FLORIDA, N.Y. -- There was no dirt in sight, but Quick Chek Corp. held a ground-breaking ceremony this past week in front of a former ShopRite supermarket in Florida, N.Y., where it plans to open a small grocery store and gas station. While the event was short on both ground-breaking and ceremony, according to a report in the Times Herald-Record, it did mark the beginning of an ambitious expansion plan for Quick Chek, which operates more than 100 stores in New Jersey, but none in New York.
The company, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., is in contract [image-nocss] for nearly a dozen sites in the mid-Hudson, Robert Vallario, vice president of real estate, told the newspaper.
He was one of a dozen Quick Chek officials who stepped off a bus just before 10 a.m. Wednesday carrying hard hats and shovels. There were no speeches, just a brief photo op in the narrow strip of grass along the road the only speck of unpaved land on the property.
Asbestos removal will begin soon on the barrel-shaped building, which will be knocked down. The iconic ShopRite store was built nearly 50 years ago. It closed in 2002 after operator Big V Supermarkets filed for bankruptcy.
Quick Chek's 6,800-square-foot store should open by the end of the year, said Vallario. It will offer groceries and a deli counter. The nine-pump gas station will feature cash changers, so customers can pay at the pump. Vallario wouldn't name the chain's other planned locations in the area.
After milling about for a few minutes, the company men (and one woman) climbed back into their bus, which embarked on a tour of at least some of those properties. The first stop was a site in the town of Wallkill, N.Y.
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