With Bayville Location Closing, How Will Toms River Foodtown Fare?

It's the last month of business for Bayville Foodtown, as owners Food Circus Super Markets announced the location on Route 9 will close Feb. 25 after 20 years. The impact to the , officials said, should be minimal.

Lou Scaduto Jr., president of , said the decision to shutter the store was simply an economic one, reflecting ongoing struggles of that store.

The fate of the 75 employees of the Bayville location was still being decided. When asked how many would be transfered to Toms River, the next closest Food Circus location, Scaduto said staffing levels there would not swell to absorb the Bayville employees.

"Obviously there will be layoffs," Scaduto said. "That location will close and staffers will be let go...Some transfers will be possible."

Scaduto said the Toms River location, one of eight remaining in the Food Circus family, is a strong, viable location.

He said that even with new competition across the street from the Route 37 location, with a in Crossroads Center, he expects the Foodtown to remain a successful store.

He also said Foodtown customers are loyal to their experiences, brands and services at Foodtown. He hopes that brand loyalty will translate to Bayville customers shopping at the Toms River location. 

Bayville resident Renee McGrogan said that while the Bayville Foodtown has fewer lines compared to the nearby ShopRite, it also had higher prices. She said that if someone also needed to stop in a liquor store, the Foodtown had that advantage, as that supermarket has a liquor store attached.

But those situations were rare, and she preferred ShopRite due to lower prices.

"I was there (Foodtown) about a month ago," McGrogan said. "They are never crowded, and no lines."

She said she fears the plaza in Bayville will continue to decline with a vacant tenant there. She said she'd expect former Foodtown shoppers to gravitate to the ShopRite on Route 9 in Bayville, instead of seeking out the Toms River Foodtown.

Scaduto declined to give out the foot traffic or number and amount of sales the Toms River Super Foodtown has.

Supermarket consultant said the impact to the Toms River store is less a question about Bayville's closure and more of one about the effects of the ShopRite across the street.

"The Foodtown facility across Route 37, unfortunately, is an old, very tired facility that has been neglected for many years now, and will suffer a tremendous impact from this new ShopRite," Casey said.