New ShopRite In Howell Set To Open Wednesday

Out with the old, in with the new.

On Wednesday, ShopRite patrons will have a shiny, expansive new store ready to serve them.

But that new store -- at Friendship Plaza on Route 9 in Howell -- also means the Lakewood ShopRite will be closing.

Saker ShopRites spokeswoman Santina Stankevich told the Asbury Park Press that no employees of the Lakewood store, which is closing Tuesday, April 21, are losing their jobs as a result of the closing. Most are transferring to the new store, though some are transferring to stores closer to their homes.

The new store, which is an 80,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility, is four miles north of the Lakewood store’s location on Route 9.

The new store’s Facebook page has dozens of comments, most of them from customers who are happy about the opening of the new store.

“I’ve never been so excited about a food store,” one woman wrote. “This store will so convient for me. I won’t have to go to Jackson Shop Rite to shop.”

Another woman said she had been driving to Hamilton and Toms River to shop and was happy to be able to shop closer to home.

Some commenters expressed concerns about the closing of the Lakewood store in terms of traffic that would come to Howell as a result.

(ShopRite of Howell. Photo from store’s Facebook page)