.

"We are interested in bringing a store to that location, and are taking the necessary steps to make that happen," she said.

On Tuesday, she had nothing further to add to that information.

The zoning permit, issued to Retail Project Management of NY, based in Holbrook, NJ, is for interior alterations to the Ethan Allen. And it's one more hole that Federal Realty, the owners of Brick Plaza, have filled as they give the entire plaza a new look.

The A&P was divided in half and turned into a HomeGoods and Michael's, and the former Mansion nightclub is in the process of being converted into a Gravity Vault indoor climbing facility. Other plans to give the shopping center a new look remain in the process.

The closure of BonTon leaves a space to be filled yet by Metrovation, which brought LA Fitness into the former Sports Authority spot.

It also means the quest to find something to fill the Pathmark at the Laurel Square Shopping Center continues. What will go there remains anyone's guess.

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